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
1st, 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.
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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.
