[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 138 (Wednesday, October 26, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H9259-H9266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING ROSA PARKS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Westmoreland). Under the Speaker's
announced policy, and on the designation of the Minority Leader, the
balance of the hour will be controlled by the gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Conyers).
General Leave
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special
Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Michigan?
There was no objection.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Alabama
(Mr. Davis) whose district I had the pleasure of being in, and with
him, only a few days ago.
Mr. Speaker, this is a sad moment for me. The truth of the matter is
that we have known that Mrs. Rosa Louise Parks had been in poor health;
that frequently we would ask, how is she doing this week? Is she any
better? How are things going? And now that this moment has come 2 days
ago, we still cannot accept this reality of this dear, powerful, gentle
lady going to her reward after 92 years of being with us on this Earth.
She has been regarded as an ordinary person, as an example of what an
ordinary person can do in our system. But I am not convinced that she
is an ordinary person, because I have seen her at very close range. The
fact of the matter is I believe she is an extremely extraordinary
person because of these two qualities. First of all, she was a gentle
lady. She was soft-spoken. She had never in the years I have known her
ever raised her voice in anger. She did not debate anyone. She was a
very mild-mannered person. She never sought the limelight. She never,
ever issued a press release. She never sought awards or commendations.
Yet she received more than most people do in this world that we live
in.
So that was this one aspect of her, but there was another. There was
inside her forged a set of principles of which two were very prominent
in terms of my analysis here this evening. One, she was a very
religious woman. She attended church with great regularity, but, more
than that, she worked in the church. She helped out. She was there
during the week. And combined with her religious convictions was this
fierce antipathy to segregation. And I do not know how many people we
can think of that combine these two kinds of characteristics, soft
spoken and humble, and yet fiercely prepared, in a nonviolent way, to
fight segregation.
So she came to this activity not as something that she just happened
to get into or that she moved one day, she did something different; she
had always been an activist in Alabama. She was a member of the NAACP,
she was always the first to sign the membership card, and it is hard to
remember that this could be the case, but in the 1940s, being a member
of the NAACP in the South, and publicly acknowledging it, was a very
daring and courageous move in and of itself.
She subscribed to the theory of nonviolence. So when, on December 1,
1955, she decided that she would not give up her seat on a public bus
in Montgomery, Alabama, some thought that was the first time that she
had ever done it. But to the contrary, previously she had refused to
give up her seat, but she was ordered off the bus. She had never been
arrested. And so this time they told her, you will be arrested, you are
going to be arrested.
{time} 2130
And she said, I am not giving up my seat. You can do whatever you
want. And so we marched into this great history.
Now, I wanted to point out that she was the one that brought Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., into the civil rights movement. Martin Luther
King, Jr., was at that time 26 years old, and he was called in to come
after she had been arrested; and it was decided that everyone was going
to boycott the buses as a result.
And so it is ironic that she had this role in addition to restarting
the civil rights movement in America. She brought in the person who
would ultimately lead it at the same time.
I am sure Dr. King may not have been thinking about his future and
his destiny, and I am sure that Mrs. Parks could not anticipate what
this one move was going to mean. And so I am very happy to tell you
that I had the opportunity to meet her, to know her before she came to
Detroit, and what a blessing it was to find out that she ultimately
with her husband left Montgomery.
[[Page H9260]]
Why? Because she wanted to go somewhere else? No. She was fired from
her job. She was black-balled. She could not get employment. And she
and her husband and family were receiving death threats regularly. So
they decided to relocate with relatives that were in Detroit, and so it
was my good fortune to be able to get to know her.
She joined in my campaign. I said, the first person I am going to ask
to be on my congressional staff when I get elected would be Rosa Parks.
And I asked her to join my staff. She did not ask me for a job. I asked
her to please come and join me, and it was a great source of pleasure
and delight that she was a minor celebrity.
People came to my office to see not the Congressman on a constituent
basis, but merely to get a picture of Rosa Parks or get a signature or
ask if they could talk with her, and she was as accommodating with them
as she was with everybody else.
She was a confidante I was able to connect up. The biggest
legislative challenge in my very first year was the passage, the
consideration and passage of the Voter Rights Act of 1965. And here she
was right in the middle of that, working with the likes of Ralph
Abernathy and Andrew Young and Fred Shuttleworth, and of course Dr.
Martin Luther King, and many other of the great names that were around
that original group that started the civil rights movement, the modern
civil rights movement as we know it.
She had a great passion for young people, and she and her husband
formed the Raymond and Rosa Parks Foundation which still exists today
and which she and her husband and staff trained young people, and then
they went visiting the major civil rights sites throughout the South,
so that they could get the flavor of what was going on, and what
happened and when it transpired.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, I see in the firmament of the great
trilogy of leaders of freedom and justice, Nelson Mandella, Martin
Luther King, Jr., and Rosa Louise Parks.
When Nelson Mandella came to Detroit and found out that Rosa Parks
had come out to join him in welcoming him as he came out of 27 years of
imprisonment, he began a chant for Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks. And here
were these two great icons, both well aware of each other and their
contributions. So it is with some pride that I have had the privilege
of associating my congressional career with both Dr. King and Rosa
Louise Parks.
And this Special Order will continue the discussion that has already
begun to take place about all of the roles, the contributions, the
feelings, the legacy of Rosa Parks; and that is how I think she will be
remembered, as this gentle person with the determination of steel.
So it is with great pleasure that I yield now to the distinguished
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished
gentleman for yielding.
I am moved by the gentleman's words. I want to thank him for this
Special Order. I want to also thank him for wisdom more than his years
at that time for the friendship and relationship that he established
with Mrs. Parks and the fact that she served and honored all of the
congressional staff by being a congressional staffer and working with
him over the years.
I want to point out a few items regarding Mrs. Parks and thank her so
very much for the service that she has given. John Hope Franklin made a
comment that I think is very telling of Rosa Parks: her prominence
endures. And she did not strike a cord for African American women, but
she struck a cord for Americans. And when we look at the fabric of
history, American history, world history, and particularly focus on our
history, there were certain volcanic historical incidents in America:
the founding of Plymouth Rock, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War,
World War I, World War II, certainly different categories, and the
beginning of the birth of the civil rights movement in the 20th
century.
