Rosa Parks Birthday Celebration: "I Got Tired of Giving In"

CBS' program "Sunday Morning" presented a birthday tribute for Rosa Parks, the Birmingham, Alabama seamstress who finally had had enough, and had refused to give up her bus seat to a white man on the city bus line.

Here is the video I recorded of the segment, and below are snapshots of the event:

What We Still Need to Learn from Rosa Parks

This week, President Trump commemorated the courage of Rosa Parks, the Montgomery, Alabama seamstress who refused to give up her seat on a bus. In his latest address, the President expanded on the significance of her civil disobedience: “She defended the truth etched into our Declaration of Independence, that all of us, regardless of the color of our skin, are created equal by God.” Incidentally, both Trump and Parks received Ellis Island Awards in 1989 for their work helping inner city black youth.

I first learned about Rosa Parks in Second Grade. The actors dramatizing her story were black and white, but they interchanged the races of their roles by wearing a black or white scarf. It was an interesting interplay, demonstrating that the fight for civil rights belongs to everyone. In high school, I watched a one-woman show dramatizing that entire day. The actress played Rosa Parks’ coming home from work. She also played the racist bus driver telling her to give up her seat, then presented the aftermath of her arrest and the sensational fame that followed.

The basic details of that fateful day are well-known. December 1^st, 1955, Parks was coming home from another long day at work. Alabama winter dip into the low 40s, so she took the bus. She was ready to get out of the cold and get home, as anyone would. Because of the racist Jim Crow laws, she sat down in the Colored Section of the bus after she bought her pass. Pretty soon, the entire “Whites Only” section filled up, yet more white passengers began boarding. The bus driver told Parks and three other black passengers to move to the back of the bus. While the others moved as ordered, she refused. Despite warnings from the bus driver that he would have her arrested, she said “No”. Police arrived, put her in handcuffs, booked her. She was released on $100 bail.

Recently, I learned more pertinent details of that day and why Rosa Parks’ simple act of defiance brought down the established racist social order.

Some people think that Parks was a lady just looking for a fight. In the past, Parks had grudgingly complied with Jim Crow laws, although one incident stuck out her in mind. In 1943, she paid her fare, then attempted to enter through the middle door outside, the common practice on segregated bus lines. Instead of waiting, the bus driver just drove off without her. She determined never to suffer that kind of outrage and humiliation, and further resolved to avoid that particular bus driver, James Blake. But without realizing it, her bus driver that day was the same bigoted bus driver who had left her stranded 12 years ago. There was no way that Blake would get away with dishonoring her a second time.

Many people believe that Parks decided on that December evening to resist the bus line’s Jim Crow ordinance. Some readers may even recall Old Eddie’s refrain from the movie Barbershop: “Rosa Parks didn’t do nothin’ but sit her black a--- down … she was tired.” Actually, Parks wasn’t burned out physically that evening. Also, she had been waiting for the right moment to challenge the unjust law. In her own words, Parks was just “tired of giving in.”

What was she thinking about at that critical moment on the bus? What imposed on her specifically to stand firm and not give in? She thought of 14-yearold Emmett Till, the black boy brutally lynched earlier that year for whistling at a white woman. The bitter injustice of a young boy’s outrageous  murder motivated her to take a stand.

Furthermore, Rosa Parks’ decision was not some “didn’t do nothing” act, for she suffered a great deal following her civil disobedience. She went to jail, faced a fine. Supporters filed a lawsuit on her behalf, which stalled in court. She would lose her job and receive death threats afterwards, even when she moved to Detroit. It cost her a great deal.

Another question arises: Many black activists before her had refused to give up their seats, yet nothing happened. Why was Parks’ refusal to give up her seat successful in fueling protest and ending the bus line segregation? Her actions captured the attention of the new, burgeoning national media, which repeatedly documented the excesses of liberal Democratic bigotry in the South. Because of her connections with fellow activists as the secretary of the Montgomery NAACP, outrage erupted immediately to organize a sustained and ultimately successful boycott.

What should we learn today from her fight against racism and government-sponsored bigotry? How all of us can fight back against a latent movement of resegregation on college campuses and liberal cities. The obsession in higher education with “white supremacy” is particularly disturbing and needs to be confronted, and not just in the United States. One activist in Downtown Los Angeles informed me that white people in South Africa are now experiencing unprecedented racial discrimination, from black patrons who refuse to tip white servers, to white farmers being driven off their land.

Charges of racism have also turned into a militant excuse to shut down meaningful discussion on college campuses. Black activists have blocked white students from entering college dorms. Chicano activists chased white people out of a local park in San Diego. A Professor Emeritus at UC Riverside chanted about “The Brown Race and the Brown Giant” taking over the United States. On the same campus, a Hispanic student stole a MAGA hat from a Trump supporter in the name of ending “genocide”. Whatever happened to “All men are created equal”? Racism is racism, no matter who perpetrates it or is victimized by it.

