[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 23528]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               ROSA PARKS

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, a few moments ago, during our opening 
prayer, the Chaplain mentioned Rosa Parks. I, too, want to take a 
moment to note the passing of one of America's extraordinary citizens, 
an activist, a champion of principle, a true hero, Rosa Parks.
  All Americans should know Mrs. Parks' extraordinary story, how her 
refusal to give up a seat on that Montgomery, AL, bus led to a 
successful bus boycott and how that boycott ultimately led to the great 
and historic civil rights movement that remade our Nation. Ms. Parks 
defied an unjust, unfair, and unconstitutional law that declared 
African Americans second-class citizens. In so doing, she began a 
process that led to the historically important and vital 1964 Civil 
Rights Act.
  Racism still exists in our society. Discrimination continues. But 
Rosa Parks' brave stand against an unjust law began a movement that set 
our society moving away from prejudice toward equality, toward a 
society where people are not judged by the color of their skin but by 
the content of their character.
  Rosa Parks' actions and the life she lived stand as a testament to 
the importance of principle and the power of a single individual to 
change the world. In the coming months, I hope that we in the Senate 
will look for other ways to honor Mrs. Parks' legacy and the principles 
for which she and her life stood.

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