No one can be more attributed to that than Rosa Parks. For those of
us who are the beneficiaries of that simple act from a very diminutive
woman, the act of refusing to adhere to an unjust law, we owe her an
enormous debt of gratitude.
For those of us who had the pleasure and opportunity of interfacing
with her during her lifetime, simply as any one of us would acknowledge
being in her presence, again we owe her a debt of gratitude. And,
frankly, I think it is important to note that as she sat down on the
bus, with intentions to be arrested, she set off a 300-day plus
movement, boycott, march, walk, described by Dr. King in his words of
watching one of the Montgomerians, if you will, citizens, walk back and
forth, back and forth.
Dr. King eventually asked that person who participated in the
Montgomery Improvement Association was she not tired. And in her own
words she said, My feet is tired, but my soul is rested. Rosa Parks set
the tone and the movement to empower these citizens in Montgomery,
Alabama to walk and walk and walk and walk.
We should not ignore the fact that she was a trained member of the
NAACP, and she will acknowledge that her courage, but also her training
to accept that nonviolent approach to challenging an unjust law, came
through that very effective NAACP training that was utilized across the
deep South.
For the NAACP was the first body politic on the ground that empowered
Medgar Evers, and Rosa Parks, many others, Christy Adar in my hometown,
to become the kind of leaders and pioneers in the civil rights
movement.
Mr. Speaker, I want to rise today to thank my good friend and
colleague, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), the ranking
member of the Committee on the Judiciary, for his voice and giving us
the opportunity to speak, and to be able to say, as I close, for there
are many of us who want to share in our commitment and purpose and our
celebration of Rosa Parks, that, Mr. Speaker, you well know, and I
might imagine that someone in your life has spoken to you and taught
you and said words are not necessarily the best tribute. It has to be
deeds.
So I think we stand tonight, many of us, from the Congressional Black
Caucus who happen to be Members of this Congress, to hopefully say to
Rosa Parks, as she flies away, for that is a song we often sing in a
home-going ceremony, she will fly away, flying up to heaven, is that we
are committed to the reauthorization of the 1965 Voter Rights Act, we
are committed to the voting rights of every single American, that every
vote counts, we are committed to a Nation that respects the human
dignity of each person, and we are committed to finally breaking the
cycle of segregation, discrimination, and racism in this country.
We owe Rosa Parks that commitment that we will forever be indebted to
her by our words. Rosa Parks, will you please rest in peace, and I know
that you will fly away.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased now to recognize the
distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, this is indeed an extraordinary
time. I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for
allowing me to participate in this great testimonial to an
extraordinary woman, Mrs. Rosa Parks.
Mrs. Rosa Parks was indeed an extraordinary lady who made
extraordinary contributions at an extraordinary time in American
history.
You know, sometimes at certain moments in life you feel that there
are no words that are adequate to really tell the true story and to
give the worth that a life like Rosa Parks deserves.
But the word that comes to my mind, as I think of Rosa Parks, is that
word ``great,'' because Rosa Parks was a great lady. But she was a
great lady of greatness.
{time} 2145
It might be wise of us just to take a moment and look at that word
great, greatness. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle, when asked
what did it take to be a great person, said, in order to be a great
person, you must first of all know yourself, know thyself.
Well, Rosa Parks certainly knew herself. She not only knew who she
was, she knew whose she was. For Rosa Parks more than anything else was
foremost and first of all a child of God, as was so eloquently pointed
out by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), who knew her so
personally well. She was truly a child of God.
[[Page H9261]]
When that question was put to the great Roman general, Marcus
Aurelius, what does it take to be a great person, Marcus Aurelius said,
in order to be a great person, you must first of all discipline
yourself. She was disciplined. She was focussed. She had her mind set
on that goal of freedom and quality for everyone.
When that question of greatness was put to the great abolitionist
Frederick Douglass, of what does it take to be a great person,
Frederick Douglass said, in order to be a great person, you must have
courage. Well, Rosa Parks certainly had courage. She was a woman of
extraordinary courage. Think about that time when the Ku Klux Klan was
running rampant, when black men were getting lynched for barely not
tipping their hat or getting off the sidewalk. These were tough, dark
days for a woman to sit and defy the white power structure. Courage,
courage.
Finally, when that question of greatness was put to the Messiah Jesus
Christ what a great person is, he said, you first of all have to
sacrifice yourself. And Rosa Parks sacrificed herself. She had what I
call the great Isaiah instinct, that instinct when God said, ``Who
would go for us and whom shall we send,'' Isaiah cried out, ``Here am
I, Lord, send me.''
At that moment of history when Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955, when
God called out, ``Who will go for us and who shall we send,'' Rosa
Parks said, ``Here am I, Lord, send me.''
My God, what a woman. How much gratitude we have that we must give
for her. And as an African American sitting and standing in the well of
this House of Representatives, it is important for us to understand
that when Rosa Parks sat down and did not get up to give that white man
her seat on that bus in Montgomery, as she so eloquently stated, many
people said they thought I was sitting there because my feet were
tired. Well, that was not the truth. Rosa Parks said, it was not that
my feet were tired, it was because my soul was tired of being a second-
class citizen. When I sat down and would not give up my seat, I was
standing up for justice, for equality for all.
So as an African American standing here, yes, I know she stood up for
all of us. She certainly stood up for black people. But let it be said
that more than that, Rosa Parks stood up for America, for black people,
for white people, for brown people, for yellow people, for everybody
who believes in that American dream of justice, of equality, of freedom
for all of us. God bless Rosa Parks, and we thank God for sending this
extraordinary sojourner of truth our way.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to recognize the
gentlewoman from Oakland, California (Ms. Lee).
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Conyers) for his leadership in organizing this tribute to a great
leader, Mrs. Rosa Parks. My heart goes out to the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) in his personal loss. He is truly a remarkable
human being, and I know that his memories and the love Mrs. Parks had
for the gentleman will sustain him during this very difficult time.
My deepest condolences and prayers are with Mrs. Parks's family and
her friends tonight as we lift her up, lift up her great spirit on this
House floor on this very somber occasion.
