Saturday, March 25, 2006

Remembering Rosa: The Ten-cent Bus Ride that changed America

Sr. Anita Baird, DHM in Catholic Peace Voice on Rosa Parks
She was tired in the depths of her soul, tired of being treated as a second-class citizen, tired of working hard, paying her taxes and having to board the bus through the front door and pay her fare only to exit and board a second time through the rear door.

Yet this didn't move Ms. Parks to protest. In the context of the time, I assume it was argued that this separation did not constitute unequal treatment since everyone had to proceed to their seats via the door at the front of their respective race's sections. So what did move her to protest?
When all the seats for whites were full and the bus driver demanded that Rosa Parks relinquish her seat to a white man, she calmly but resolutely refused.

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