{"id":4176,"date":"2005-10-25T19:41:04","date_gmt":"2005-10-25T23:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/10\/25\/thank-you-rosa-parks\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:28","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:28","slug":"thank-you-rosa-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/10\/25\/thank-you-rosa-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"thank you, Rosa Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The media are filled with tributes to Rosa Parks, as we mourn <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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<\/SPAN><\/SPAN>her death yesterday at the age of 92. (see NYT<\/EM> article<\/A>).  Nearly <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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50 years ago — or, more to the point, only<\/EM> 50 years ago — she <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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was a catalyst for the civil rights movement and the fight for <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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true equality by Blacks in America.  Her courage came in the <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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simple refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white man and <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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thus continue to accept second-<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>class citizenship in <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>Montgomery, <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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Alabama.   <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> <\/DIV>
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\"RParks\"  orig<\/FONT><\/A>.\/Higgins\/NYT<\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> <\/DIV>
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I was 5 years old when Mrs. Parks took her stand, and I can’t<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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remember the actual event.  However, its repercussions were <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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felt and seen in our news media — and on the new tv that came <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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into my childhood home — as I was growing up.  For those who<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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wonder why many Blacks still feel that they are considered to be <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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less than fully-equal by many of their fellow Americans, here is <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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an example of the treatment they received less than 50 years ago, <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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when they tried to use public transportation to get to and from <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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work or school (from today’s <\/FONT>NYT<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A>):  <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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“On Montgomery buses, the first four rows were reserved <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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for whites. The rear was for blacks, who made up more <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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than 75 percent of the bus system’s riders. Blacks could <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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sit in the middle rows until those seats were needed by <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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whites. Then the blacks had to move to seats in the rear, <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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stand or, if there was no room, leave the bus. Even getting <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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on the bus presented hurdles: If whites were already sitting <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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in the front, blacks could board to pay the fare but then they <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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had to disembark and re-enter through the rear door.”<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Mrs. Parks’ arrest led to a boycott of bus by the City’s black popu-  \"not<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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lation.  <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>As the New York Times<\/EM> explains:<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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“Finally, on Nov. 13, 1956, in Browder v. Gayle <\/EM>[352 US 903], <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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the Supreme <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>Court outlawed segregation on buses. The court <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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order arrived <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>in Montgomery on Dec. 20; the boycott ended the <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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next day. <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>But the violence escalated: snipers fired into buses <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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as well as <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>Dr. [Martin Luther] King’s home, and bombs were <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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tossed into <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>churches and <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>into the homes of ministers.”<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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At a time when so many Americans know so little of our history; when <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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we call people “heroes” for simply doing their jobs or for accepting respon-<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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sibil<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>ities that should be expected of every person in our society; and when <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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young Americans (including <\/FONT>those<\/FONT><\/A> with law degrees), <\/FONT>choose<\/FONT><\/A> their own <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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financial or social interests over taking the right or ethical course of action <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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(thanks to the example or indifference of their elders, I must note), <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>I want <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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to thank Rosa <\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN>Parks for her courage and dignity.<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> <\/DIV>
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Moonlight spills through clouds…<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a new tombstone<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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scattered with wilted flowers <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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\"window<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/FONT>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Cold tea in cups—
sweaters draped over chairs
in the garden pagoda<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Autumn evening–<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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yellow leaves cover<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the plot reserved for me<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Rebecca Lilly<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Moonlight spills” & “Autumn evening” – <\/FONT>Shadwell Hills<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“cold tea” – Modern Haiku<\/EM> (<\/FONT>Spring 2004<\/FONT><\/A>) <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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                                                                                                                        <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV><\/DIV><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The media are filled with tributes to Rosa Parks, as we mourn her death yesterday at the age of 92. (see NYT article).  Nearly 50 years ago — or, more to the point, only 50 years ago — she was a catalyst for the civil rights movement and the fight for true equality by Blacks in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-15m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12954,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4176\/revisions\/12954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}