Mrs. Parks passing away on Monday evening jolted the world. A giant
has gone home. This has been a very difficult year full of losses. Rosa
Parks joins other great African American heroes who recently passed
away: Shirley Chisholm, Judge Constance Baker Motley, and C. Dolores
Tucker, to name a few, all who faced opposition, stood their ground and
sacrificed so much for freedom and for justice.
Mrs. Parks's simple nonviolent act 50 years ago to refuse to give up
her seat on a bus changed the course of America. The mother of the
modern civil rights movement, Mrs. Parks shattered the walls of legal
segregation and opened the doors of opportunities for many, including
myself. And, yes, I remember those days of the colored only faucets and
not being able to go to the theaters and on the train only being able
to ride in one car and not being able to attend public schools. I
remember those days very vividly.
Let me say this act of defiance and dissent by Mrs. Parks, it toppled
Jim Crow. Her life was recognized just this past September when the
House, led by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), and I must
remind us, we unanimously passed a resolution in recognition of her
legacy, H. Con. Res. 208.
A recipient of this Nation's highest honors, the Presidential Medal
of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, Rosa Parks
stood tall by sitting down. She quietly and peacefully challenged the
status quo. She took on, though, the entire government, and she took
down its shameful system of segregation.
Personally I was so inspired by Mrs. Parks in some of the most
difficult moments in my career. In fact, just 2 years ago Mrs. Parks
wrote me a personal reminder, and I read that letter again last night.
And in her letter to me she said, Never think that you are alone when
you stand for right, because God is with you. I cannot even explain
what that meant and means to me.
Rosa Parks's quiet strength, as her 1994 book is titled, shattered
the walls of legal segregation. And I had the privilege to be with her
on many occasions in Los Angeles and in Oakland and in Sacramento,
California, and I was in awe of this great woman, and I could not help
but notice her love for children and her commitment to education.
She was a humble woman, yet a giant of a human being who loved her
country and insisted that it live up to its creed of liberty and
justice for all. Three thousand miles away and 50 years later, my
constituents in the East Bay of California still honor Mrs. Parks's
legacy. Students enrolled at the Rosa Parks Environmental Science
Magnet School in Berkeley are reminded every day of her example by the
painting of Mrs. Parks in the front seat of a bus that hangs above the
door to the campus's main office. Their school anthem thanks Mrs. Parks
for her role in bringing segregation to its knees.
She also inspired my constituents to create the Martin Luther King,
Jr., Freedom Center, on which I serve as a founding board member. The
MLK Freedom Center teaches social justice, equality and nonviolence in
our community, especially with its outreach efforts to our youth. In
fact, the young people from the center participated in the 40th
anniversary of the historic civil rights march from Selma to
Montgomery, Alabama, where they visited the bus stop where Rosa Parks
protested and dared not to get up, and also the Dexter Avenue Baptist
Church where Dr. King preached.
It is an important historical reminder of where we have been, just
what Rosa Parks really did for us and for the country. It is a reminder
of how far we have come, but also it reminds us of how far we have to
go, as we have been recently reminded by Hurricane Katrina.
Daphne Muse, the director of the Women's Leadership Institute at my
alma mater, Mills College in Oakland, wrote an essay entitled ``Our
Week With Rosa Parks--Her Presence is a Gift that Remains Part of our
Hearts and Home.'' And in this essay she wrote about Mrs. Parks's visit
to Oakland, California, and she said, In the course of preparing for
Mrs. Parks's visit, she noted to members of the committee that hotels
just did not suit her spirit, and she preferred the tradition extended
through southern hospitality of putting people up in your home. She
then asked if I would mind if she could be our guest during her week-
long stay in Oakland. She made only one request of me, and that is that
we keep her presence a secret. She and her longtime friend Elaine
Steele were eager to be in a place where they could relax, listen to
music, and eat great food without being disturbed.
Daphne Muse goes on to say, Although we had never even met, when Rosa
Parks walked through our front door, she instantly became family.
Mr. Speaker, tonight as we remember this dignified, courageous and
remarkable woman, let us honor her life and her legacy by standing up
for what is right, for embracing peace and nonviolence as an effective
tool in our work as public servants. And let us keep her family and her
friends in our prayers and in our hearts and in our souls.
Thank you, Rosa Parks. May you finally now rest in peace.
[[Page H9262]]
Mr. Speaker, the full text of that essay is as follows:
Our Week With Rosa Parks: Her Presence Is a Gift That Remains Part of
Our Heart and Home
(By Daphne Muse)
Everyday, history is made by people whose names remain
unknown as well as those who become eternal icons. In May of
1980, a woman who forever changed our country spent a week in
our home. The East Bay Area Friends of Highlander Research
and Education Center joined with founder Myles Horton to
honor two of the Civil Rights Movements most courageous
pioneers: Rosa Parks and Septima Clark. Clark broke ground as
a pioneering force in citizenship training and voter
education. The two women met at Highlander in 1955, a place
where my own mother-in-law Margaret Landes was trained during
the 1930s.
Founded in 1932, Highlander is a civil rights training
school located on a 104-acre farm atop Bays Mountain, near
New Market, Tennessee. Over the course of its history,
Highlander has played important roles in many major political
movements, including the Southern labor movements of the
1930s, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s-60s, and the
Appalachian people's movements of the 1970s-80s. Through
books in our home library, her teachers and my own work as a
writer, Anyania knew about the role Ms. Parks played in
changing the course of history.
Like millions of other African Americans, Mrs. Parks was
tired of the racism, segregation and Jim Crow laws of the
times. Through her commitment to freedom and training at
Highlander Research and Education Center, her refusal to move
to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1,
1955, spawned a movement. Parks took a seat in the section of
a Montgomery city bus designated for whites. She was
arrested, tried and fined for violating a city ordinance.
Mrs. Parks, a seamstress, often had run-ins with bus drivers
and had been evicted from buses. Getting on the front of the
bus to pay her fare and then getting off going to the back
door was so humiliating. There were times the driver simply
would shut the door and drive off. Her very conscious
decision turned into an economically crippling, politically
dynamic boycott and ended legal segregation in America. A
three hundred and eighty two day bus boycott followed her
morally correct and courageous act.
