Rosa Parks Story You Don't Know

Montgomery, Alabama.

I went there in 2004 and some of the locals told me about the Rosa Parks "event"....

The story went like this....

The expectation in 1955 was that a black person would give up their seat on the bus for a white person. If they did n't then the police could give them a "ticket" for "disorderly behaviour" or something similar. This used to happen quite often.

However, the particular cop was known to be be more overtly rascist than the others and wrote the "ticket" as "N*g*** would not leave seat for white person" To some extent it was a set up to get what was needed to be considered unconstitutional.

 

She was a incredible woman

 

i can't believe you would say that....a lot of white folks risked their lives and freedom to ride on other busses,for no other reason than to help in that struggle....

 

Good article, very interesting. Thanks, Dr. Cheese!

 

Rosa Parks is one of those people whose heroism transcends race, creed or culture. What an amazing woman.

 

Except that she worked for the CIA as a COIN agent.



Just Kidding!

Stay in School!

 

Rosa Parks is also one of the most famous vegetarians, so even more reason for me to admire her...

 

the link in the OP seems to start the article on page three. it is not a great challenge to solve, but it confused me a little. here is the first page:

http://www.theroot.com/views/rosa-parks-other-radical-side?page=0,0

i learned at some point that the seat on the bus moment was not at all spontaneous. it was planned and intentional. and necessary. and rosa parks was the one for the job, now clearly for obvious reasons.

those are some mighty sick stories. i am glad to see them come out into the light of day. i hope their power is used for good. i can't imagine living like that. it is important to have leaders to attach to these movements, their dedication is invaluable. still, everyone who risked their lives for justice was a hero.

and, yes many groups came together to help us evolve past jim crow. the information on the demographic make up of those involved is out there and easy to find...

 

I think all civil action is great, there's nothing like taking to the streets and causing disruption to make a political point.

It really is great fun.

I imagine all those people in 1955 refusing to use the city buses and walking to work, all getting fired up in the local church with Martin Luther King's sermons, taking ownership of the society that they belong too.

Things do need to move on in Montgomery though. Coming from London, which is very multicultural, I noticed a lot of covert rascism wispered to me by the other white people. Oddly enough I found that the black people I chatted to in the bar (not many of them in Montgomery) coffee shops, the Mall etc seemed more friendly than the white people - a bit like McGuire found when researching her book....

 

mmmm.. I'm of the belief that we are all pretty much simply "people" and therefore subject to the same shortcomings. I don't think that most white folks are automatically racist while most others are automatically not. Not that that's what you are saying, but I have heard that sort of thing implied and I disagree. It really depends on the people involved, the context, the location, the racial make-up of the players..etc.
I'm in an interracial marriage, and I see racism from all sorts of unique angles. It often gets me mad but then again, to look at it objectively, it can get quite interesting.

 

The whole topic can get very "sticky" but very interesting at the same time.

I do agree that all cultures can be prejudiced to outsiders - that is to some extent human nature IMO. Like you say it is all context dependant.

My take on it is based on my personal experiences, dating a black woman for years (we are still friends now 10 years on), living in a very multi-cultural city and working at Heathrow Airport with mainly Asian (Indian and Pakistani) colleagues.

I think the result of all that is that I can be more positive towards people of different cultures and I see covert racism which many would often deny. This inevitably shaped my perception of Montgomery....

 

I work in a very multi-cultural environment as well and I definitely know what you mean. I guess my point really is that, because you may hear some white folks say something negative to you about a minority for example - something that they wouldn't say in front of a black person for instance, that does not mean that black people do not do the same. Just because, you are in the company of Asian folks, or black folks and they seem more welcoming to you, does not necessarily mean that they do not make similar off-hand comments about white folks when you're not around.
I'm not saying this to be negative, it's just the opposite - despite our appearance we really are just basically people. I think that when you try to separate from that fact, you're just perpetuating some sort of belief that we are all somehow "different". We're not. Not really.

 

I am sure they do that.

IME the hindus, the sikhs, the muslims all diss each other so I expect the English are dissed as well !

It' s not something I dwell on but they do seem to hold some stereotypes about the English.

I think that is they key to all this.

We are all people with a slightly different visual appearance and we can attribute all sorts of things to the appearance or not, as the case may be.

 

May I ask what race your wife is? You've mentioned it a couple times and i've always wondered.

 

asian

 

Unfortunately, the fight against racism is ongoing, whether the hate is against blacks, whites, muslims, immigrants or anyone else. There are those that feel the need to hate. Their lives are empty without it and it makes them feel superior. They are human after all, only of a lesser species.