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Rosa Parks inspiration was not just Martin Luther King, but James W.
Johnson. Johnson who died in 1938 was among the most accomplished and
prominent black Americans in his time. He distinguished himself in
politics, diplomacy, journalism, literature, the arts and civil rights.
Johnson was editorial-page writer of the New York Age, a black weekly where
his commentaries on racial violence and segregation helped raised awareness.
As the NAACP'S first black head he was responsible for its expansion
throughout the U.S. It is not remembered, but he was the first black leader
to march on New York's Fifth Avenue to protest the lynchings and race
riots.
The fact that Rosa Parks inspiration was James Johnson is a reflection of
her appreciation of him and a reminder of her dignified brand of social
activism. The passing of Parks and what she represented is a sad commentary
on the kind of leadership we have been left with.
Blacks are now left with leaders like Mfume and Jackson and Sharpton and
Bond who accuse the president of not giving enough handouts and comparing
Republicans to the Taliban and the Nazis. Harlem Democrat Rangel calls
Bush Bull Connor forgetting that Bull Connor was a Democrat who unleased
dogs on the blacks in his era. Major Owens, another black Democrat calls
Bush more "diabolical" than Bull Connor ignoring the facts that the blacks
have important positions in the Bush administration, blacks have better
employment, black poverty has declined significantly and black home
ownership is at an all time high.
An America where blacks run blue chip businesses such as Merrill Lynch,
American Express and the U.S. State Department no longer needs activism of
poverty pimps such as Jackson, Sharpton, Bond, et. al. The battle for
legal equality has been fought and won. Blacks still face social and
economic challenges but these are self-inflicted. It is time blacks
realized that they can no longer live in the past but take a bold step into
the future where opportunity awaits them and they take advantage of it just
as millions of immigrants have proved it can be done--even though most of
them come into the U.S with only the "shirts on their back!"
----- Original Message -----
From: "cornel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Goa's premiere mailing list,estb. 1994!"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2005 11:42 AM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Re: Fists of Freedom - Rosa Parks
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George,
Rosa Parks was featured in considerable detail in some of our quality
papers. As a kid I had read/followed much about her and the many others
who supported her against the awful intensity of segregation in the
Southern States of the USA. I had also closely followed what happened in
the USA with the parallel obscene apartheid in South Africa.
Cornel
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Pinto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Goanet" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 8:16 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Re: Fists of Freedom - Rosa Parks
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Interestingly, Rosa Parks was not the first to give up her seat in
Montgomery, Alabama, but the
most famous. If I recall correctly from an article I read, there was a 15
year-old girl who did
so, but the NAACP did not want to use her to publicize the issue as she
was pregnant at the time
(unmarried).
In any case, the most remarkable aspect of this issue besides Rosa Parks
refusing to give up her
seat, was that a 26 year-old Martin Luther King took his first Minister
job in the nearby Dexter
Avenue Baptist Church at that time. He could potentially have taken a job
in Atlanta, Georgia, and
one wonders how much different history would have been. Vernon Johns,
pastor in the Church before
MLK, paved the way for the civil rights struggle in Montgomery which MLK
launched with others from
the Church basement. The rest as they say is history.
See picture of the Church, http://www.dexterkingmemorial.org/history/. A
few blocks from the
church is the State Legislature and Governor's mansion (or former
nsion - I cannot remember).
There is now a Civil Rights Memorial close by.
Regards,
George
