The Cellar - View Single Post

Xugumad · 10-27-2001, 10:21 PM

Just as a side note:

The story that people usually hear about Rosa Parks is 50% wrong. Her sitting in the 'wrong' place, and the resulting riots was probably planned and co-ordinated in advance by the NAACP.

Rosa Parks had worked for the NAACP for more than a decade prior to 1955; just shortly before the Parks incident, the NAACP tried to use the case of a 15-year old girl doing the same to challenge the then-current laws, but decided not to, as the girl was pregnant, and unmarried. The NAACP was worried that her illegitimate pregnancy and 'dubious' moral status would compromise the trial, which would not focus on the unjust segregation laws.

Rosa Parks also made a point of choosing a bus driver who she disliked, as he had offended her personally prior to that incident; this ensured that there would be a major incident, with the bus driver not backing down.

A lot of people are quite unaware of the exact circumstances, as the story they are usually told focuses on Rosa Parks being an honest middle-aged woman who nobody could say anything bad about. That's the reason why the NAACP concentrated on her so much.

Her permitted phone call from jail went to a NAACP lawyer.

There was some debate on just how planned the whole thing was; it's become very unfashionable and unPC to suggest that it was set-up. No matter, it became a pivotal point in the civil rights movement.

In addition, I find it almost incomprehensible how courageous you have to be to face down a system that is almost entirely geared towards making you a lesser person. Many of us today behave like rebels, smoking dope and buying 'fair trade' coffee and beating on nepalese drums or whatever, feeling mightily rebellious. Someone like Rosa Parks puts all of our postmodernist bullshit in perspective.

<center>
<img src="http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/02/20/csmimg/0220p22a.jpg"><BR>Rosa Parks in 1999</a></center>

X.

10-27-2001, 10:21 PM	#7
Xugumad Punisher of Good Deeds Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 183	Just as a side note: The story that people usually hear about Rosa Parks is 50% wrong. Her sitting in the 'wrong' place, and the resulting riots was probably planned and co-ordinated in advance by the NAACP. Rosa Parks had worked for the NAACP for more than a decade prior to 1955; just shortly before the Parks incident, the NAACP tried to use the case of a 15-year old girl doing the same to challenge the then-current laws, but decided not to, as the girl was pregnant, and unmarried. The NAACP was worried that her illegitimate pregnancy and 'dubious' moral status would compromise the trial, which would not focus on the unjust segregation laws. Rosa Parks also made a point of choosing a bus driver who she disliked, as he had offended her personally prior to that incident; this ensured that there would be a major incident, with the bus driver not backing down. A lot of people are quite unaware of the exact circumstances, as the story they are usually told focuses on Rosa Parks being an honest middle-aged woman who nobody could say anything bad about. That's the reason why the NAACP concentrated on her so much. Her permitted phone call from jail went to a NAACP lawyer. There was some debate on just how planned the whole thing was; it's become very unfashionable and unPC to suggest that it was set-up. No matter, it became a pivotal point in the civil rights movement. In addition, I find it almost incomprehensible how courageous you have to be to face down a system that is almost entirely geared towards making you a lesser person. Many of us today behave like rebels, smoking dope and buying 'fair trade' coffee and beating on nepalese drums or whatever, feeling mightily rebellious. Someone like Rosa Parks puts all of our postmodernist bullshit in perspective. <center> <img src="http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/02/20/csmimg/0220p22a.jpg"><BR>Rosa Parks in 1999</a></center> X.