Rosa Parks, the mother of the Civil RIghts movement died this week. "She sat down and the world turned around" said one of her long time friends. Rosa has had praised heaped upon her for years and I'm quite frankly sick of it. Didn't see that one coming did you? Follow me on this little ride my friends.
Rosa refused to get up out of her seat to allow a white man to sit down. She was tired and she didn't feel like getting up so she gave the man and the police officer who showed some attitude. It was nothing different than you see from a lot women especially sisters. Not to mention if they are tired and their feet hurt!! Look don't get me wrong the fact that she did it in the deep south in the 1960s shows that she had balls but let's not blow this thing out of proportion. There were hundreds of others who had refused to give up their seats before Rosa did but all of them didn't get arrested and the ones that did get arrested didn't work at the NAACP.
We all heard Cedric the Entertainer make similar comments in the movie Barbershop and the other barbers and patrons called him on the things that he said. I fully expect a lot of people will have a meltdown after reading this blog but hey it's how I feel and I'm the King. You see I had always heard about Mrs. Parks but never gave her much thought until she sued my favorite rap group OUTKAST because they named one of their songs after her. To me as a person who was "so brave" and wanted everyone to have equal rights to do as they please it was odd to see her suing two young black men for doing something that they felt was honoring her. A few years later when Cedric the Entertainer was selected as host of the NAACP Awards she refused to show up because she was still peeved by his character's comments in the movie. Yeah I know she was old and crabby but this again didn't seem to point to a woman who is now being characterized as the woman who changed a nation.
The thing is Rosa Parks should be remembered for having courage but I think the courage kicked in after she did what she did and had so many eyes on her. She didn't run or back down but continued in the fight. That is most definitely noteworthy but let's not take it to the extreme with honoring her. She was a normal red blooded person just like you and I. She was having a bad day and she made a fuss just like she did with Outkast and Cedric but I'm sure we'll all conveniently forget about those episodes!
I know you're all peeved now but so what! Bring it!
19 comments:
You have lost your f%&king mind! We are going to rip you ass to shreds for writing that bullsh&%!
It's true that the main reason the Montgomery bus boycott got started is because Rosa was an NAACP member. That's what caused all the talk. I think when she first refused to get out of her seat, she was just a tired, fed up black woman who didn't give her actions much more thought than..."I'll be doggoned if I'm moving out of this seat before my stop as tired as I am today." Everyone has a breaking point and hers lead to one of the most recognizable events of the civil rights movement.
I was mad that she sued outkast....I felt that they had nothing but respect for her.....I'm sure she didn't get the whole hip hop movement, and she probably thought, as most old folks, that it's just garbage and was upset that they would use her name in promoting said garbage.
I think with Rosa, as many other folks in history, didn't plan on the stand she took; she just reacted. Linda Brown is said to have been a brave little girl, but she was just a child who's parents wanted her to have equal educational oportunities. Little did she know that Brown v Board of Education would make history in the United States.
Thought provoking...
I shoul add...
I do think she should be honored, because it was the work that she contiued to do with the boycott, and the fact that after it occured to her that she was going to jail if she didn't move she still said NO!...that's what made her a hero!
I have stated this before, there are many in history that did that same thing as Rosa but didn't get the recognition. That happens. But I think we should tip our hat to her because she had balls. Emmett Till wasn't the only black boy lynched in Mississippi. But we remember him because we saw what happened to him. It doesn't diminish what others did.
@ GP - Wow i didn't expect anybody to be mad over this piece. SIKE! I understand your anger GP but you've got to learn how to voice it in better ways that in such a vulgar way! LOL!
@ brownsoul - I completely get what you're saying Drea and i think you got what i was saying. Well done my dear.
Very well Put James. I can dig that.
You really got some balls Ddot, to say those awful things about Mrs. Parks two days after her death. First off, Ddot your little ride was shaky from the beginning. Now I got this off a website it is from an interview from The Honorable Rosa Parks in 1996:
"Our mistreatment was just not right, and I was tired of it," writes Parks in her recent book, Quiet Strength, (ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1994). "I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, and how strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had asked of others."
