R.I.P. Rosa Parks
So I was going to write something totally banal and probably on some level quite tacky, but I think I'll let that wait until at least tomorrow. I just heard Rosa Parks died today, and I can't possibly let this pass without comment.
I think it's sad because Ms. Parks has by and large become just a name in the history books, or even worse just that lady who sued Outkast over the use of her name, or let's go even worse and say the lady who had her name bandied about in a marginal at best film by one Cedric the "Entertainer."
It is not possible to overstate her importance in American history, nor is it possible to overstate the horrifying nature of the American society she grew up in. While many people I know would like to believe racism is no longer an institutional part of the American society, which incidentally it very much is, nothing today compares to life in America in the first two thirds of this century. Unless of course you want to count the hundreds of years of oppression which existed before that, which was pretty bad too. Wow, we white folk really suck. And no I do not mean that sarcastically. While I feel no personal responsibility for my country's history, nor should 99.9 % of white America, I do recognize its profound effect on America today and realize programs like Affirmative Action are not only just but wholly necessary to begin some measure of balancing out a half millennia of inequity.
So yes, Rosa Parks....what did she do, or more appropriately not do? She finally refused to accept her comfort was somehow less important than that of another based solely on the color of her skin. It must seem like so small a thing now. Refusing to give up one's seat on a bus, and yet just 50 years ago this act helped to spark a revolution in America that goes on even today. But that isn't even what makes her heroic (And yes she is most definitely a hero). She couldn't possibly have known what her act of defiance would mean, despite some suggestion of her calculations in the move. Her heroism simply comes from saying enough is enough, it is time for basic fairness, on this bus, in this city and in this country.
I think everyone wishes to some degree he or she grew up in a different age. While my ideal age would be a fictional one in which slavery had never existed, Jim Crow had never existed, Rosa Parks existed but lived a non-descript life and the Civil Rights Movement need never have happened, that is pure fantasy. I really wish I had grown up in this age of the late 50's to mid 70's. In today's America it seems so hard to enact real change. I canvass for political candidates, I sign petitions, I get people to sign petitions, I vote and yet nothing good really happens. It's had to believe there was a time when progressives were about something more than just good ideas. There was a time when activism worked on national and even global scales. There was a time when Rosa Parks could become a hero.
I hope that time hasn't passed with Ms. Parks. There is still so much inequity, so much unfairness in the America. We are so pre-occupied with what is happening in nations we can't spell and can barely pronounce that we ignore problems at home. Why are race riots taking place in Ohio? Why are poor minorities abandoned in the city of New Orleans? Are taking steps backward at a time when American unity is more important than ever? When no one else in the world likes us, it is pretty damned important we like each other. Yet divisions are growing wider and wider, with the means of bridging these gaps become less and less visible. I don't think this is the America Rosa Parks would have liked to see. I can only hope there are more people like her ready to fight for what is right again.
I think it's sad because Ms. Parks has by and large become just a name in the history books, or even worse just that lady who sued Outkast over the use of her name, or let's go even worse and say the lady who had her name bandied about in a marginal at best film by one Cedric the "Entertainer."
It is not possible to overstate her importance in American history, nor is it possible to overstate the horrifying nature of the American society she grew up in. While many people I know would like to believe racism is no longer an institutional part of the American society, which incidentally it very much is, nothing today compares to life in America in the first two thirds of this century. Unless of course you want to count the hundreds of years of oppression which existed before that, which was pretty bad too. Wow, we white folk really suck. And no I do not mean that sarcastically. While I feel no personal responsibility for my country's history, nor should 99.9 % of white America, I do recognize its profound effect on America today and realize programs like Affirmative Action are not only just but wholly necessary to begin some measure of balancing out a half millennia of inequity.
So yes, Rosa Parks....what did she do, or more appropriately not do? She finally refused to accept her comfort was somehow less important than that of another based solely on the color of her skin. It must seem like so small a thing now. Refusing to give up one's seat on a bus, and yet just 50 years ago this act helped to spark a revolution in America that goes on even today. But that isn't even what makes her heroic (And yes she is most definitely a hero). She couldn't possibly have known what her act of defiance would mean, despite some suggestion of her calculations in the move. Her heroism simply comes from saying enough is enough, it is time for basic fairness, on this bus, in this city and in this country.
I think everyone wishes to some degree he or she grew up in a different age. While my ideal age would be a fictional one in which slavery had never existed, Jim Crow had never existed, Rosa Parks existed but lived a non-descript life and the Civil Rights Movement need never have happened, that is pure fantasy. I really wish I had grown up in this age of the late 50's to mid 70's. In today's America it seems so hard to enact real change. I canvass for political candidates, I sign petitions, I get people to sign petitions, I vote and yet nothing good really happens. It's had to believe there was a time when progressives were about something more than just good ideas. There was a time when activism worked on national and even global scales. There was a time when Rosa Parks could become a hero.
I hope that time hasn't passed with Ms. Parks. There is still so much inequity, so much unfairness in the America. We are so pre-occupied with what is happening in nations we can't spell and can barely pronounce that we ignore problems at home. Why are race riots taking place in Ohio? Why are poor minorities abandoned in the city of New Orleans? Are taking steps backward at a time when American unity is more important than ever? When no one else in the world likes us, it is pretty damned important we like each other. Yet divisions are growing wider and wider, with the means of bridging these gaps become less and less visible. I don't think this is the America Rosa Parks would have liked to see. I can only hope there are more people like her ready to fight for what is right again.
posted by The Crazy Leftist at 8:59 PM
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