home

R.I.P. Rosa Parks

By Jeralyn, Section Social Justice
Posted on Mon Oct 24, 2005 at 06:03:39 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

Rosa Parks died today at 92.

Parks inspired the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1955.

Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system by blacks that was organized by a young Baptist preacher, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and led to a court ruling desegregating public transportation in Montgomery.

< Tucson Rape Victim Denied Morning After Pill | NYT: Tenet Told Cheney Who Told Libby >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    R.I.P. Rosa Parks | 16 comments (16 topical)
    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#1)
    by Kitt on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    Ms Parks is meeting up with all those pillars of social justice.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#2)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    Truly a life worth having lived. Peace.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    ALL TOO OFTEN, THE WORDS, THE BEST, SUPERSTAR OR HERO/HEROINE ARE SO OVER USED. HOWEVER, IN THE CASE OF ROSA PARKS, THEY ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO DISCRIBE A WOMAN, WHO WAS TIRED FROM A HARD DAYS WORK AND TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND. SHE BECAME A BECON FOR EQUAILTY, JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS THE WORLD ROUND. SOME HOW THE WORLD IS NOT NEARLY AS BRIGHT A PLACE WITHOUT HER. REST WELL ROSA PARKS

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#4)
    by Darryl Pearce on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    We shall meet but we shall miss her. There will be one vacant chair.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#5)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    The world may be a less bright place without her, but it is certainlt brighter because of her. She will live on in our hearts and memory as she is a part of us all.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#6)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    Go in peace, Rosa. You were, and you are, a blinding light. Your deeds had more effect than you'll ever know...

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#7)
    by desertswine on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    Rosa Parks is what happens when ordinary people do extraordinary things. Surely, this world is a better place thanks to her.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    Rosa Parks' action was thoroughly planned out by the local civil rights leadership (for whom she worked as a secretary). It was not a spontaneous act by a tired woman. That in no way diminishes her courage in taking the action, but let's embrace the truth, rather than some maudlin, Hollywood version of what happened.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:20 PM EST
    RIP Rosa Parks. You helped to light the way out of a moral darkness.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:22 PM EST
    "Her arrest ...that was organized by a young Baptist preacher, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Who was Parks' own pastor. He was 26 years old. By the following Monday, the buses were empty. When Bush tries to drag her corpse over his own to cover his shame, remember what Bush did to New Orleans.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:22 PM EST
    Posted by yasminah: "Rosa Parks' action was thoroughly planned" Good thing, too, or she would have joined Emmet Till in that river.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#12)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:23 PM EST
    I was going to say something to address yasmin's comment... But why?

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:23 PM EST
    Perpetuating the myth that the spontaneous action of one individual sparked a movement actually damages efforts toward social change. Read this for more: http://leadershipforchange.org/insights/conversation/files/hidden.php3 "When media reduces a story of committed, long-term leadership to a 30-second celebrity moment, more harm than good is done, says Loeb. This reportorial reductionism suggests to the public that social activists "come out of nowhere to suddenly take dramatic stands." Indeed, the overly-condensed, freeze-dried version discounts those people who spend years toiling for a cause without fame."

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#14)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:23 PM EST
    yas-Her death was not planned and that is what sparked this thread. I do not think unfamous toilers are discounted as they are usually too busy doing to care about superficial things like fame. That said thanks for the info.

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:24 PM EST
    yasminah, Ms. Parks was a living illustration of Louis Pasteur's dictum that "Fortune favors the prepared mind".

    Re: R.I.P. Rosa Parks (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:24 PM EST
    The activism can only be understood in the context of that time in those communities. The case of Emmet Till, in which a visiting Chicago black teen was viciously mutilated and then drowned for joking with a white girl, and the many other KKK lynchings and bombings of homes, as happened to MLK Jr.'s home, clarifies what a heroic and daring act of civil disobedience Rosa Parks took onto herself. She and her family could easily have been killed within days of her act. Without organization, without a huge media action like the bus boycott following immediately, she probably would have been killed. Racism is still with us -- Bush is a racist. Anyone who supports Bush is a racist. The people who killed MLK Jr. may be dead, but Bush has hired 1,500 Apartheid murderers for his vile and evil occupation-genocide for profit. Bush is the friend of rightwing racists around the world, such as Islam Karamov. Rosa Parks no longer has to demand her right to be safe, fairly treated, and enfranchized -- free from the racism of others. But she stood up while she was here, and towered over mountains.

    R.I.P. Rosa Parks | 16 comments (16 topical)