Guest Author - Stephanie L. Ogle
The African-American community and this country as a whole lost an important Civil Rights icon. Ms. Rosa Parks, who’s refusal to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger helped propel the Civil Rights struggles for blacks in the 50’s & 60’s died October 24th at the age of 92.
Parks, in 1955 was arrested for this act of “disobedience” and it was her arrest that led to the 381 day long bus boycott lead by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
While Ms. Parks was not intentionally setting out to start a movement, her action has resonated in history and is known all over the world. On a personal level, as a black person in America, I never had to deal with segregation during my lifetime but I can feel the pain of what that might have been like…how de-humanizing and humiliating that must have been to be treated so wrongly and have it seen as acceptable by the majority.
In reflection of the life & death of Ms. Parks, I realized that the older I get the more aware of the past struggles of black people in this country have effected how things are today for us as a people. Granted, there are a lot of things that still need to be changed on a governmental level as well as in the community itself but Ms. Parks makes me proud to be a black woman.
It wasn’t until her death and all the news reports on her life & that infamous bus incident that I remember thoughts I had while riding a bus to & from work to avoid having to drive in maddening traffic. During those times, I would actually thinking about Ms. Parks and watched as people got on the bus, imagining what I would have done in her shoes during that time. I have offered my seat on a crowded bus to someone I felt could use a seat more than I needed one out of trying to be a kind person not because it was a bigoted requirement.
My hope for the future is that this community never forgets those that made a change for us to be and do today.
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