A Fierce American in Toronto, Ontario

October 25, 2005

Rosa Parks 1913-2005

Rosa Parks and MLK.bmp
Rosa Parks and Dr. King

Oct. 25 - Rosa Parks, whose refusal to give up her seat to a white man sparked the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956, passed away yesterday at the age of 92. What words can possibly express the immense respect and admiration due this woman who, by a simple act of dignity, brought national attention to a deep injustice in our country thus prodding at and eventually awakening the conscience of that nation?

There was an additional layer to the issue: Mrs. Parks was a woman and it was considered a decent courtesy for a man to give up his seat for a woman, yet she was supposed to surrender her seat to him. It was impossible not to recognize that Mrs. Parks had been denied a common courtesy which her gender should have accorded her - if one considered her to be human. And, of course, that was the ultimate question.

I was too young to be fully aware of the boycott but as I grew older and learned more about Jim Crow laws (those laws mandating "separate but equal" facilities) I was incredulous - as perhaps only a child could be - when I learned that there were states that had laws requiring that, e.g., schools, hotels, drinking fountains, swimming pools, beaches and washrooms be segregated: there must be separate facilities for white people and "colored" people. Anyone's sense of fair play was further outraged when it was recognized that the reality was that there was not necessarily a duplication of services; for example, African-Americans were not allowed to drink out of water fountains marked "For Whites Only" but that did not necessarily mean that there was a water fountain nearby marked "For Coloreds Only." (The indignity worsens when we recall that the same lack of facilities held true for washrooms.)

Those times are thankfully in the past. They may be part of our history but they are past history, and although there are still racists in our midst they no longer have the acquiescence of the state. Which, again, brings us back to Rosa Parks.

The biography which CNN offers in the above link is adequate, but a better one is available here. Both articles note her involvement in the NAACP, but did you know that it was founded in 1909? (read the time line at that last link - you may find some surprises.)

There will likely be a great many public tributes over the next few days but I'd like to think that the better ones will be those many of us will be paying in our hearts to this woman who, with Dr. King, challenged us to be better Americans and better Christians and Jews.

Thank you, Mrs. Parks, and God bless you. You made us better.

Posted by: Debbye at 12:59 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 473 words, total size 3 kb.

1 I just had a complete Rosa Parks post eaten up and lost by mu.nu, but Rosa Parks is worth dpoing it all over again. [I'll save before posting this time]. Getting on a bus in Washington DC, cira 1962, I was rivited by the furtive behavior of a nice fortyish black lady. She got up from her mid-bus seat and moved to the back so that my seating choices would be wider. I sat down behind the bus driver and looked out the window to conceal any emotion showing. Being from Montreal where everyone respects everyone regardless of race colour or even Martian heritage, this behaviour was a shocking intro to southern social conditioning in the USA. Just knowing that Rosa Parks contributed to earasing that condition is enough to make her a peerless hero to me. I do not want to ever see any person of any heritage give up their bus seat to me with that scared look in their eye, ever again. TG

Posted by: TonyGuitar at October 25, 2005 04:12 PM (rmMzv)

2 I'm truly amazed (humbled perhaps) at the effect one decent person can have on society. Mrs. Parks, you have left the world a better place. Thank you.

Posted by: John B at October 26, 2005 10:23 AM (ju7Wp)

3 I just finished adding 512 Mb to my Compaq Presario computer and I am delighted with the results. The three, [always on top], performance bars really tell the story too. Top real time bar is CPU demand, middle is memory and the third is virtual memory. The two memory reserve bars are giving me more than double the head room I used to have and of course everything is quicker. Should have done this as soon as I got the Presario. For a step by step of how to easily add memory , there is a pretty clear account of what I did at: http://Anchorpin.Redpin.com So you can see how easy it is if you have not added a memory module yet. The active graph bar that clearly shows how the computer has improved is called Cool Beans and it’s a perfect freeware program. It’s small, yet it gets all your computer specs and tells you how good your computer is as well. TG http://my.Opera.com/T-G/

Posted by: TonyGuitar at October 27, 2005 03:22 AM (rmMzv)

4 You gotta hand it to Rosa Parks. It took a middle-aged black woman with tired feet to show America what a dungpile it is, and if America was ever even half of what it so obnoxiously claims to be nobody would've ever heard of Mrs. Parks because her noble effort would have been totally unneccessary.

Posted by: Terrence at October 27, 2005 11:37 AM (6/LqO)

5 You gotta hand it to Rosa Parks. It took a middle-aged black woman with tired feet to show America what a dungpile it is, and if America was ever even half of what it so obnoxiously claims to be nobody would've ever heard of Mrs. Parks because her noble effort would have been totally unneccessary and thus would've never happened.

Posted by: Terrence at October 27, 2005 11:37 AM (6/LqO)

6 New Trojan: Public Service Mention: [Canadians who sign on for Afghanistan soldiers of fortune army.] Hey, Drug addicts will sign up. There they can walk about in Heroin Heaven, carrying a lethal weapon and wearing Canadian government permission. Poppyfield nirvanna. Oh deliver me please.. eh? Webroot just proved itself this morning. It caught 11 reporter cookies and one Back-door Trojan. Not a bad find, when you consider Bill Gates scans for stuff here every am around 2. Google Webroot. It's just a few bucks or they may still have a free version. I thought someone was poking about in my Compaqy1. Zapped him now! Posted the Webroot screen [ small thumbnail] on http://My.Opera.com/T-G/ Terrence, don't worry about paying tribute to Rosa twice. She deserves it. Some times a comment goes the long way around, pausing for a breath in China or random scanning in the Brock Mountain Security complex. Then it shows up a little after your second post..eh?

Posted by: TonyGuitar at October 27, 2005 02:46 PM (rmMzv)

7 Nice tribute. Isn't it just like our Liberal government to remain silent about the death of Rosa Parks?

Posted by: Al Gordon at October 28, 2005 11:45 PM (xIUY7)

8 Ha! Nice one, Al! What was Pierre Pettigrew doing instead - getting his hair styled in Paris by a limp-wristed cheese-eating surrender monkey?? If only more people had Rosa Parks' bravery, the Palestinians would be defeated.

Posted by: Joan O'C at October 29, 2005 12:06 AM (xIUY7)

9 Completely OT, but, Debbye, you might want to check your e-mail... Just saying, is all...