Thank You, Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, you rocked the world, and I want to thank you with all of my heart.

Why should I pay homage to Rosa Parks for her actions on that historic day?  That was six years before my birth, and not only was I born white, I was in third grade before I met someone who wasn’t white.

In spite of growing up in white small town America, my parents made it clear that there are some basic tenets that should be followed throughout life.  People should be treated equally and with dignity; God has the same love for all of us; and the commandment to “love your neighbor” means to love everybody, not just some people.

Growing up in that context, then, it always boggled my mind that the United States of America, a country that was founded on the premise of freedom, allowed slavery as recently as 150 years ago.  The forefathers, as they carefully crafted the marvelous document known as the Constitution of the United States, made room for slavery.  Granted, it’s tough trying to change a belief system that is established and embedded in the collective psyche.  William Wilberforce was able to do it across the Big Pond (when the Slavery Abolition Act was passed in 1833), but it took a lot longer in the United States.

What’s even more astounding to me, though, is that as recently as 1955, ninety years after the end of the Civil War, this country still allowed racial segregation with ordinances that treated people based on skin color.

Growing up as a baseball fan, I would read story after story of superstars such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson not being allowed to stay in the same hotels, eat in the same restaurants, or even drink from the same water fountains as their white counterparts.

As I moved around the country, met more people, and experienced various situations, I eventually realized that discrimination wasn’t just a “black and white” thing.  I slowly became aware that there was (and is) discrimination of many kinds on many different levels.  Whether because of skin color, ethnicity, religious preference, gender, sexual orientation, income, level of education, a handicap, medical condition, weight, hair color, or whatever, people have been murdered, brutalized, put at a disadvantage, criticized, mocked, or simply laughed at just because they were somehow different.

I won’t pretend to understand all the reasons that this kind of bigotry and hatred still exists.  I do understand that people tend to be uncomfortable when they are around people who are different, and to be honest, I have to frequently run a self-check to help me identify areas in my life where I may be harboring feelings of prejudice. 

Regardless of cultural and ethnic differences, regardless of background and upbringing, regardless of physical attributes, and regardless of religious belief systems, people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  That’s what Rosa Parks taught us.

What Ms. Parks did when she courageously played her part in paving the way for the Civil Rights Movement impacted not just racial discrimination; her actions fired a shot across the bow at all types of discrimination and helped heighten the general awareness that we all really are created equal and we should all be treated equally and fairly.

Does this impact me?  You bet it does.  The United States has made giant strides in recent years in securing rights of equality for myself, my children, and someday my grandchildren, regardless of beliefs, regardless of background, regardless of anything.  Yes, discrimination still exists on some fronts, but significant gains have been made in the last half century.  Thanks in part to Rosa Parks, people in this country have a much better chance of being treated as human beings, with all the rights associated with the Constitution, than they did fifty years ago.

Ms. Parks, here is one man who can’t fully comprehend everything that you had to endure, but who wants to thank you with all of his heart for your bravery and sacrifice.