Observing the 110th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear." - Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks: Civil rights icon

Rosa Parks was born one hundred and ten years ago today, February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Four decades later, she would engage in a moment that would transform the United States of America through nonviolent action. Before the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. there was Rosa Parks. 

On December 1, 1955, while sitting in the back of the bus [the area reserved for African Americans during segregation], the "white" section was filled to capacity with a white man standing, and the bus driver told Rosa Parks to stand up and give him her seat.

Rosa Parks refused and she was arrested, finger printed, photographed, jailed and fined $14 dollars for refusing to give up her seat. This action would lead to the Montgomery bus boycott that would inspire people of good will to action. Civil rights pioneer Rev. James Lawson on June 20, 2010 described what it was like to learn of the boycott:

"December 6, 1955 that was the date when many people in the world learned of the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama; a very simple stroke it was not initially called a non-violent movement. But Rosa Parks, Ed Nixon, Mary Jo Robinson, Martin King, Ralph Abernathy, and a host of other people who engaged that first effort sent a wave of hope around the world."

Rosa Parks would go on to live a long and productive life and passed away on October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. She was laid in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Rosa Parks was the first woman and second non-government official to be honored in such a manner.

Today, a hundred and ten years after Rosa Parks was born, women in Cuba inspired by her example have organized a movement, Rosa Parks Women's Civil Rights Movement , named after the civil rights pioneer and are engaged in marches and demonstrations in defense of human rights in Cuba. Much has been achieved since 1955 but challenges still remain and for Cuban women the battle for basic human rights continues.

Rosa Parks, President Donald Trump and the power of nonviolence.

Rosa Parks and the power of a nonviolent moment

Before the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. there was Rosa Parks.  On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama sitting in the back of the bus [the area reserved for African Americans during Segregation] the "white" section having been filled to capacity with a white man standing the bus driver told Rosa Parks to stand up and give her seat to him.

She said "no."

Rosa Parks refused and a nonviolent moment that would generate a movement that would tear down legal segregation was mobilized. She was arrested, finger printed, photographed, jailed and fined $14 dollars for refusing to give up her seat.

Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Her nonviolent action created a nonviolent moment that brought Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. into the movement and mobilized young men such as John Lewis.

Both Rosa Parks and John Lewis would live out full lives dedicated to civil rights and public service. John Lewis is currently a U.S. Congressman. Sadly, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.

 

Coretta Scott King watches as President Reagan signs MLK Day into law

But his death, in defense of civil rights, decades later in 1983 led Ronald Reagan to declare a public holiday in King's name.  Today, President Trump on the 62nd anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, honored her memory and the good that she has done for the United States.

This is the power of nonviolence and its capacity for good, decades after the initial action.

62 years ago this week, a brave seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama uttered one word that changed history... pic.twitter.com/eOvCBcMIKX

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2017

Berta Soler: "In the name of the victims of Cuba's Communist regime. Cuba yes, Castro no."

Excerpt of Testimony of Mrs. Berta Soler, President of the Cuban Ladies in White Cuba,  before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee 

Berta Soler testifies on Cuba in Washington, DC. Watch full hearing on US Foreign Relations Senate Committee website: 3 hours, 52 minutes, Soler from 2:58:25. (From Senate.gov)

February 3, 2015

We are presently living through a particularly defining moment for the future of our country in the wake of the recent announced reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States.

I am appearing here as the leader of the Ladies in White, a group of women activists who support change towards democracy in our country through non-violent means, inspired by the example of women such as Rosa Parks and Coretta King, among others, who with courage and determination blazed paths for the full enjoyment of civil rights in this country. Now 50 years after the events in Selma, Alabama, and testifying before a Subcommittee who mandate includes Global Women's Issues, it is a great honor and an historic opportunity for me to appear before you.

I also speak on behalf of numerous leaders and activists from Cuban civil society who have entrusted me with speaking for them before you. It is a civil society that is particularly repressed by the intolerance of a government whose exercise of power consists of the systematic violation of the human rights of the Cuban people. Just before I left Cuba to be here, last January 28th, the day we celebrate the birth of our Founding Father José Martí, dozens of activists were arrested in Havana and other provinces for attempting to place offerings of flowers at statues of José Martí. In its totalitarian vision, the dictatorship seeks a monopoly on our national identity through the use of force against all independent activists.

