24 September 2016•Update: 27 September 2016
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama Saturday opened the country's first museum devoted exclusively to African-American culture in Washington D.C. without mentioning a word about the ongoing unrest in U.S. cities following alleged police violence against blacks.
The $540 million National Museum of African-American History and Culture would "tell a story of America that hasn't always taken a front seat," Obama said in his address to the audience.
"It helps us better understand the lives, yes, of a president, but also the slave, the industrialist, but also the worker. The teacher or the cook, alongside the story of the statesman," he said.
"By understanding this story, it binds us together and reaffirms we are all Americans."
He hoped the museum would help build bridges between people in the country.
"We're not a burden on America or a stain on America or an object of shame and pity for America. We are America. And that’s what this museum explains," he said. "Hopefully, this museum makes us talk to each other and listen to each other and see each other."
The building was designed by British architect David Adjaye and the construction of the building was signed into law by former President George W. Bush, who was also at the opening.
According to the museum’s website, it contains 36,000 items, ranging from trade goods used to buy slaves in Africa to a segregated railway car from the 1920s.
The museum opening came as North Carolina’s Charlotte city remained engulfed by protests against police brutality, which killed an unarmed black man.
After another person was killed during the protests in the city earlier in the week, the governor of North Carolina declared a state of emergency in Charlotte.