In the course of preparing for Ms. Parks' visit, she noted
to members of the committee that hotels just didn't suit her
spirit and she preferred the tradition extended through
southern hospitality of putting people up in your home. She
then asked if I would mind if she could be our guest during
her week long stay in Oakland. She made only one request of
us: that we keep her presence a secret. She and her long time
friend Elaine Steele were eager to be in a place where
they could relax, listen to music and eat great food
without being disturbed. The disturbed part was my
greatest concern for between the bullet blasting drug wars
and the press, I was concerned about how to maintain that
part of the agreement.
Our modest home in the Fruitvale community of Oakland,
California had served as a cultural center and refuge to many
writers, filmmakers, artists and activists including S1weet
Honey in the Rock, novelist Alice Walker and poet Gwendolyn
Brooks. Although we'd never even met, when Rosa Parks walked
through our front door, she instantly became family. She and
Anyania melted into one another's arms like a grandmother
seeing her grandchild for the first time. One morning as
Anyania was about to take off for school, the button on her
dress popped off. It was a jumper filled with multicultural
images of ,I children my mother had made Anya. Ms. Parks
asked if I had a sewing box, II threaded the needle and sewed
the button back on. My spirit spilled over and I just burst
into tears.
Anyania was so good at keeping the secret. I, on the other
hand, wanted to blurt out to my family, friends and students
at Mills College ``Guess who's sleeping in my bed? A few
months ago, a former neighbor came by to pay a visit and
started set searching the scores of photographs hanging on
the walls in our living room. She stopped, turned around and
blurted out, ''No that isn't.'' I instantly knew the
photograph to which she was referring. Along with pictures of
Fannie Lou Hamer, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Jim Forman hangs
a very precious photograph of Rosa Parks surrounded by my
then seven-year-old daughter and her playmate Kai Beard.
Dottie was simply undone that in all the years she'd come
into our home, she like so many others simply thought the
woman sitting next to Anyania was her grandmother. A few
weeks after she returned to Detroit, Ms. Parks sent Anyania
an exquisite portrait of her painted by Paul Collins. That
portrait now hangs in Anya's home in Brentwood, California
where my grandchildren Maelia and Elijah live, read and play
everyday.
Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.
January 15, 2003.
Hon. Barbara Lee,
U.S. Congress,
Washington, DC.
Dear Congresswoman Lee: Never think you are alone when you
stand for right because GOD is with you. We are very proud of
you. It makes us feel good that you are a Congressional
Member.
Love, Peace and Prosperity,
Rosa Parks.
Mr. CONYERS. What a beautiful remembrance of a great lady. I am sure
the gentlewoman is one of the few people in Congress that have a
written communication from Mrs. Parks. I congratulate the gentlewoman.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Watson).
Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks's life is a milestone in American
history. I stand here because she sat there. Her simple defiance of
refusing to relinquish her seat 50 years ago on a bus in Montgomery,
Alabama, ignited the civil rights movement that transformed these
United States. Without Rosa Parks there may not have been a Martin
Luther King or a civil rights movement.
Her death at the age of 92 reminds us all that one person can make a
profound difference in the lives of others and in the course of
history. She is the embodiment and exemplar of today's human rights
movements around the world.
Part of Rosa Parks's legacy was her quiet dignity and disdain for
injustice. She was truly a woman of peace. What she determined that
fateful day on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, is that she could not
compromise her essential humanity. Her grace and her strength
exemplified a purity of spirit and commitment to truth.
The road less traveled by Rosa Parks was not always smooth or kind.
She and her husband received numerous death threats and lost their jobs
in the aftermath of the historic bus boycott. Her supporters' houses
were fire-bombed.
{time} 2200
Congress stood by and did nothing. Mrs. Parks finally moved north to
Detroit where she had relatives and eventually ended up working for the
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), the esteemed Congressman.
We all grieve the loss of Rosa Parks, and we extend our heartfelt
sympathy to her family, friends, as well as my friends and colleagues
here on the floor today and particularly the gentleman from Michigan
(Mr. Conyers), my friend. We are a better Nation and people because of
Rosa Parks.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to briefly acknowledge the passing of two
other heroes in the struggle for civil and human rights, Dr. C. Delores
Tucker, buried last Saturday, and the former Congressman, Ed Roybal.
C. Delores Tucker was a pioneer in the field of civil rights and
politics. She counted Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and many
others among the civil rights luminaries as close friends and allies.
In 1971, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp appointed Dr. Tucker as
the first Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Dr. Tucker had many firsts in her long public career. She was the
first black woman to be named vice chair of Pennsylvania's State
Democratic Party and the first African American to serve as president
of the National Federation of Democratic Women. She was also founder
and chairwoman of the National Congress of Black Women.
Dr. Tucker was always on the front lines in the struggle for civil
rights and the rights of African American women. She led with strength
and dignity, always stood tall, and was concerned about inequities and
justice for all. Her spirit lives on.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman Ed Roybal was a true pioneer in the struggle
for human and civil rights in California. He was an advocate his whole
life for the poor, the disenfranchised, and for seniors.
Ed stood up not only for the rights of Latinos but all people who
have been denied an equal opportunity. I looked to him as he served on
the Los Angeles City Council and then in Congress as a voice that could
be trusted to consistently respond on behalf of those who could not
speak for themselves. During his long career and many accomplishments,
he never lost sight of those in need.
My prayers and thoughts are with the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Roybal-Allard), his daughter, and his family during their period of
grieving for the loss of a great American. Ed's strong and dedicated
message will never be silenced. He leaves behind a spiritual, indelible
legacy that will live on.
[[Page H9263]]
Mr. Speaker, we have lost a triumvirate.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California for
her kind remarks and remembrances of Rosa Parks; and now, Mr. Speaker,
I am very pleased to yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Watt), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, a veteran member
of the North Carolina bar and member of the Committee on the Judiciary
of the House of Representatives.
Mr. WATT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr.
Conyers) for yielding.
I was trying to decide how to approach this issue and decided that
probably there were two things I need to do: number one, I want to
thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis), my good friend and
colleague, and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), my good
friend and colleague, the two States with whom Rosa Parks probably had
the strongest physical connections, for convening this Special Order
for us to pay tribute to Rosa Parks.