The most respected international human rights organizations have documented violations of human rights in Cuba. On October 23, 2013, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued an injunction on behalf of members of the Ladies in White, to afford protection in the face of systematic repression by Cuban authorities.

[...]

Our aspirations are legitimate because they are undergirded by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to which Cuba is a party, and the signed international pacts on civil and political rights which have not been ratified by the dictatorship. Our demands are quite concrete: freedom for political prisoners, recognition of civil society, the elimination of all criminal dispositions that penalize freedom of expression and association and the right of the Cuban people to choose their future through free, multiparty elections.

We believe these demands are just and valid. Even more importantly, for us they represent the most concrete exercise of politics, a step in the direction of democratic coexistence. Cuba will change when the laws that enable and protect the criminal behavior of the forces of repression and corrupt elements that sustain the regime change.

In the name of those who have been executed by the firing squads.

In the name of Cuban political prisoners.

In the name of the pilots from the humanitarian organization, Brothers to the Rescue, murdered on Fidel Castro's orders.

In the name of the victims from the "13 de Marzo" tugboat.

In the name of the victims of Cuba's Communist regime.

Cuba yes, Castro no.

Full testimony in PDF format

Observing the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Parks

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear." - Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was born one hundred years ago today, February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Four decades later she would engage in a moment that would transform the United States of America through nonviolent action. Before the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. there was Rosa Parks. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama sitting in the back of the bus [the area reserved for African Americans during Segregation] the "white" section having been filled to capacity with a white man standing the bus driver told Rosa Parks to stand up and give her seat to him. 


Rosa Parks refused and she was arrested, finger printed, photographed, jailed and fined $14 dollars for refusing to give up her seat. This action would lead to the Montgomery bus boycott that would inspire people of good will to action. Civil rights pioneer Rev. James Lawson on June 20, 2010 described what it was like to learn of the boycott:

"December 6, 1955 that was the date when many people in the world learned of the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama; a very simple stroke it was not initially called a non-violent movement. But Rosa Parks, Ed Nixon, Mary Jo Robinson, Martin King, Ralph Abernathy, and a host of other people who engaged that first effort sent a wave of hope around the world."

Rosa Parks would go on to live a long and productive life and passed away on October 24, 2005 at the age of 92. She was laid in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Rosa Parks was the first woman and second non-government official to be honored in such a manner.

Today, a hundred years after Rosa Parks was born, women in Cuba inspired by her example have organized a movement, Rosa Parks Women's Civil Rights Movement , named after the civil rights pioneer and are engaged in marches and demonstrations in defense of human rights in Cuba. Much has been achieved since 1955 but challenges still remain and for Cuban women the battle for basic human rights continues.

Rosa Parks and the nonviolent moment that initiated the destruction of racial segregation

"I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear." - Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks, mugshot 1955

Before the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. there was Rosa Parks. In the video below she recounts the events surrounding her arrest. On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama sitting in the back of the bus [the area reserved for African Americans during Segregation] the "white" section having been filled to capacity with a white man standing the bus driver told Rosa Parks to stand up and give her seat to him.

Rosa Parks refused and a nonviolent moment that would generate a movement that would tear down legal segregation was mobilized. She was arrested, finger printed, photographed, jailed and fined $14 dollars for refusing to give up her seat.

Rosa Parks finger printed in December of 1955 following her arrest. Below her finger prints.

She appealed the ruling. The next day the Women’s Political Council called for a bus boycott in Montgomery on December 5, 1955 but seeing the huge turnout and intensity the decision was made to expand it and on that day the Montgomery Improvement Association formed to coordinate the boycott with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. elected the chairman of the organization. Carpools were formed and African Americans stopped riding the buses in Montgomery.

Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

On January 30, 1956 Martin Luther King Jr.'s home was bombed but the boycott continued and remained nonviolent. On November 15, 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court rules that bus segregation laws were unconstitutional. The boycott ended on December 21, 1956 when the Montgomery City Lines desegregated. The bus boycott had lasted 382 days, and turned both Rosa Parks and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. into national figures. Civil disobedience had triumphed over brute force and terror.

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Although 55 years have passed since that day that changed the United States forever and five years have passed since the civil rights icon passed on, Rosa Parks continues to have an impact around the world. Today in Cuba, Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera heads the Rosa Parks Women's Civil Rights Movement and is a living reminder of an observation made by Rosa Parks: "Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others."

Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera