RIP: Rosa Parks

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Rosa Parks, the quiet seamstress who sparked the civil rights movement by refusing to relinquish her bus seat to a white man, died Monday at the age of 92. (As an aside, beyond the issues of racial bigotry, which are heinous in and of themselves and which I do not intend to trivialize, I’ve wondered if that white man’s mama dressed him down for expecting a lady to give him her seat.)

"[Congressman John] Conyers [D-MI], who first met Parks during the early days of the civil rights struggle, recalled Monday that she worked on his original congressional staff when he first was elected to the House of Representatives in 1964.

"’I think that she, as the mother of the new civil rights movement, has left an impact not just on the nation, but on the world,’ he told CNN in a telephone interview. ‘She was a real apostle of the nonviolence movement.’

"He remembered her as someone who never raised her voice — an eloquent voice of the civil rights movement."

"’You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene — just a very special person,’ he said, adding that ‘there was only one’ Rosa Parks."

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While reading through this section of Parks’ obituary, I was struck by the Marian tone of the piece. Parks was a motherly figure to the movement and offered a presence that gave the cause a mantle of quiet dignity and courage. Interesting, isn’t it, how great paradigm shifts in history are often ushered in by women? Men may take the lead in fighting the battle, but the "incarnation" of the moment often enough enters history through a woman.

May Rosa Parks rest in peace and may perpetual light shine upon her through Christ our Lord, as mediated by Mary his most holy Mother.

9 thoughts on “RIP: Rosa Parks”

  1. She was a supporter of Planned Parenthood, as was Martin Luther King.
    Not sure how that fits in with the “Marian tone.”

  2. She was a supporter of Planned Parenthood, as was Martin Luther King.
    Do you have some documentation regarding Dr. King? Dr. Alveda King is convinced that MLK, like other family members, opposed abortion. (Of course, Dr. King was killed in 1968, before Roe v. Wade.)

  3. Steve, she was a human being, a woman, through whom a great thing was accomplished. Unlike Mary, she was not immaculate, and so was capable of sin just like the rest of us. One does not have to be sinless to be the catalyst of God’s work in the world.
    Since she just passed away a few days ago, out of respect that is the only comment I’ll make on the subject.

  4. I have no idea what King’s views of abortion were. However, King was an extreme leftist and most of his prominent followers, such as Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young, follow the leftist line in just about everything today. I imagine King’s views would have “grown” just like theirs.

  5. I imagine King’s views would have “grown” just like [Jackson & Young’s].
    “Imagining” that a person could possibly share views with people he once knew is hardly a reasonable justification for speaking ill of the man.

  6. Planned Parenthood is the only tarnish on her reputation. Otherwise, a good woman who led a good life.
    As for MLK Jr. being an abortion lackey…he may have had to get in bed, so to speak, with those types, but I don’t think he was one.

  7. Abortion is a million times more evil than Hitler. Anyone who suports abortion is going to have to answer for every abortion death.
    Just like Bishops are held accountable to God for every soul in their diocese and EVERY sin of every person in their diocese.
    Pro aborts have no defense at the awesome tribunal of God. For Non- Catholics, this is a mute point.

  8. Michael King Jr ( aka Martin Luther King Jr , a name he never made legal) was not around to see the outcome of Roe v wade. However, it
    is worth noting he received the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood in 1966.
    From this fact, one could make a plausible case, he would have likely supported the outcome of Roe V Wade.

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