    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [December 1, 2005]
    [Pages 1800-1801]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing Legislation To Place a Statue of Rosa Parks in the National Statuary Hall at the United States
    Capitol
    December 1, 2005

        The President. Welcome. Please be seated. Thank you all for being
    here. Laura and I thank you for joining us on
    this special day.
        Fifty years ago, an African American woman named Rosa Parks helped
    set in motion a national movement for equality and freedom when she
    refused a bus driver's order to give her seat to a white man. The bill
    I'm about to sign calls for a statue of Rosa Parks to be placed in the
    Capitol's National Statuary Hall.
        By placing her statue in the heart of the Nation's Capitol, we
    commemorate her work for a more perfect union, and we commit ourselves
    to continue to struggle for justice for every American.
        I'm honored the Secretary of State has
    joined us as well as Secretary Alphonso Jackson. I want to thank the bill sponsors, Jesse Jackson, Jr.--I see you brought some of your family with
    you--[laughter]--Senator John Kerry, Senator Thad
    Cochran, Senator Dick Lugar joining us as well.
        I'm proud that Bruce Gordon is here.
    He's the president and CEO of the NAACP. Thanks for joining us, Bruce. I
    want to thank all the civil rights leaders who've joined us as well. I
    particularly want to say thanks to Elaine Steele, representative of the Rosa Parks Institute.
        Elaine Eason Steele. Right here.
        The President. Thank you. Welcome. We've got a seat for you.
        It's great to see Dr. Dorothy Height
    as well. Welcome, Dr. Height. I want to thank all of Rosa Parks's family
    who have joined us as well. You're kind to come.
        Rosa Parks was the daughter of the South who worked as a seamstress
    at a department store in a Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1, 1955, she
    boarded a city bus. Under local and State law, African Americans had to
    give up their seats if any white people were standing. But after a
    lifetime of discrimination and a hard day's work, Rosa refused. As she
    would say later, quote, ``I wasn't tired physically or no more tired
    than I usually was at the end of a working day. No, the only tired I
    was, was tired of giving in.''
        By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks showed that one candle can light
    the darkness. Like so many institutionalized evils, segregation
    ultimately depended on public accommodation. Like so many
    institutionalized evils, once the ugliness of these laws was held up to
    the light, they could not stand. Like so many institutionalized evils,
    these laws proved no match for the power of an awakened conscience, and
    as a result, the cruelty and humiliation of the Jim Crow laws are now a
    thing of the past.
        By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks helped inspire a nationwide
    effort for equal justice under the law. When she refused to yield her
    seat, Mrs. Parks was arrested, convicted of violating the segregation
    laws, and fined $10, plus $4 in court fees. Her arrest sparked a boycott
    of the Montgomery bus lines by its black passengers and the formation of
    a local association of African Americans led by a young preacher named
    Martin Luther King, Jr. The boycott ended more than a year later after
    the Supreme Court struck down segregation on buses. What had begun as a
    simple act of civil disobedience ended up galvanizing the modern
    movement for civil rights.
        By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks called America back to its
    founding promise of equality and justice for everyone. When the police
    officer boarded the bus and told the seamstress that he had to arrest
    her, he explained that the law was the law. Rosa and the black ministers
    who defended her invoked more than the law; they invoked the
    Constitution and pointed to a higher

    [[Page 1801]]

    law. Our Declaration of Independence makes clear that the human right to
    dignity and equality is not a grant of Government. It is the gift of the
    Author of Life. And by holding our Nation true to the words of its
    founding document, Rosa Parks helped her fellow African Americans claim
    their God-given freedoms and made America a better place.
        Eventually the civil rights movement would succeed in persuading
    Congress to pass more sweeping legislation that dealt with voting rights
    and discrimination in public places and school segregation, and the
    United States Congress should renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
        Dr. King liked to say that our Civil Rights Act was written in the
    streets by the citizens who marched for justice and equality. And on
    this day, we remember the great inspiration this movement drew from the
    quiet courage shown by an Alabama woman riding home on a Cleveland
    Avenue bus.
        It is fitting that this America hero will now be honored with a
    monument inside the most visible symbol of American democracy. We hope
    that generations of Americans will remember what this brave woman did
    and be inspired to add their own contributions to the unfolding story of
    American freedom for all.
        And now it's my honor to sign the bill that will make Rosa Parks the
    first African American woman to be honored with a statue in our Nation's
    Capitol.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:33 a.m. in Room 450 of the Dwight D.
    Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In his remarks, he referred to
    Elaine Eason Steele, cofounder, Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for
    Self Development; and civil rights leader Dorothy I. Height. H.R. 4145,
    approved December 1, was assigned Public Law No. 109-116.