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As appalling & dishonest as comparisons being made to #RosaParks by conservatives this week, they couldn& #39;t get away with it as blithely if liberals didn& #39;t already misuse & mischaracterize lifelong freedom fighter Rosa Parks (without broad reproach). A short historical reminder:
On February 27, 2013, a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders joined Pres. Obama to dedicate the Rosa Parks statue in the Capitol& #39;s Statuary Hall. On that very same day across town, the Supreme Court was hearing arguments in voting rights case Shelby County v Holder.
Nancy Pelosi said "She did what was natural.She was tired so she sat down." Yet Parks herself criticized these stories of being & #39;tired& #39; or & #39;hurting feet& #39;. "It was just popular… because they wanted to give some excuse other than the fact that I didn’t want to be pushed around.”
President Obama praised her "singular act of courage". Yet, Parks herself was clear: “Over the years I have been rebelling against second class citizenship. It didn’t begin when I was arrested.” She described it as a "life history of being rebellious."
Faced with the specter of voting rights abridgement (which the Supreme Court legitimated a few months later in its decision), no one suggested any legislation that day to shore up voting protections to concretely honor Parks, who& #39;d she& #39;d fought since the 1940s for voting rights.
If we& #39;re serious about honoring #RosaParks, then being appalled by conservative comparisons is nowhere near enough. She spent her life taking action after action for justice--not because she knew what it would change but she didn& #39;t want it "taken for granted you were satisfied."