Let’s hope that Rosa Parks’ example will inspire people today to see everyone as created equal in the eyes of God. The fight for civil rights includes everyone. If necessary, more people will need to engage in civil disobedience, always with the emphasis on “civil”. Parks’ example should still inspire us.

Letter to the Editor: Rosa Parks Wasn't the Only One

Mr. Schaper,

I very much enjoyed your piece on Rosa Parks.  She became the poster girl for civil rights after the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott , but that isn't the whole story.  Millions of school children have learned of her brave refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus in December 1955 and the subsequent struggle to desegregate the buses in Montgomery.  Nine months before Rosa refused to give up her seat on the bus a 15 year old Negro girl  named Claudette Colvin refused to giver up her seat on a Montgomery bus and was arrested, and it was she  and four other young women whose testimony and court case (Broder v Gayle) ended segregation on buses in the South.  In fact when Jo Ann Robinson printed thousands of flyers that began the bus boycott Claudette's name (though misspelled as Claudette Colbert)  and not Rosa's was on the flyers. On December 17, 1956 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the case that included Claudette.

Unfortunately Claudette Colvin his become a forgotten footnote in history.  Like Rosa, Claudette moved North where she took a job in a hospital.  She was occasionally interviewed by historians and media, but she lived in the shadow of Rosa Parks.  It is a shame that our politicians, schools and media have neglected to study the actual case and continue to celebrate Rosa. Claudette  was an inspiration and she deserves to be recognized.

Sincerely,

Gary Y. Coates

----

I don't see why we should not recognized Claudette!

Christian Conservatives (Trump Supporters) Are the New Black: Like Rosa Parks, Persecuted over Civil Rights

Lisa Jones, a fellow Trump supporter and Christian conservative, reached out to me after what I had endured in Berkeley this past weekend.

As I had found, she realized that the vicious vile attacks of Antifa against me and other Trump supporters would end up working in our favor.

Here were the first remarks she sent me:

Blessings to you and yours remain encouraged

You may need to make a copy of this before it's deleted After the vile comment was made to you... you  clearly said. I don't hate any of you..  someone named walker asked me if I knew which videos would be best to be put together and asked that if I had the links to pass in on.. I tagged you in the comments he made mention about some grand jury? Told him as you'll see in the post he needed to coordinate with you... the other video of you being spat upon I know you already have.... Vet the guy well if you don't already know him... Blessings to you and yours...

ALERT Is this Arthur Schaper being surrounded by angry prospectors and told "Jesus ain't gonna come and be your savior today" Please say it's not so.... 

You can hear in the above video one of the Antifa harassers mocking me: "Jesus ain't gonna save you now."

Shameful and hateful. They have exposed their unfettered bigotry, and they are not put to open shame:

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 54:17)

Then I received a new message from her:

You're on the news again... like I said when many posted how sad they were over what you endured...I told them no need to be sad... ANTIFA just gave the Christian conservative right a Rosa Parks moment.

That will help expose them... the comment "Jesus is not gonna be your savior today" we know that's not true...but mocking Jesus sealed their doomed fate.. I pray they repent and change their ways to more fruitful endeavors that promotes peace.

Indeed, the hateful Antifa registered so much antipathy for their criminal antics against peaceful people, even Nancy Pelosi had to condemn them "without equivocation".

We refuse to sit in the back of the bus!

Let's work together and Make America Great Again!

MLK Day 2017: We Have Come a Long Way!

On this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, instead of listening to irreverent race-baiters like “Reverends” Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, let us imagine what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his colleague Rosa Parks might say about race relations in America.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 First, Dr. King would remind us that in previous decades, white people were never indicted, let alone convicted and incarcerated for willfully killing black people. White lynch mobs would preen for cameras following their savage murders of black people, brazenly smiling because they knew that no white jury would convict them.

 

King would retell the trial of the “Scottsboro Boys”, in which a white judge set aside a corrupt guilty verdict, knowing full well that the nine young African-American men did not rape a white woman of dubious reputation and loose morals. A white lawyer from New York represented those black defendants, and shortly afterward blacks were serving on Alabama juries. King would then remind everyone about the unjust slaughter of fifteen-year old Emmett Till, murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. Fifty years later, prosecutors indicted Till’s killer. Trayvon Martin of Florida was killed by a man of mixed heritage. The state scheduled twelve days and fifty-six witnesses for his case. Maybe King would mention OJ Simpson, a wealthy African-American athlete and entertainer who was tried for murder, defended by a black lawyer and Harvard Law Professor. OJ was not convicted, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and general outrage from the public. 

 

In his “Letter in a Birmingham Jail”, King lamented that blacks were still begging for a coffee at the local restaurant. Today, blacks are celebrated entrepreneurs and investors, including Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who helped gang-riddled, irrepressibly corrupt Compton, California. Herman Cain owned Godfather’s Pizza. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm of New York State ran for Congress and for President, long before Obama. Unlike the race-hustlers of today, Chisholm reached out to all Americans, and even comforted a severely wounded (former) white supremacist George Wallace after he suffered an assassination attempt. There are black leaders in courts and statehouses, including Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice (National Security Advisor and Secretary of State) among many others.  

