Could the Civil Rights Interpretive Center Relocate From ASU?

Councilman Tracy Larkin says he’s recommending that the location of the Civil Rights Interpretive Center be moved from Alabama State University to somewhere along the route of the Selma to Montgomery March. He says there’s still time to make a change.

“It’s not a done deal because they have not broken ground on it,” he says. “They have not done one single thing to actually construct an interpretive center.”

Howard Robinson with the ASU National Center says the on campus location is relevant because he says students were very much involved in the Civil Rights struggle.

“Petitions to the governor, marches to the state capitol, marches on city hall, the county courthouse, that all occurred at least around the Selma to Montgomery March,” he explains.

“It’s the greatest stretch in the annals of history,” says Larkin. “The record will not show that the students of Alabama State had a major direct involvement in that march.”

ASU Executive Vice President John Knight told Alabama News Network in late March that the school had not yet secured the funds to build the center, but Robinson says the money is there.

“Much of that has been accumulated through donations and other sources,” he says. “We’re pretty comfortable and confident that the funds will be there.”

Though Larkin says otherwise.

“They don’t have the financial wherewithal to go to a bond market and to borrow money and they have no, as far as I can understand, no commitment from the National Parks Service.”

But Robinson says that commitment has been made.

“We made a strong case that Alabama State was the appropriate place in Montgomery for the interpretive center. The National Park Service accepted that argument.”