Your Views: Time for a Justice Black museum

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Your Views: Time for a Justice Black museum
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To the editor:

For many years, Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black lived on Lee Street in Alexandria. A distinguished jurist, Black shaped the unanimous school desegregation decision and championed civil liberties during the dark days of the McCarthy era.

Now is the time – past due time – for Alexandria to pay tribute to Justice Black. Interestingly, Black was an Alabaman who in his early years had been a member of the Klu Klux Klan, but moved on.

Instead of pursuing the misguided goal of erasing the Confederacy from street names, City Council should shift gears and create a small Hugo Black museum with public and private funding. Imagine a museum with Justice Black’s voice, combined with photographs and a bold narrative, that underscores the continuing need for civil rights and civil liberties, providing a model for other cities to emulate. In so doing we would have done something great for the country.

-Peter Bernstein, Alexandria

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