Don’t expect everyone at the groundbreaking ceremony for the George W. Bush Presidential Center to be a supporter of the Bush administration.
Peace activists are planning to protest the Nov. 16 ceremony in an attempt to make sure that the library doesn’t whitewash over Bush’s record.
“We as citizens must take it upon ourselves to make sure that truth is not buried by spin doctors,” Trish Major, communications director of the Dallas Peace Center, told The Dallas Morning News.
Officials are expecting thousands of visitors during the ceremony.
SMU is working with area officials and the Secret Service to plan security and traffic details, but told the DMN that nothing has been finalized.
Protest officials say the protest won’t be directed at Bush personally, but rather at his record and his White House legacy.
The protestors will include peace activists from across Texas and some members of the clergy.
“We saw advisers who said torture was permissible under U.S. law,” Major told the DMN. “We’ve seen economic policy that favors the rich over the poor. We’ve seen unprecedented power invested in the executive branch that has never been quite as blatant. And we’ve seen diminished civil rights with the Patriot Act.”
The ceremony will take place a week after the Nov. 9 release date of Bush’s autobiography, “Decision Points.”
Construction for the Bush Library is expected to be completed in 2013.