I have listened to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and the
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis) and the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Lee) and my other colleagues talk about some of their personal
connections to Rosa Parks. One would think that maybe the chairman of
the Congressional Black Caucus would have some personal stories, too;
but when I reflect, I can only say that I never met Rosa Parks, nor for
that matter but for the fact that Martin Luther King spoke at my high
school graduation in 1963 did I ever meet Martin Luther King.
So why would we be here talking about somebody that we have never
met? Because they have had an impact on our lives. What would compel a
person to go visit a bus stop in Alabama? Simply because you knew that
there was a particular significance to that bus stop, that that was the
stop at which Rosa Parks got on the bus.
I cannot talk about the personal things about Rosa Parks that some of
my colleagues have talked about. I can only talk about the impact that
she had on my life and the lives of other people who viewed her from a
distance and respected and admired her gentle but defiant stand, the
stand that she took actually by sitting down and refusing to stand up,
and by knowing that it had a tremendous impact on everybody around us
as we were growing up, because by her sitting down and refusing to
stand up, it allowed other people to stand up and straighten their
backs and raise their shoulders and look up and start to move in a
direction that we had not been moving before, starting with a bus
boycott, and then sit-ins and other public accommodations and the entry
of Martin Luther King as a leader of a whole series of things that
started to take place.
What does that say for us who never met this wonderful woman, except
from a distance? It says that there are probably many, many, many
people who are watching us and would it not be a wonderful tribute to
have somebody someday pay tribute to us who never, ever met us in
person, by saying this person had an impact on my life.
I cannot think of a higher way to pay tribute to her. She had an
impact on my life, and I cannot think of a greater challenge to issue
to my colleagues in this body, to people who may be watching around the
Nation, than to say what a wonderful tribute to have somebody think
that you could impact their lives by simply sitting down or taking a
stand for what you know is right.
We have that opportunity every single day, and I am delighted to pay
tribute to Rosa Parks for exercising that opportunity and for allowing
me to stand taller on her shoulders, on that giant commitment that she
made.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Watt) for his eloquent statement.
Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to yield to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), who has been a strong supporter of
civil rights, affirmative action, and the Voter Rights Act.
Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Conyers) so much for yielding, and I am absolutely
privileged to stand here today on the shoulders of a woman who stood so
proud, though her frame was so small. One act, infused with courage,
changed this world.
Her act was a spark that ignited a movement that altered the course
of history for America. She sat down in order for America to stand up
and look at itself, look at herself, and to see the atrocities that
they were doing on a group of people, we African Americans.
I am so privileged to have had the opportunity to meet this great
woman. She came to California; and while she came to California, she
and I both hailed from Alabama. Yes, she was a native Alabaman and so
am I.
Rosa Parks, a seamstress who refused to get up from her seat to give
to it a white man, that is the type of courage that she displayed; and
yet she did not want anyone to showcase her. In California, when we
showcased her in the State legislature, she said, I do not want all of
this. I said to her, I am sorry, you have all of this, because you have
made this country a better country because of one act that you did.
All Americans should be standing up at this point, praising Rosa
Parks for what she did, not only for a group of people but for this
country. She raised the consciousness of this country and brought it to
its knees in terms of segregation.
I am looking at the Washington Post Style, and they say:
``Appreciation. The Thread That Unraveled Segregation.'' Indeed, she
did. What a mighty force she was, a woman who used threads to make a
living, and yet when she was about to make a dress for one of her
persons, a person who was really not of her ilk, they told her, you
have made this wedding dress so beautifully you should come to the
wedding. She says, well, I would like to come to the wedding. But then
officials at St. John's Episcopal Church told Lucy, the young woman for
whom she was making the wedding dress, that if Rosa Parks was to attend
this wedding, she would have to wear a uniform like a servant or sit in
the balcony. She refused to do that. She was a woman of such great
spirit, great soul.
I know the time is passing, but I just want to say to my dear sister,
she has made us all proud. My daughters met her. I am sorry my
granddaughters Ayanna, Ramia, and Blair did not meet her, nor my
grandson Myles; but they will know her because their grandmother will
tell them how she stood tall in spite of her small frame.
So thank you, Rosa Parks, for the distinction of becoming the mother
of a civil rights movement and having the courage to act on behalf of
all man- and womankind.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Millender-McDonald) for those remembrances, and we had no idea
that she and Rosa Parks had so much in common.
Mr. Speaker, that concludes our list of people that wanted to speak
tonight. The celebrations of her life and legacy go on, though we will
be observing memorial activities in Montgomery, Alabama; in the
Nation's capital; and in Detroit, Michigan, as well. I want to thank
you for the privilege of allowing me and other Members to come forward
this evening for this round of tributes to the life and legacy of Rosa
Louise Parks.
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to pay
tribute to the life and work of Rosa Lee Parks, a quiet but courageous
woman who, by sitting down against injustice allowed a mass civil
rights movement to stand up for justice.
She was a small woman who had a large impact.
Rosa Parks was more than the ``Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.''
The three civil rights workers--Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney--were
inspired by Rosa Parks before they set out on their journey to register
people to vote in Mississippi prior to their tragic deaths.
Viola Gregg Liuzzo, an Italian American Detroit housewife who was
killed driving marchers back to Selma after the 1965 Selma to
Montgomery march, knew of the witness of Rosa Parks.
In 1966 James Meredith gained strength from Rosa Parks as he led a
``March Against Fear'' from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi--in which
he was shot.
Her dignified leadership inspired those abroad to engage in
courageous acts--for example, the young man who stood in front of the
tank in Tiananmen Square.
Nelson Mandela knew of her actions before he spent 27 years in a
South African jail.
She burst on the scene before Pope John Paul II was able to use his
pontifical office to
[[Page H9264]]
oppose communism. And when those in Eastern Europe struggling for
independence from the Soviet Union sang ``We Shall Overcome,'' they
were paying tribute to Rosa Parks, not Ronald Reagan.
Believing in American democracy she affirmed that one person--without
money or military might--could make a difference.
In the face of danger, entrenched racism, a ``states' rights''
philosophy--and a belief by many that any effort toward civil rights
for ``Negroes'' was communist inspired--this graceful woman acted with
the courage of a lion, and out of a grassroots bus boycott in
Montgomery, Alabama, came a young man, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and
a mass movement to end legal apartheid in America.
