Job Discussion Forums

[Gregor]

Are y'all aware that Rosa Parks died on the 24th of October?

For those of you who are not American, Rosa Parks was one of the most important heros of recent American history. Back in the late 50s, she borded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, and just...sat there.
She was a negro, and she sat in the negro section. But the bus was crowded, so when a white man borded and she was asked to move even further back, she refused.

Hardly seems a big deal now. In fact, she wasn't the first to do this. But she was a respected seamstress, and when she refused to buckle under the Jim Crow laws (dealing with segregation of whites and blacks) of that time and place, and the powers-that be decided to prosecute, as one activist at the time put it, "They done messed with the wrong one THIS time."

Martin Luther King, Jr., as a young, up and coming Baptist minister, was chosen to lead the boycott of the Montgomery bus system. It lasted over a year, if memory serves, and ended with nothing less than a Supreme Court decision ending segregation.

Ms. Parks has been a symbol of the civil rights movement ever since.

She didn't DO anything, I guess, but then again, yes, she did. Because when her impulsive decision to just not take it any more became, literally, a federal case, she sucked it up and refused to back down.
She was and remains a symbol of equal rights to this day. She has never been forgotten.
I remember one interview with her, years and years later, when she insisted that, at the time of the bus debacle, she was just tired. She simply couldn't be asked to leave her seat, and she didn't even argue the point. She simply refused to stand up again.

I find that both amazingly courageous and CHARMING. Because I know what she meant. If it had happened the day before, and she hadn't had as hard a day, maybe she would have complied with the bus driver. But, by God, she was having none of it THAT day.
We've all had days like that.

I think that this is exactly why she is revered so much. She was a regular person. She had no conscious intention to spark such a deal.
But, by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, she stepped up to the plate.

I am crying - just a bit - as I write this. Ms. Parks is a hero of mine. Even more so than Mr. King. She had no political agenda. She just wanted to go home.
Who can't relate to that?

Oh, yeah. One other thing, since y'all don't know me. I can tell you in my own words, but I prefer to quote Frank Zappa, from around the same time:
"I ain't black, but there's a whole lots of time I wish I could say I'm not white."

Thank you, Ms. Parks, and may you finally rest in peace.

[Perpetual Traveller]

History is full of 'normal' people who do exceptional things and I think we are always a little poorer for their passing.

Earlier this year I was in Berlin for the U2 concert and as I arrived in the city fairly early in the day decided to go and do some sightseeing. Near the almost intact section of the wall they are developing a new display and as I walked along looking at the photos etc I was particularly struck by the photos of the White Rose (anti-Nazi group). Although I remember learning about the group during history classes reading about them again now that I am older than the three who were executed really got me thinking. Would I be brave enough to act on my convictions they way they did?

Likewise if I was in Rosa Parks' position would I have the balls to decide that enough is enough?

Or as I am, a white person, do I have the guts to do more than take the passive approach of not participating in racism but also actively renounce it and act against it where I find it?

I sure as hell hope so,

PT

[Hod]

[Perpetual Traveller]

So I live in a country that has practises I don't agree with, does that make me a hypocrite? Because really that is what you're implying Hod. If you had thought about what you were writing before you submitted your venomous little attack I think you would realise that almost everyone lives in a country where they don't agree with each and every governmental policy.

If I wasn't 'so PC' then I would tell you what I think you should do with your opinion. Oh and congratulations on trying to turn a really decent thread into a slanging match, big of you.

PT

[Hod]

[Perpetual Traveller]

If that's your criterion then I think you'll find you are probably one yourself.

You find me a country that is totally bereft of racism and I will move there immediately I promise you. Good luck.

As for my spelling, since you haven't deigned to point out which word(s) it is that you have a problem with I can hardly answer you on that can I. Get a life.

PT

[Hod]

yes dear.

[Perpetual Traveller]

Now you are being deliberately obtuse and I am not going to continue responding to your increasingly more ridiculous wind-up tactics. I repeat, get a life.

PT

[Hod]

Yes dear.

[Guy Courchesne]

Rosa Parks, rest in peace.

[ls650]

[Gregor]

PT,
Please don't rise to the bait. Remember - most of us here know that anyone (Mods, notice I don't name names) who attacks you unprovolked is a choad (Mods, notice that I'm not even pretending to swear).

As for PC, just forget the term. Just live your life as you think best. Someone who only knows you on this forum doesn't know you at all. Of COURSE we all live someplace where we don't agree with everything.
And not allowing religious headgear is hardly in the same ballpark as forcing blacks to ride in the back. Not even the same league. Hell, it's barely the same sport.

Also notice who Rosa Parks WAS. She didn't do anything for some group she's not even a part of, couragous or not. It's not like you WANT to wear religious headgear in France. And anyway, what's the purpose of the headgear law? I very seriously doubt that it in any way compares with Jim Crow laws.

On a side note, I find it interesting that religious beliefs are to be respected, but an atheist's social beliefs (which are arguably every bit as strong as a theist's belief in God) are open to and fair game for attack. Just an observation...

Best to just ignore these cretins. Really. Ignore them and they go away. Respond to them and that gives them the fight they so clearly want. I know, in this I am just a basic sinner as well, but I am trying...
Guy and Is, thank you for bringing us back.
The rest of y'all - PLEASE HAVE SOME RESPECT.

[RyanS]

[YearOfTheDog]

Nice Flag Ryan

[YanquiQuilme�o]

May Rosa Parks rest in peace.