City leaders have made their feelings known: Downtown Jackson is a better location than Tougaloo College for the National Civil Rights Museum of Mississippi.

The museum's site in recent weeks has pitted powerful Jackson business and civic leaders against a proud group of alums who support Tougaloo, the small, predominately African-American college northwest of the city.
But it shouldn't be that way. So said Wilma Mosely Clopton, president of the Historic Farish Street District Foundation.

She said it's unfortunate that a consultants' study has "plunged the city into an unnecessary tug of war over civil rights."

Clopton said both Jackson and Tougaloo are equally significant in Mississippi's struggle for the equality of African Americans.

"The ties of the Tougaloo Nine to Jackson are as strong as that of the Freedom Riders to Farish Street," she said.