Since I was younger I was always told that Rosa did not give up her seat just because she was tired, but because she was trying to make a statement. She was sick of the treatment blacks were given. She worked at the NAACP for goodness sakes, do you really think the only reason she did not get up from her seat was because her feet were tired? WTF? The only thing she was tired of was the racist bullcrap. I am pretty damn sure she did not expect such an outcome. However, she was couragous and brave for making a stand. Ddot, when was the last time you stood for something right? A real cause? No, your battle for no pickles at Burger King does not count either. Hell, you probably didn't even go to the March this year? And even if you did, it still wouldn't damn matter.
Oh, and for you even to mention that she should not be honored pisses me off even more. This post was so insensitive that it was disqusting. Guess what Ddot?
YOUR WRONG!!!!!
LOL well that was a little better presented my dear GP.
Here's the thing. I don't feel any human being is worth being "honored". If you want to recognize somebody for doing something extraordinary then that's on you but I believe that every person has the ability to do extraordinary things. Mrs. parks did something and got recognized for it and she will continue to get recognized for it throughout history but what she did is not anything that I nor you wouldn't have done.
By the way I have always been taught to stand up for my beliefs and writing this piece knowing that it would tick people off is a example of that no matter how small. We all must be free thinkers GP. Remember we are the mucic makers and we are the dreamers of dreams.
Anytime I can quote Willy Wonka it's a good day.
Don't F@3K with me YANKEE!
Are you high Ddot?
You remind me of George Bush sometimes.
No, you remind me of BARBARA BUSH! That's it. I knew you reminded me of someone, just couldn't get my finger on it.
I am not mad anymore
I am not mad anymore
I am not mad anymore
I am not mad anymore
Now, that's better. Ddot, you are officially off the hook. You have every right to voice your opionion. Wrong or Right. Okay :)!
lol..I'm so mad right now..lol
Did you post this just to fuck wit people?
"I believe that every person has the ability to do extraordinary things."
True, but everyone doesn't. 80% of the people in this world are big ass cowards.
Black women in the south couldn't afford to have attitudes towards whites back then. Her ass could have been paralyzed and she would have tried to get up to give up her seat.
Does it matter that her connects created some PR around the situation? The bottom line is Rosa's feet was tired, she went to jail (which I'm sure fucked up her day even more), her boss jumped on the story, so did 27 year old Dr. King, then other folks decided to walk instead of take the bus (which made their feet even more tired), it went to the highest court, black folks won, a bunch of other shit came about which we call the civil rights movement and now yo ass can ride da bus.
lol i can't believe you...black folks aways hatin..stop hatin
I had a "Rosa Parks" moments at the airport. I can't take the strip search so I decided to show my color. For some reason the NAACP did not hear about my story?
Also...
Thank you for pointing certain things out. Rosa Parks is to be commemorated but her name needs to be accompanied with many others.
tru tru.
she should definitely be honored, that chic had balls!! (no disrespect) but she did her thing. She stood up, she made a difference. And for that, she should be honored.
i thank you for posting that, even though you said it the way you did.
people tend to forget that the Civil Rights Movement was already moving before Rosa Parks. her action, or lack thereof, merely set the stage for bigger things to jump off, instead of the things that were already going on behind the scene. from what i've read, a boycott was already planned by more than a few Black leaders, and Rosa's arrest merely got it started.
now, i'm not saying that she was any less strong or brave for having done what she did, not at all. i don't believe i would have had the courage to do so. but, in honoring her, we should try a little harder to honor those who are not named in the papers and history books.
Fact remains, we can speculate all we want, her sitting down and saying now gave the southern leaders (black ones) the ammunition they needed to start the boycotts that eventually began the civil rights movement in essence.
for that alone she is important, those are just facts.
i agree. the end.
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