Congresswoman Karen Bass: What Would Rosa Parks Say?



Parks would say
to Rep. Bass:
"Stop putting my people
in the back of the
bus!



Earlier this year, the House of Representatives honored the Civic Rights leader Rosa Parks with a commemorative statue in the Capitol. I wonder if Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-Culver City) took the time to visit the unveiling and share her sentiments.

Seated in peaceful poise, Rosa Parks rests amiably, looking ahead, not worried about the future. The bronzed legacy of this woman who blazed a trail for civil rights is remembered for what she would not do: give up her seat on the front of a Montgomery, Alabama bus after a long day of work. Despite the repeated demands of the bus driver for her to move back, she refused, was arrested, then aroused enough outrage to organize the final, and successful boycott of the Montgomery bus line.

Following the shameful uproars in reaction to the Zimmerman verdict, and Rep. Bass’ shameless pandering with young Trayvon’s photo on her Twitter account, Ms. Parks would feel less peaceful and more distressed, upset that a legacy of respectable demonstration has given way to violent frustration among African-American civic leaders and those who heed them heedlessly.

Congresswoman Bass, you are one of those civic leaders. You blame racism in American society, claiming that the ill-repute which justified putting blacks like Rosa Parks in the back of the bus then still lingers today in our country. You claim, as do racially-driven activists like Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, that there is no justice for black people, that white America is responsible, and the Zimmerman verdict is proof.

What would Rosa Parks say about the Zimmerman verdict?

First, I believe that she would applaud the American Criminal Justice System because prosecutors indicted a man of mixed heritage for the murder of a young black child, while decades ago, most blacks were routinely lynched by rabid mobs. Oftentimes, white rioters would pose with the bodies of the African-Americans whom they had murdered, because they knew that no white jury would convict them. Parks would likely recall the untimely death of young Trayvon Martin with the wicked slaughter of young Emmett Till of Mississippi, a fifteen-year old African-American boy who was brutally murdered for whistling at a white woman. “We have come a long way!” Parks would say. I also believe that she would respect the verdict handed down by the jury, in large part because the state of Florida was willing to spend twelve days with fifty-six witnesses to investigate whether George Zimmerman had committed murder or had merely engaged in self-defense.

Yet leaving behind the Zimmerman verdict, the notion of latent racism which erupts in our country still animates civil rights activists to act uncivilly in the public square. Perhaps, Rep. Bass, you would argue that African-Americans still endure the hardships which Ms. Parks had to put up with.

Let’s compare the time when Parks refused to give up her seat with the present-day plight of African-Americans. . .

Parks was tired, Congresswoman Bass. She was tired of being told where to sit. She was tired of the disrespect which she and others of her race had endured for so long. She was tired of being told what she could and could not do. She was also tired of what she could make, as well. She was tired of giving into a lie that she had to put up with disrespect because of her skin color.

What would Rosa Parks say today about African-Americans today?

Parks would say they are worse off because they see nothing but grievance and racism behind every verdict which exonerates a non-black person in the death of black person. She would also be disgusted by modern-day African-Americans who trumpet racism and victimization, all while the enable the same in black communities to this day.

She would call out the Democratic hegemony of these racist leaders, then remind everyone that it was the Democratic Party – the party of slavery, secession, and segregation -- that had been persecuting black folks. Parks would be appalled that African-Americans have flocked to the Democratic Party, not just because of the history, but their current policies, many of which you support, Rep. Bass, along with the first black President, Barack Obama. These policies place blacks at a greater disadvantage than any white President or white supremacist in the last fifty years.

She would indict the Obama Administration, because today blacks suffer twice the national average of unemployment. Black youth like Trayvon face 50% unemployment. They suffer in poor public schools, they live in ghettoes riddled illegitimacy and dependency, subsidized by welfare dollars. Blacks are not shiftless and lazy, but Democrats have become limitless and crazy in telling everyone what they can do, what they can make, and thus force blacks to sit in poverty and stagnation.
In light of these disturbing trends, what would Rosa Parks say, Rep. Bass?
She would shout:

“Stop putting my people in the back of the bus!”

Instead of pandering to sentiments of racism and victimhood, Rep. Bass, stop supporting destructive Democratic policies which hurt your people. Stop lying, stop pandering, and allow every African-American a chance to choose where they sit.