Rosa Parks to Lie in Honor at Capitol

hogginthefogg

Full story here:http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/28/national/w102032D20.DTLI guess this is a pretty huge gesture on the part of the government--no woman has ever received this honor--but for some reason, it doesn't sit right with me. She was basically giving the government the finger, and now that same government (for all intents and purposes) wants to act like they loved her all along?DISCUSS

DjArcadian

for some reason, it doesn't sit right with me. She was basically giving the government the finger, and now that same government (for all intents and purposes) wants to act like they loved her all along?

Fatback

for some reason, it doesn't sit right with me. She was basically giving the government the finger, and now that same government (for all intents and purposes) wants to act like they loved her all along?

or...



She might have thought the USA (by the proxy "elected officials"--the government) was founded on principles that clearly indicate that you cannot treat her like this.



So go ahead and kiss my ass, but let me warm it up in this front bus seat for you dumbass bitches!

Guzzo

I guess this is a pretty huge gesture on the part of the government--no woman has ever received this honor--but for some reason, it doesn't sit right with me. She was basically giving the government the finger, and now that same government (for all intents and purposes) wants to act like they loved her all along?

DISCUSS

I think its very fitting,, I mean she wa a grat American who contributed to making life better for other Americans. From NAACP secretary to Montgomery Bus plant to civil rights figure head.

Whats the old Thomas Jefferson saying? we should have a revolution every 50 years or so? although she didn't turn the nation on its ear she damn sure made it tilt its head.

Probably one of the only graves out there I'd be proud to visit as an American.

Brian

i wonder if she would even want to be buried there

Guzzo

i wonder if she would even want to be buried there

good question, one that you probably oculdn't have asked her in the last few years of her life (she suffered from dimentia).

But I think its safe to say this is an honor and she is being seen as someone who fought to make america a better place...and accomplished it

mannybolone

Hogg,

Best I can tell, Rosa Parks is also the first African American to be afforded this honor.

Like whoa. Never even for Martin?

Bapt

Bush was not elected.

Bapt

Bush was not elected.

luck

I think it's a grand and fitting gesture. I know some cats will say, "Oh, it's a token soulless pander move towards blacks/women/minorities-in-general," but no matter how and for whose political goals she came to arrive at this resting place, that fact remains that she will be laid there and will rest there for the duration of this Union. No matter what the detractors/backlash can possibly muster up about it, it is a matter of great significance.



This is also perhaps one of the most acute and appropriate ways our nation can admit its past intranational human rights errors. Little else needs to be stated in the way of an admission of guilt when a victim, whose very name is synonymous with a revolutionary act, lies buried in honor in her government/victimizer's own veritable Holy of Holies. If it is merely lip service, it is a shouted and eternally echoed one: "We were wrong."



Now ATONING for this culpability is another matter.

Grafwritah

This is also perhaps one of the most acute and appropriate ways our nation can admit its past intranational human rights errors. Little else needs to be stated in the way of an admission of guilt when a victim, whose very name is synonymous with a revolutionary act, lies buried in honor in her government/victimizer's own veritable Holy of Holies. If it is merely lip service, it is a shouted and eternally echoed one: "We were wrong."

Today's lip service = tomorrow's history written in stone.

While there are many angles at looking at the present meaning, try to remember the big picture. This will forever (relatively speaking) make a statement, long after current government douchebags are gone.

It's kind of like the assassination of MLK - once you pass that point, there's no turning back. He's a martyr. It could be uncovered that he beat puppies with a shovel for fun or something as equally distasteful and it wouldn't matter - his memory is untouchable. And this is all courtesy of those who hated him most.

This tribute is similar (without quite so many negative side issues). In a couple of decades all the debate and questioning will be forgotten and the standard of females/African Americans honored in this way will have been set - and possibly by those who least wanted to.

So try to look at the positive of the big picture here. There's no downside.

mannybolone

I don't think Hogg's point is that there's a "downside" per se. Though, let's not overstate this. How many of you can name - not guess, but actually name - three other non-presidents who've lain in state under the Rotunda? It's not like "lying in state" is some shit that school kids get taught, though it's reasonably safe to assume that Rosa Parks name has/will become an indelible part of how the Civil Rights Movement is taught and learned.

That said, what I wrote on my blog was this: Parks dedicated her life to racial and social justice and while the U.S. government is taking an extraordinary step to honor her legacy, maybe they could actually be doing more to see that her life's work wasn't in vain. I think many would agree that while overt racism - the kind that forces people to the back of the bus - has become illegal, de facto racism is as profoundly a part of American society as it ever was. The danger with all the accolades being showered on Parks is if it builds in a complacency or belief that the need for a civil rights movement ended with her and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

batmon

mannybolone

I think it's a grand and fitting gesture. I know some cats will say, "Oh, it's a token soulless pander move towards blacks/women/minorities-in-general," but no matter how and for whose political goals she came to arrive at this resting place, that fact remains that she will be laid there and will rest there for the duration of this Union. No matter what the detractors/backlash can possibly muster up about it, it is a matter of great significance.

This is also perhaps one of the most acute and appropriate ways our nation can admit its past intranational human rights errors. Little else needs to be stated in the way of an admission of guilt when a victim, whose very name is synonymous with a revolutionary act, lies buried in honor in her government/victimizer's own veritable Holy of Holies. If it is merely lip service, it is a shouted and eternally echoed one: "We were wrong."

1) She's not being buried there. Her body will lie in state for a few days and then she'll likely be buried back home. I don't mean to split hairs but she's not going to "rest there for the duration of this Union" unless you happen to know tha Union is ending on Thursday.

2) "Now ATONING for this culpability is another matter."

hogginthefogg

Parks dedicated her life to racial and social justice and while the U.S. government is taking an extraordinary step to honor her legacy, maybe they could actually be doing more to see that her life's work wasn't in vain.

Thank you.

It reminds me of Ice Cube's line:

Now you callin' me an African-American/Like everything is fair again.

DrWu

This is a very appropriate and important step. I believe Rosa would be deeply honored by this action. She fought to be included and this is really the ultimate act of inclusion for a political state. I agree with the others that it is bittersweet to the extent that her death reveals the ever widening problems we face to push her legacy forward or to even hold onto some of those achievements.