Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks died today. She became a national and international symbol by simply refusing to give up her seat on a bus after a long and exhausting day of work. There were other symbols of the civil right movement in the US, but Rosa Parks is far and away the most beloved. Martin Luther King Jr. may be more inspiring, more missed but there is not the same kind of personal connection with most people like Rosa Park; he is just too great a man, too monumental a symbol. Rosa Parks' action on the bus was simple, personal and in and of itself insignificant. It was simply a chance occurrence onto which forces gathered and made history. In that regard, the gesture is no difference from the shoes in Gettysburg or the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. What happened with the statue of Rosa Parks is really not the gesture itself but what happened afterward. She lived a long and productive life and remained the fine and strong person till the end. The symbol was living until today. The truly remarkable thing is that not only has this symbol not diminished through this long life, it grew because of the life she lived. More than anything, every time the name Rosa Park was mentioned or when cameras focused on her, all the racist arguments became meaningless. How can anyone discriminate against this woman? And if they discriminated or still want to discriminate against people like her, how truly evil they are. It is therefore truly sad to see her go.