The First of December: Some thoughts about Rosa Parks

[Zomby Woof]

"Make me an angel, that flies from Montgomery..." -- John Prine

On the cusp of a half century since that fateful December afternoon in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks is at rest, having served humanity with dignity and steely grace for 92 years.

For the considerable numbers of us who grew up in the shadow of the American civil rights movement, and in the decades since, it is all too easy to take for granted the sacrifices made by courageous Americans like Rosa Parks. It is nothing less than essential that we never lose perspective on the price of these struggles, and to be mindful that it really was not so long ago, in the arc of America's long and continuing march to freedom, that these advances for human rights and equality for all were hard won. For a white man like myself, I can never know what it was like, or is like, to endure the raw hatred, fearful acts of violence, or bear the brunt of intolerable ignorance as did our black sisters and brothers.

But in the absence of that personal firsthand knowledge, I can honor the memory of Rosa Parks and the entire civil rights movement by acknowledging the simple fact that if one of us isn't free, none of us are free. It is for the liberty of all people that we must be eternally vigilant. Honor the struggle, look back on it with pride and a sense of accomplishment, but do not rest. Do not be complacent.

Forging ahead against complacency - that is how Rosa Parks lived her life. From the brave young girl who resisted the taunts and threats of a fear-ridden white child, to the elder spokesperson for dignity and equality for her fellow human beings worldwide, her life was an extraordinary journey, replete with lessons for us all in how to live, and how to fight for what is right and noble and good.

The Civil Rights Era of the Twentieth Century was born on a bus, and fostered in churches, meeting halls, schools, and living rooms across the south. Disclipined organization, activism in the streets, boycotting, enduring arrests, jailings, lynchings and bombings of homes and places of worship - these were the defining prices extolled for equality and freedom. These were endured and fought for by patriots we can all admire and emulate.

Do not be complacent. It was not so long ago, that first day of December in Nineteen Hundred and Fifty-Five. In the crucible of the Deep South, only there could the hardest and best-fought victories be obtained, with liberty and justice for all.

For the angel made in Montgomery, thank you dear Rosa.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Nothing more to say.

:thumbsup:

[babylonsister]

2. That's a lovely tribute. Thank you, and may Ms. Parks RIP. nt

[Mandate My Ass]

3. I grew up in racially antagonistic Phila in the late 60s

under Frank Rizzo, an openly racist police commissioner. What an ugly time. By the mid 70s, the more violent neighborhoods became increasingly integrated. We kids tried to figure out what the fuss had been about as we made friends with those we had been taught to hate and fear. By then there were casualties on both sides who had never spoken a cross word against each other before the point of a knife or barrel of a gun forced the issue. :shrug:

RIP, Rosa.

[nini]

4. Very few seem to have her guts these days

We need more Rosa Parks to stand up for what is right. She was a national treasure and should always stand for doing the right thing. May she rest in the peace she deserves.

[bloom]

5. Rosa Parks was the beginning

and it took all of those people who followed through with the bus boycott to get the ball rolling. And all of the supporters and marchers and carriers on...


I was noticing this today:

Civil Rights Act of 1964

"The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA '64) in the United States was landmark legislation. The original purpose of the Bill was to protect black men from job (and other) discrimination, but at the last minute in an attempt to kill the bill, it was expanded to include protection for women. As a result it formed a political impetus for feminism."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

---

What a travesty it would have been for Rosa Parks and every woman if this bill did not prohibit discrimination against (all) women as well as for black men. It's outrageous that that was even an option.

[nini]

6. kick

.

[bobbieinok]

7. the black Americans' Civil Rights Movement has been a model for the world

I was not aware of this until a few years ago. I was able to watch live the commemoration of MLK's birthday in Atlanta, the one at which Bishop Tutu spoke. He said that the blacks in South Africa had been inspired by what the blacks in the US had been able to do.

That same year I saw the end of a PBS story on the events in Central Europe. The older reporter said that at the end many of the people working for freedom from the Soviet Union were singing 'We shall overcome', the unofficial anthem of the American Civil Rights Movement. He claimed this was not reported b/c most of the reporters were too young to have lived through the Civil Rights Movement and didn't recognize the song.

In the summer of 1991 I was in Berlin. There I bought a banner with the MLK words 'I have a dream.' The words of the American Civil Rights Movement purchased in Berlin (after a unification few believed earlier would ever happen) on a cloth banner made in Italy.