Rosa Parks took the legal principle of ``equal protection under the
law'' for all Americans in the 1954 Brown decision and applied it to
public transportation--which eventually led to a 1964 Civil Rights Act,
a 1965 Voting Rights Act and a 1968 Open Housing Act, all of which
helped to build a more perfect union among the states and make America
better.
Do we memorialize her with tributes like this around the nation?
Absolutely.
But it also occurred to me that there are few statues of people of
color and women in the Capitol. I think Rosa Parks deserves to be
honored with a statue in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and,
therefore, today I introduced H.R. 4145, legislation to design,
sculpture and place her among the greats who have helped to make
America and the world a better place in which to live. I think that is
the most appropriate way to permanently memorialize Rosa Parks.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it was with great sadness that I
learned of the passing of Mrs. Rosa Parks on October 24, 2005. I rise
today along with my colleagues to celebrate and remember the life of a
remarkable woman. I know that I speak for my colleagues here today when
I say that America has lost one of its greatest citizens.
Mrs. Rosa Parks became one the Nation's first heroes of the Civil
Rights Movement. Her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery
Alabama bus solely because of her race sparked a result that no one
could have predicted. The 381-day boycott of the Montgomery Alabama bus
system and Mrs. Parks' court case were the first nationally recognized
battles of the Civil Rights Movement. This movement eventually brought
about legislation to end segregation in public accommodations, to
secure the voting rights of all citizens, and to eliminate
discriminatory housing practices, effectively changing the face of
American society forever.
Although Mrs. Parks' actions were pivotal in creating laws, her
actions also galvanized public support for the equal treatment of
African Americans. It's important to remember that Mrs. Parks' actions
did not exist in a vacuum. Less than a year had passed since the grisly
lynching death of Emmett Till in Mississippi. Violence was a constant
threat to anyone, black or white, who spoke out against the status quo.
Mrs. Parks' actions resulted in death threats against her and her
husband, threats which caused her to leave Alabama. The fact that
people could harbor such hatred against Mrs. Parks solely for her
desire to be treated as an equal person exposed to much of the country
the cruel and ignorant practices of Jim Crow. The images from the fight
for civil rights filled television screens throughout the world and
were central in changing public opinions.
I had the honor and pleasure to meet Mrs. Parks when I was a fifth
grade student in the late 1950's. She worked at Hampton Institute, now
Hampton University, with my grandmother at the Holly Tree Inn. After
leaving Hampton, she moved to Detroit, Michigan where she found work as
a seamstress. In 1965, she went on to serve in the office of our
distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Conyers. Her
23 years of service to him and to this body are also worthy of
commendation.
I want to express my condolences to the Parks family. Rosa Parks' act
of non-violent resistance showed the world the power of one person in
the face of injustice. Her name rightly belongs in the pantheon of
individuals who have put the civil rights of all above their own
personal safety. We have lost a national treasure.
Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, today, Americans honor the life and
legacy of Rosa Parks. Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1914, Rosa Parks
would become one of the most influential names in America's Civil
Rights movement.
In December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, after a long day of work at
a local department store, Rosa Parks paid her fare and took a seat on
the bus. When she was asked to move to the back of the bus so that
white passengers could take her seat, she refused.
Through her quiet yet courageous action, Rosa Parks will forever
remain a lasting example of dignity and nonviolent protest in the quest
for equality. By refusing to go to the back of the bus, she moved
America forward. And by refusing to stand up and yield, she empowered
future generations to stand up for themselves and their civil
liberties.
Rosa Parks not only helped change the laws of our country, she helped
transform the hearts and minds of the American people, which has helped
lead America closer toward the goal of a truly colorblind society.
Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I am saddened by the death of
Rosa Parks, and I rise today to pay tribute to this exemplary woman who
dynamically changed the 20th Century.
Rosa Parks became a major catalyst for racial reform in December 1955
when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a public bus in
Montgomery, Alabama, defying the racial standards of that time. As a
result, she was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance. But
this arrest began a bus boycott movement that ended legal segregation
in America, and made Ms. Parks an inspiration to those who longed for
freedom for everyone. Although the boycott was a success, Rosa Parks
later lost her job. But, despite of this mistreatment she still held on
to what she believed in ``freedom and equality.''
Ms. Parks' valor, on that particular day, helped to make Americans
aware of the history of the civil rights struggle. She was truly an
example of courage, determination and inspiration to all Americans and
for her courageous deed, Rosa Parks was hailed ``the mother of the
civil rights movement.'' Therefore, on June 15, 1999, we in Congress
honored Ms. Parks' bravery by awarding her the Congressional Gold Medal
in an historic ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda.
It was truly an honor to meet such an outstanding woman, and I will
never forget her action and dedication that led to the end of
segregation. Her heroism inspired the freedom and equality that African
Americans so rightly deserve.
Mr. Speaker, I hope that Rosa Parks' legacy will be carried forward
by future generations so that African Americans will continue to
experience equality amongst all mankind.
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and memory of the civil
rights icon Rosa Louise Parks. Almost half a century ago, Mrs. Parks'
refusal to surrender her bus seat triggered the first organized actions
in the civil rights movement. Because of her action that day, Mrs.
Parks will always be remembered as the ``mother of the civil rights
movement.''
Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913. As a
girl, she wrote, ``I had a very strong sense of what was fair.'' She
led a life dedicated to improving civil rights and acted as an
inspiration to many Americans.
On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks sat in an unreserved section of a
city bus. When asked to give up her seat for a white man she politely
refused. It is a common misconception that Rosa Parks was unwilling to
give up her seat because she was tired from a long day at work. As she
told it, ``the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.''
Mrs. Parks' act of civil disobedience is the popular inspiration that
led to Martin Luther King Jr.'s decision to lead a bus boycott that
lasted an amazing 381 days. On November 13, 1956, in an important
victory for the civil rights movement, the Supreme Court outlawed
segregation on buses. The civil rights movement would experience many
important victories, but Rosa Parks will always be remembered as its
catalyst.
