MPR’s Brandt Williams reports on the new Roy Wilkins Auditorium which is being discussed in the Minnesota house and senate. The new auditorium would feature trade shows and musical acts, as well as a new civil rights museum. Mayor of St. Paul Norm Coleman speaks in support of the new center. A 12 person Tribute Committee comprised of local civil rights activists, business leaders, and citizens spearheads the development of the new civil rights museum.
Roy Wilkins moved to Minnesota in 1905 and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1923. From 1955 to 1977 he led the NAACP- and it was during this time that he formed a working relationship with singer and activist Harry Belafonte. In this story Belafonte describes the working relationship he had with Wilkins.
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BRANDT WILLIAMS: The new building would replace the old Roy Wilkins Center and would be connected to the Xcel Energy Center and the Ordway. It is being designed to host smaller trade shows, concerts, and other live events. Mayor Norm Coleman says the facility will help bring more visitors to St. Paul, which will in turn fatten the city and state's coffers. However, the center's lobby and public spaces will serve as a civil rights museum. And that, says Coleman, is as important as generating revenue.
NORMAN COLEMAN: We need more than just successful conventions and concerts to nourish St. Paul's economy. We also need the civil rights education that the new center and the tribute committee will provide to nourish our souls.
BRANDT WILLIAMS: The mayor also announced the formation of a committee which will work with the center's architects to develop tributes to Wilkins and other local civil rights leaders. The 12-person committee is a multicultural group made up of civil rights activists, business leaders, and citizens. Katie McWatt is the chair of the tribute committee and is also the first vice president of the St. Paul NAACP. McWatt says the time is right to honor the state's freedom fighters.
KATIE MCWATT: Minnesota has a proud history of African-Americans and others who fought for freedom. And this is a step along the way to honor them through the Roy Wilkins Center.
BRANDT WILLIAMS: Roy Wilkins came to Minnesota as a child in 1905 and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1923. He led the nation's oldest civil rights organization between 1955 and 1977 during some of the nation's most turbulent times. Harry Belafonte worked with Roy Wilkins during that era. Belafonte used his fame to help raise money for the movement, as well as organize and participate in civil rights demonstrations. Belafonte told a crowd in the Capitol rotunda that Wilkins was a leader in a movement that encompassed many points of view.
HARRY BELAFONTE: I didn't always agree with Roy Wilkins. As a matter of fact, we sat at tables of strategy more than once and debated the wisdom of choices that had been made. But that was what enriched our movement. It was the diversity of thought, the differences of opinions that could come to the table and shape a consensus.
BRANDT WILLIAMS: Belafonte says the new cultural center will help further the legacy of Wilkins and those Minnesotans who fought for civil rights. Belafonte added that while Wilkins can share credit for every major piece of civil rights era legislation, Wilkins' legacy includes many intangibles.
HARRY BELAFONTE: The gifts he gave us the most precious of all. Hope, pride, optimism. These are as necessary to life as food, water, and air. Without them, we die. With them, we live. It is as simple as that.
BRANDT WILLIAMS: Following his address, Belafonte toured the Capitol and met with several legislators, as well as Governor Ventura. Action on the bill is pending in both the House and Senate. I'm Brandt Williams, Minnesota Public Radio.