At a time when riots in the streets over racial issues often make it feel like the 1960’s all over again, it’s no surprise that the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in downtown Greensboro is presenting a new series of three programs with the theme of “Revolution and its significance for protest.”

The presentations are titled “Tear Down,” “Figure Out” and “Build Up.”

The programs are being presented in reverse order, and the first one, “Build Up,” will focus on events in 1868 when the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted, granting the rights in the Bill of Rights to freed slaves.  

The first presentation will be offered on Saturday, July 25 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and also on Monday, July 27, from noon to 1 p.m.

The “Figure Out” presentation will be presented on Thursday, Sept. 17 and Friday, Sept. 18.

No date has been announced for the third presentation.

The promotional literature describing the series states that all three of those steps are needed to finally bring about true equality.

“If people together can carry out all of these, they might well accomplish a real revolution,” the description states, adding that what’s going on now in the national protests is part of a “continuing American Revolution.”

The Civil Rights Museum’s new program is also a call to action.

“Anything ‘systemically’ bad will not be systemically improved without systematic reconstruction of the ‘system’ that produced and perpetrated the awful state of affairs,” the promotional flyer states. “Otherwise, it’s just window dressing, like painted plywood panels.”

The three-part series is meant to move participants “beyond ‘critical thinking’ to ‘constructivist thinking.’”

“We need the promised RECONSTRUCTION of the nation,” the flyer states. “That is the justification of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and it should be the motivation of its continuation or revival now.”

The flyer goes on to state that condemning something as evil is just the first step toward replacing it with something good.

Those who wish to register for the free online events can send an email to mailto:info@sitinmovement.orgor call (336) 274-9199. Registration information should also be posted soon at www.sitinmovement.org.