Mrs. Parks was a shy, soft spoken woman who was uncomfortable being
revered as a symbol of the civil rights movement. She only hoped to
inspire young people to achieve great things. However, in 1996 her
place in U.S. history was cemented when she was awarded the Nation's
highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President
Bill Clinton. Mrs. Parks passed away October 24th at the age of 92, at
her home in Detroit.
Rosa Parks will be remembered for her lasting contributions to
society. Her legacy lives on in the continued struggle for civil rights
around the world. She will be missed.
Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, in 1913, a little girl name Rosa Louise
McCauley was born in Alabama. As she grew up, her mother, Leona
McCauley, encouraged her daughter to ``take advantage of the
opportunities, no matter how few they were,'' and she did just that. In
1932, she married Raymond Parks, an active participant in civil rights
causes. The couple joined the Voters League in the 1940s.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks' life changed forever and she became
an icon of the civil rights movement when she refused to give up her
seat on a public bus to make extra room for white passengers. She was
arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct for violating a local
ordinance. Parks' arrest led to the formation of the Montgomery
Improvement Association, which organized a boycott of public buses
until the U.S Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery's policy of
segregation on buses was unconstitutional.
[[Page H9265]]
Later, Parks moved to Michigan, where Rosa initially worked as a
seamstress and later as an aide to the gentleman from Michigan, Mr.
Conyers, from 1965 to 1988. She cofounded the Rosa and Raymond Parks
Institute for Self Development in 1987 with, which sponsors a summer
bus tour for teenagers that were interested in learning the history of
America and civil rights.
Yesterday, at the age of 92, Rosa Parks passed away. Her
contributions to American history will never be forgotten. Her
dedication to the cause of civil rights will be sorely missed, but her
legacy will live on forever.
Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a courageous
American hero, Rosa Parks. Mrs. Parks passed away on Monday evening at
the age of 92 in her home in Detroit, Michigan.
On February 4, 1913, Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee,
Alabama. The daughter of a carpenter and a teacher, Rosa was home
schooled until the age of 11 when she attended Industrial School for
Girls in Montgomery. She obtained her high school diploma from Alabama
State Teachers College, while caring for her ailing grandmother. Rosa
married Raymond Parks in 1932 and volunteered for the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP from 1943 to
1966 while she worked as a seamstress and housekeeper. She and her
family eventually moved to Detroit and joined the staff of Congressman
John Conyers (D-MI) in 1965, where she worked for 23 years.
Mrs. Parks' finest hour occurred on December 1, 1955, when four black
passengers on a bus were asked to give up their seats for a single
white man. Three of the passengers complied, one did not. It was at
that moment that Rosa Parks changed the course of history forever. What
seemed like a simple gesture made a huge impact on the character of our
Nation then--and continues to affect our lives now. Following Mrs.
Parks' brave gesture, residents of Montgomery then began a boycott of
the city's bus system, in order to protest the treatment as second
class citizens that African-Americans were subjected to on segregated
buses.
Her courage, and the 380-day Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott that
followed her heroic stand, culminated in the United States Supreme
Court decision in Browder v. Gayle, which declared segregation on buses
to be unconstitutional. Her refusal to ``move to the back of the bus''
ultimately helped spark the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which
achieved stronger civil rights guarantees for Americans in all areas of
life, including housing, employment, schools, and places of public
accommodation.
One of Mrs. Parks' main concerns was her desire that Americans
understand their rights. The day she refused to give up her seat, she
was fed up with being treated as an inferior human being and simply
wanted to be treated with dignity. She taught us that we must always
defend our rights. We must continue the great work spurred on by Mrs.
Parks. As she said later in life, ``[W]ithout courage and inspiration,
dreams will die--the dream of freedom and peace.''
On May 21, 1983, as Mayor of the City of Englewood, New Jersey, I had
the distinct honor to meet Mrs. Parks and personally bestow upon her a
key to that city. In addition, two of our Nation's highest honors have
been awarded to Rosa Parks. In 1996, President Clinton bestowed upon
Mrs. Parks the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which recognizes
meritorious service and outstanding contributions to American life.
Three years later, I had the privilege to vote for the bill that
awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, our Nation's highest civilian
honor, to Mrs. Parks on June 15, 1999 for her ``quiet dignity [that]
ignited the most significant social movement in the history of the
United States.''
I have also supported two recent pieces of legislation that pay
tribute to Mrs. Parks. I voted in favor of H. Con. Res. 208, a
resolution which commemorates the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks'
refusal to give up her seat on the bus and the subsequent desegregation
of American society. This resolution was unanimously approved by the
House of Representatives on September 14, 2005. Another resolution that
I support, which will be introduced this week by my colleague,
Congressman Mike Rogers, will honor the 50th Anniversary of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, which resulted from Mrs. Parks' heroic actions
and ultimately led to the Supreme Court decision in Browder. It is my
hope that this bill will also be unanimously approved.
Mr. Speaker, I rise with sadness today as our Nation has lost a
cherished historical figure and civil rights hero. However, we can all
take comfort in knowing how much Rosa Parks changed the course of
history and, by doing so, improved the lives of us all.
Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, we all have the opportunity to make choices
in our lives. We have the choice to take the easy route, to blindly
follow societal values no matter how false they may be. Or, we have the
choice to take a stand and do what is right no matter how challenging
the consequences may be.
December 1st this year will mark the day 50 years ago when one brave,
great American took a stand that, while resulting in many challenges,
would spur a civil rights movement that shaped a growing country in a
very positive way.
In 1955, when Rosa Parks boarded that bus on her way home from work,
she may not have been seeking to start a revolution; she may not have
been looking to change the world; she may not have been hoping to lead
a noble cause. Rosa Parks was presented with a choice: to accept the
restrictions forced on her by false values or to take advantage of the
opportunity to do the right thing.
Rosa Parks, right then and there in Montgomery Alabama, decided she
would not give up her seat that day because as a leader in the NAACP,
she understood that by accepting the restrictions imposed on her under
segregation she was only enabling it further. Although she was weary
from a hard day at work as a seamstress, Rosa Parks found the strength
to challenge that plague of conformity so that she and others might no
longer have to endure another day under its agonizing credence.
In making the choice to stand up to the monstrous ill of segregation,
Rosa Parks joined heroes that have adorned legendary stories throughout
the centuries when a common individual displays uncommon valor in the
name of righteousness and against all odds.
