Rosa Parks

Now that Miss Parks has been laid to rest, I'd like to say a few words. I thought long and hard about just what it was that this lady did so many years ago. She refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white man. And played a large part in starting a movement that lead to the exposure of a dirty little (open) secret that prevailed in this country, and others, for far too long. That blacks, or anyone, should defer to white men simply because they are white.

I find it hard to believe that any man, white or otherwise, would ask any woman for her seat. Not that I doubt it happened. Unfortunately, there are men out there who think that all they have to do is express the wish that they want something and a woman will gladly give it to them. Talk about being self-absorbed and shallow. And I know there was a lot more involved than a simple refusal to give up a seat. There were all kinds of social ramifications that happened because of it. But the biggest thing is that it made people think.

And yes, I know that was how it was in that day and age. Especially in the South. The hierarchy was white men, white women, white kids, then blacks, or Negroes as they were called then. It wasn't right, but it was "how things were." We can't, and shouldn't even try to, change history, but we can report it, talk about it, and teach it as history. We know what is right and what is wrong. We can do what is right and change what is wrong. I doubt Ms. Parks said to herself, "This is my chance to get back. I can have my place in history. One day I'll lie in state in the Capitol rotunda." I think she was just a very tired lady who had enough.

Let me ask this question: does anyone remember the name of that man? I know I don't, if I ever knew it to begin with. If he is still living, his name should be shouted from the rooftops and reviled as the man who asked a woman to give up her seat on a bus. I hope his wife let him have it when he got home, although he probably had her trained to not question his actions. After all, he was "the man of the house". Some man.

Miss Rosa, if I may be so personal, you set a new standard for all women. Women began to think about what they "knew" and what they were told by their husbands. I know you refused to give up your seat and move to the bad of the bus because you had worked all day and you were tired. I can only assume that he also had worked all day and was tired. But, a "gentleman" does not ask a woman to give up her seat. A gentleman has manners and shows courtesy to all. Only an ignorant, rude, uncouth, self-absorbed buffoon would do that. His mama must have been very proud of her son that day.

And he, whose name remains unknown, was the catalyst to a change in history that he could not have forseen in a thousand years. It was unthinkable that events would have unfolded as they did. Miss Rosa may have been the one arrested, but he is the one who cause this change in history and whose name is unknown to most people today.

Abraham Lincoln said to Harriet Beecher Stowe, "So you're the little lady who caused this great war." We can say to Rosa Parks, "So you're the little lady who began this great Civil Rights movement."

Rosa Parks showed courage that day. Courage and a moral center that knew what was wrong and defied both man and law. May we all have that courage when the time comes.