View Full Version : Face of Strength and Dignity
ethics
10-03-2004, 03:12 AM
Nope, not Kerry... nor Bush... But Civil Rights redux...
In July of 2004, 48 years after the Montgomery Bush Boycotts that led to Rosa parks' arrest, a deputy in Alabama uncovers her long forgotten mugshot. A quiet dignity and the strength of her convictions is palpable in her gaze.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/rparksmug1.html
You know, I've been thinking about her on and off lately, and not to take this OT, but it REALLY pissed me off when the NAACP, in its infinite wisdom, chose to put Rodney King on the dais next to her as their man of the year. As huge an insult as I perceived that to be, she didn't bat an eye. Perhaps she didn't see it in the same vein as I did...or perhaps she did. In either case, she is a class act and a class lady.
Montgomery <b>Bush</b> Boycotts
That is funny.
One of my first trips when I move to Alabama will be Montgomery. I want to see the bus stop. I want to see where King's house was. I want to drive from Selma to Montgomery. Those were some troubled times and brought out some of the best and worst in our nation. She is amazing.
ShinyTop
10-03-2004, 11:37 AM
It is ironic that Rosa Parks is the icon for the protest. Taking nothing away from Ms Parks, the innumerable protesters of segregation who were just jailed or, all too often, just killed preceded Ms Parks. The south of the 50's was a bastion of racism where people bragged until the 70's about spending weekends driving through black neighborhoods and shooting and laughing at how the blacks ran. I was in the Alabama Guard in the 70's and heard many such stories. By the mid 70's it was long past and many units were reflective of their community as far as percentages of minorities. Ms Parks was in the right place at the right time for the subsequent boycott to take place in her name. But she should be honored every bit as much for representing the unnamed and often deceased protesters who were too early for the movement.
It is ironic that Rosa Parks is the icon for the protest. Taking nothing away from Ms Parks, the innumerable protesters of segregation who were just jailed or, all too often, just killed preceded Ms Parks. The south of the 50's was a bastion of racism where people bragged until the 70's about spending weekends driving through black neighborhoods and shooting and laughing at how the blacks ran. I was in the Alabama Guard in the 70's and heard many such stories. By the mid 70's it was long past and many units were reflective of their community as far as percentages of minorities. Ms Parks was in the right place at the right time for the subsequent boycott to take place in her name. But she should be honored every bit as much for representing the unnamed and often deceased protesters who were too early for the movement.
Very well said.