Rosa Parks set off a chain of events that, over time, would slay that
dragon of segregation. Her bravery would inspire other common
individuals moved by the desire to promote equal rights to ban together
to form an army committed to a mission. Their mission would force a
society that had accepted an immoral practice to stop and reevaluate
its priorities and values.
That day, Rosa Parks did start a revolution. That day, she inspired
the Civil Rights movement that changed the world. That day she led a
noble cause that she spent her entire life dedicated to seeing that we
all have a seat of our choice at mankind's table. It all began with
Rosa Parks making the choice to stand up for what she knew, in her
heart, was right. America has reaffirmed that Rosa Parks was ``right''
in Montgomery, Alabama and ``right'' still today and in the future.
On October 25th, 2005, our great American hero, Rosa Parks, died at
the age of 92 in her adopted home of Detroit, Michigan. While our
country grieves for the loss of one of its most treasured patriots, we
can rest assured that the stand Rosa Parks took nearly 50 years ago and
the contributions she made thereafter, continues to shape and change
the values of this growing country. We are reminded that we must
evaluate our priorities and values each day if we are to protect the
equal rights endowed to us by our Creator. Most of all, as common
individuals, we are reminded that each of us has the uncommon valor to
stand up for what is right no matter the consequences because, just
like Rosa Parks, each of us has a hero within.
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, there are many today who may not
understand today why December 1, 1955, will long be remembered
throughout American history. That was the day a quiet, somewhat shy,
42-year old African American seamstress named Rosa Parks was ordered to
get up and give her seat to a white passenger on a city bus in
Montgomery, Alabama. For many years, countless times, all day, every
day, all throughout the American South, African Americans had submitted
to that humiliating demand. But that one December day, Rosa Parks
simply refused to get up. It is true, she volunteered for the local
NAACP chapter in Montgomery, but she had not planned a protest that
day. She was just trying to get home. She was tired, and she had had
enough.
Through that one simple act, Rosa Parks displayed nothing short of
raw courage. It was dangerous--very dangerous--to defy the customs,
traditions, and laws of racial discrimination and segregation in the
South. The Brown v. Board of Education decision had been issued by the
Supreme Court only 18 months before. In reaction, violence arid
intimidation erupted all across the South. There was so much tension,
so much hate. In August of 1955, a 14-year-old African American boy,
named Emmett Till had been murdered and mutilated by two white men
while he was visiting his uncle in Money, Mississippi.
I believe there is a force--call it God or the spirit of history--
that tracks us down and selects us to participate in a cause much
greater than ourselves. Rosa Parks followed her own compass that day,
and she allowed herself to be used for good. She could have been
killed. Instead she was arrested, booked, and taken to jail because she
would not give up her seat on a public bus. When the African American
community of Montgomery heard what had happened to the demure and
beautiful woman they knew as Rosa Parks, the news spread like wildfire.
And people began to say, ``If Rosa Parks can do it, so can I.''
[[Page H9266]]
By sitting down, Rosa Parks was standing up, and with her she carried
the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and yearnings of hundreds and thousands
of oppressed people. She inspired an entire generation to take a stand
by sitting-in at lunch counters and restaurants, by standing-in at
theaters, by integrating public transportation on the Freedom Rides,
and by organizing voter registration campaigns in the deepest and most
dangerous part of the South. It was also in response to Rosa Parks'
protest that a new, young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. was
called upon to be the spokesperson and leader of the movement that
would ultimately become the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
That one simple, elegant act ignited a powerful non-violent movement
that changed America forever. So when we pay tribute to Rosa Parks, we
are saluting more than the mother of the modern day civil rights
movement. We are honoring one of the founders of the New America,
perhaps ultimately a founder of the Beloved Community, a truly
interracial democracy where we lay down the burden of race and class.
The story of Rosa Parks reminds us that we are all one people, one
family--the American family, the human family. And she reminds us that
the actions of one single person have power, power to inspire a
generation to greatness, power to make presidents, governors and
members of Congress do what is right, even if they had not intended to.
Rosa Parks teaches us that no matter what the challenge, even in the
face of death, sometimes each of us is called upon to stand up, speak
up, and speak out against the injustice of our day and time. And if we
do, maybe, just maybe it might change a nation. And if we are as lucky
as Rosa Parks, maybe it might even change the world.
Mr. ROGERS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to help pay tribute
to one of Alabama's great Civil Rights leaders, Rosa Parks.
Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks started a quiet, but determined,
protest against the status quo.
What began as a principled refusal to give up her seat, grew into a
movement that has helped change the world.
All of us assembled here today are beneficiaries of her courage,
regardless of our race. We're deeply saddened by her passing, but we're
also humbled by her life and legacy. Our Nation is stronger because of
her actions.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday I introduced a resolution recognizing the 50th
Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Over 60 members of this chamber are co-sponsors of that resolution,
including all of my colleagues from Alabama.
It is my hope that resolution will also help honor Rosa Parks, and
help pay tribute to those who laid the foundations for the modern-day
Civil Rights movement.
I thank Mr. Conyers for leading this tribute today, and thank my
colleagues for their attention to the life and legacy of Rosa Parks.
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I rise today to acknowledge
the passing of a great American, the venerable Rosa Louise Parks.
On a cold afternoon in December 1955, Rosa Parks could not have known
she would soon become a national symbol and civil rights icon. But in
standing her ground and demanding her fair and equal treatment on that
bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks became the first lady of civil
rights and the mother of the freedom movement.
Her simple action and committed resolve that day empowered a people,
ignited a movement and changed the course of American history.
The events that followed Ms. Parks' protest that day--her arrest, the
Montgomery bus boycott, and the eventual integration of the bus
system--set the stage for Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights
Act.
As a young college student, I was inspired by the stories of Ms.
Parks' courageous action. I traveled to the south as a ``freedom ride''
in support of the emerging civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks' courage, determination, and tenacity continue to be an
inspiration to all those committed to non-violent protest and change
nearly half a century later. She will be remembered as an everlasting
symbol and advocate for justice and equality throughout America.
Thank you Rosa, America will forever be indebted to you.
Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________