A special nod today to Rosa Parks — a single human with no political advatage who literally helped to improve our country. Draw your own parallels.
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It’s a sad loss. She did indeed change & improve our world.
“Each man’s death diminishes me” — John Donne.
Thank you Rosa. You were braver than I can ever imagine being.
What sad news. The world could use more people like her.
I think Ms. Parks and her work helped pave the way for our civil rights movement right now. If Rosa Parks hadn’t refused to give up her seat on the bus then the whole civil rights movement would have never happened and the American South would still be a nest of racial hatred. Likewise, if someone like Michael Newdow hadn’t pointed out that the words “under god” were unfair to atheists then we would still be an ignored group of people constantly battered by theists. Just shows you how history does and will repeat itself. Rest in peace, Rosa, glad you could make a difference in the world.
i salute a truly courageous lady.
When you are brave enough to make a stand it absolutely does make a difference. Rest in peace Rosa.
The people who opposed equal rights for Blacks are the same ones who are fighting against science and reason today. And they are using the same tactics. The Bible: It was OK to enslave and oppress Blacks because black skin was “the mark of Cain”. Pseudo-science: “Blacks are genetically inferior”, or the stuff in the book “The Bell Curve”.
I admired Rosa’s calm strength in the face of adversity. Better in some ways that the flamboyance of the other leaders of the times.
She is one of the few people who in her time became a living ledgend. I know she won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
It’s up to each and every one of us to make the most of the lot we draw in life. Rosa was a shining example of someone who fought intolerance, bigotry, and hatred – and won! Hopefully more will follow in her footsteps.
Rosa Parks took a substantial chance when she refused to move. She might have been battered and thrown (literally) off of the bus that day.
She was never an imposing physical specimen. She could have been hurt or killed.
How many of us, acting in a non-violent manner, have the courage to expose ourselves to that kind of risk?
I am first in line to back the Black churches and the organization built by citizens, their churches and the legal minds behind the battles in the courts for equal protection under the laws of the United States.
Atheism does not mean denegration of the good works of believers. The civil rights movement was fought first in the courts and second in the legislative and executive branches.
But for the Montgomery Bus Strike, and the holdings in Browder v. Gayle in 1956 and Brown v. Bd. of Ed. of Topeka in 1956 the Civil Rights Act 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would never have come to pass.
See, http://www.montgomeryboycott.com for a history of the Boycott & Rosa Park’s involvement.
There were many, many Atheists involved in the Civil Rights movement and there remain many of us fighting that fight today.
There ought never be a negative word said about Dr. King’s religious beliefs – and, where he used both the law and the power of the church (at the time, an apolitical sector of society) for so much good – I applaud the work of the believers.
Today we have a ton of mega-churches supporting right-wing causes – they learned Dr. King’s lesson well.
She’s important enough to be lying in honor in the Rotunda in DC but nobody in my city has dipped a flag to half mast for her.
But we MUST all dip that flag for that other American Hero The Pope, who turned away from children being raped and never paid a dime in taxes despite the fact that he controlled the most wealth in the world. But I digress.
william golding interview with jack biles
william golding interview with jack biles