Rosa Parks
Category DC EventsUpdate: Pictures at my site for those reading via RSS
Last night my wife and I paid our respects to Rosa Parks, as she lay in honor at the Capitol Rotunda. If you read the papers, they suggest that 30,000 people attended. What they don't tell you is that the line was over five hours long. When we left the Capitol at midnight, there were people who were still coming. The line was even longer at midnight, than it was at 6:00 PM. The metro usually closes as midnight, and it was extended to accomodate the huge crowds.
The crowds were very diverse in their demographics, except that I would have to add that most of those in line were over forty. I'm not sure what to make of that observation. The mood was respectful, but not gloomy. People were cheerful and polite. My wife and I engaged with those around us as we recalled the days of the civil rights era. In front of us was a District Court judge from Richmond, and next to us were a doctor and her husband. The doctor retold that when the women of that time, like Rosa Parks, protested, they dressed in their best. They would wear hats (that they made themselves), white gloves, and high heels. During the bus strike, many of the women would walk the long walk into town dressed for church.
I did see some youth present, last night, but they were all family kids. The group was not populated by college activists, but by those people who remembered who Rosa was, and just how powerful an impact can be made by a good person who says, "no." She has become an icon, because she represented, with dignity and directness, a calling to a better community. Her message means even more today, with an increasingly unpopular war, soaring oil prices with their profits, an indicted White House official, and a struggle to respond to a cascade of natural disasters.
So, it was fitting, that on a Sunday night, we all walked a long walk for Rosa.
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