The interpretive center will now be known as the James Perkins Jr. Voting Rights Interpretive Center after the Selma City Council passed a resolution to rename the building Tuesday night.

The idea to name a building after Perkins, who was the first African American mayor in Selma, came before the council at a Sept. 17 work session. A citizen, Althelstein Johnson, requested the council to name the amphitheater after Perkins.

The idea was relegated to committee, and the idea of renaming the interpretive center was brought up by Councilman Greg Bjelke because of Perkins’ involvement with the voting rights movement.

The renaming of the building passed with a 6-3 vote, but it didn’t come without controversy.

After a motion was made by Councilman Johnson and seconded by Councilwoman Bennie Ruth Crenshaw to vote on renaming the building, Councilman Williamson made a motion to table the vote until after the mayoral election because Perkins is running for mayor.

Councilman Bennie Tucker seconded the motion to table the vote, but Crenshaw wanted to go through with it. As Council President Corey Bowie called for the vote, Williamson said the council had to vote on tabling the vote before voting to rename the building.

Williamson said a motion to table a vote takes precedence over normal motions.

The vote to table the motion failed with three votes to table it and five votes to not table it. Williamson, Bjelke and Tucker voted to table it, while Bowie abstained from the vote. Keith, Benjamin, Randolph, Crenshaw and Johnson voted to not table the vote.

“I just want to tell everybody that this is very difficult. Mayor Evans, I love you, and I support you as mayor, but I want to tell you something,” Keith said before voting against tabling the vote.

“James Perkins is our first African American mayor, and something does need to be named for him, and they offered to name the amphitheater after him, and we wanted to sell corporate sponsorships, and we offered to name the interpretive center after him, and I have said I would support that.”

Before the council voted to rename the center, Williamson said the effort to name a building after Perkins is politically driven.

“I also think something should be named for the former mayor, but I think we’ve had seven years to do that, and so we come up here in the midst of an election,” Williamson said.

“People can be blind and they can be dishonest, but Mayor Perkins has been running for mayor ever since the day he was voted out of office.”

Bowie, Williamson and Bjelke voted against naming the center, and the rest of the council voted yes.

“We are all politicians. We live in a political world,” Keith said. “It probably is political on the part of some people. It is probably not political on the part of some people, but when it all comes down to it, the right thing is just the right thing.”

According to city attorney Jimmy Nunn, the city has the right to name the building because the National Park Service does not own the building. Nunn said the only requests the NPS had were to keep the emblem on the building and interpretive center in the name.

Tucker questioned where the money would come from to rename the building, but Bowie assured they would find money in the budget to get it done.