-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beyond the Bus
Rosa Parks Took a Stand, but Mourners Know Prejudice Still Is Deep-Seated By Tamara Jones and Petula Dvorak Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, November 1, 2005; C01 Before he enters a crosswalk outside his downtown law office, Johnnie Bond scans the cars stopped before him. Is there a white woman alone? Will he hear it this time? Click. Such a tiny sound. Click. Like a pistol cocking. Click. The sound of a car door locking when a black man approaches. Just as it was with Rosa Parks and the bus seat she refused to yield to a white man, those who struggle with racism or even the perception of it today describe a soul-weariness. Theirs is a battle fatigue from a more subtle psychological warfare, a covert campaign unfolding in crosswalks and fine restaurants, in wedding boutiques, in supermarkets. They cite the everyday indignities of a hand unshaken, a customer unacknowledged, a child uninvited. They analyze the ambiguous moments that come and go as quickly as an elevator door closing in their faces. They patrol the unexplored border zone between oversight and insult, between misunderstanding and message. Read the rest of this article at: (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2005/10/31/AR2005103101869.html)