 Instead of crying about racism in America, King would say: “We have come a long way!”

 

Rosa Parks

Then I think of Rosa Parks, the civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. “She was tired”, as old Eddie shared in the movie “Barbershop”. She was tired all right: tired of being treated with disrespect; tired of unequal treatment under the law; tired of being told what she could and could not do, how much she could make; and being told where to sit.

Confirming Dr. King’s appraisal of improved race relations in the USA, Rosa Parks would acknowledge that there is room for improvement, but only because of President Obama and his Democratic Party.

Parks would be dismayed that Obama and Democrats in general take the black vote for granted. For example, while 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney attended the NAACP Conference, Obama skipped it. Talk about disrespect.  Dishonoring marriage and expanding abortion (both offensive to blacks), Obama does not respect their values. He has done nothing to amend the unfair sentencing guidelines in our nation’s drug laws, to  re-enfranchise felons, or even commute prison sentences for juvenile offenders. As a result, blacks inadvertently still suffer unequal treatment.

Parks would be disgusted by the welfare state and Democratic resistance to school choice. Obama refuses to allow black families to choose their children’s schools, yet enrolls his children in elite private schools with elite security.  Because of  President Obama’s ruinous “progressive” policies, African-Americans suffer unemployment twice the national average. Black youth struggle against 50% unemployment. Blacks are not doing or making much under this President. Besides, Democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson offered then expanded government welfare for one reason: “We’ll have those n—ggers voting for us for the next two hundred years”. Johnson’s invidious comment and Obama’s callous indifference validate the argument of black conservatives Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams: Because Democrats enable dependence and resist school choice and vouchers, they basically tell blacks where to sit.

In fact, the Democratic Party, from Woodrow Wilson to today, have been sending blacks “to the back of the bus”, while Republicans offer them the front seat (Condoleezza Rice, Clarence Thomas, and the recently-deceased Edward Brooke), or let them own the bus if they want to (Herman Cain).  To paraphrase crappy rapper Kanye West: “President Obama does not care about black people.” Without a doubt, Rosa Parks would shout: “President Obama, stop putting my people in the back of the bus!”

Ironically, despite this country’s drastically improved race relations, if anyone is hindering progress on race, look no further than the black man in the White House, his black attorney general, and black liberal media elites who profit from unrest rather than peace. Other than Obama and Co., We the People of the United Sates can confidently assert that Dr. Kings’ Dream of 1963 is our reality.

About the "Embargoed Statue" of Rosa Parks in Random Lengths News

Random Lengths News editor James Preston Allen reported on Washington D.C.’s “embargoed” commemorative statue of Rosa Parks, the civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on the bus. “She was tired”, as old Eddie shared in the movie “Barbershop”. 

She was tired all right: tired of being treated with disrespect; tired of unequal treatment under the law; and tired of being told where to sit, what she could and could not do, and how much she could make.

How would Rosa Parks respond to the record of the first black President Barack Obama and his party?

Parks would be appalled at the terrible conditions which African-Americans continue to endure. Because of President Obama’s ruinous “progressive” policies, African-Americans suffer under unemployment twice the national average. Black youth face 50% unemployment. Blacks are not doing or making much under this President. Republican Ron Paul denounced the discrimination in the criminal justice system on because of the failed War on Drugs. Obama has done nothing to amend the unfair sentencing guidelines which put poor crack users in jail longer than “refined” powder cocaine users. Because of these and other unjust sentencing guidelines, blacks still suffer unequal treatment under the law.

Parks would be disgusted by the welfare state and Democratic resistance to school choice. 

Progressive President Lyndon Baines Johnson expanded welfare for this reason: “We’ll have those n—ggers voting Democrat for the next two hundred years”. 

President Obama refuses to allow black families to choose their children’s schools, yet Obama enrolls his children in elite private schools with elite security. Johnson’s invidious comment and Obama’s callous indifference validate the argument of black intellects Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams: Because Democrats enable dependence and resist school choice and vouchers, they basically tell blacks where to sit.

Parks would be dismayed that the Democratic Party has taken the black vote for granted. While Republican Mitt Romney attended the NAACP Conference in 2012, Obama skipped it. Talk about disrespect. Democrats and Progressives, from Woodrow Wilson to today send black people “to the back of the bus”.  Republicans offer them the front seat (Condoleeza Rice, Clarence Thomas, and Edward Brooke), or let them own the bus if they want (Herman Cain).

Edward Brooke

Clarence Thomas

To paraphrase crappy rapper Kanye West, "President Obama does not care about black people.”

Ms. Parks would shout: “President Obama, stop putting my people in the back of the bus!”

To Mr. Allen, she would write: “Stop covering up the dangers of Progressive policies to minorities!”