The work for civil rights never ends. But in Riverside, the work at the Civil Rights Institute is racing toward a deadline.
When I visit on Wednesday, 10 days before the opening, a temporary fence surrounds the property, workers in orange T-shirts and hard hats are repaving the street and construction materials are stacked in the parking garage.
On the institute’s grounds, the plaza is half-finished, with the Walk of Fame pavers still to be laid. Offices are bare. Video screens for portions of the inaugural exhibit, “Still I Rise: The Black IE Fight for Justice,” are yet to be installed. (If you read this Sunday, that’s five days after my visit, and much more of the work will be completed.)