paying tribute to Rosa Parks
My posts to a listserv regarding the event:This evening is going to take some time to process, but I justreturned home from standing over 5 hours on line to file past the bodyof Rosa Parks in the Capitol Rotunda. The atmosphere of love andjubilation in the crowd was breathtaking, and I was delighted by howmany people got it as to why a Gay Leatherman living with HIV felt theneed to pay tribute.
On 10/30/05, a friend replied:
> I wish I could have been with you. Even Condy Rice gets it. She said today> that, but for Rosa Parks, she would not currently be Secretary of State. I think Condy finally saw the light about something.
And I responded:
For as much abuse as Condoleeza Rice has taken in the Black media forher recently uncovered blind spots regarding civil rights history inher hometown, I would think that she would pay such honor to RosaParks. Now, if only Condi would reckon with the matter of theincalculable evil that she aides as a highly educated diplomat, incontrast to the freedom and dignity birthed in part by a modestcleaning woman.
As I wrote last night, the line-up had a refreshing energy about it.Near me, depending on which way the serpentine had shifted, werepeople who had traveled from up and down the East Coast, as well asfrom the U.K., Seattle, L.A., and Oakland. There were the well-to-doand the admittedly poor of pocket. Seniors were almost outnumbered byyoung schoolchildren. And while the vast majority of the folks wereAfrican-American, the Asian familes, the Latino college student, andeven the gleaming White Sanotrum staffers gave proof that thesignificance of one person\'s act transcended color lines. I wore my"Promote Tolerance" t-shirt from PFLAG Sarasota (if I recall thesource chapter correctly) that helped spark dozens of conversationsabout why a Gay Leatherman with HIV specifically felt a duty to bethere - it also got me in hundreds of snapshots, plus the contact infofor two adorable Capitol and Park policemen
.http://www.alliancefortolerance.org/merchandise/t_promotetolerance_lg.jpg
On the way to the Capitol I called my grandmother to let her knowwhere I was headed. During the bus boycott, she and my grandfatherlived in Montgomery, and she drove two Black domestics around townregularly, taking a lot of scorn from the White locals. She said thatwhen my sister told her about Rosa Parks\' death she replied "Thatsweet woman wouldn\'t go to the back of the bus, and she changedeverything. That sounds like something your brother would do." I told her that was the nicest thing she had ever said to me.
posted by RedHotMuslBear @ 10:05 AM
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