Today, 58 years ago begin the year long Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the many civil rights movements that paved a peaceful life for us today. We thank and honor Ms. Rosa for not just being tired, but tired of the injustice that was shown to African Americans nationwide.
Rosa Parks, a seamstress at the time, was on her way home on the Cleveland Avenue bus. She was sitting in the first row of the "colored section" but after the white seats were filled the bus driver asked her and three others to vacate their seats for white riders. While the others agreed to move, Parks refused and was arrested and fined $10 plus $4 in court fees.
On December 5, 1955 (the day Parks would be tried in municipal court) the Women's Political Council (WPC) began circulating flyers that called for the boycotting of Montgomery buses. Approximately 40,000 African American bus riders boycotted the system and black leaders organized regular mass meetings to keep African-American residents mobilized around the boycott.
On June 5, 1956, a Montgomery federal court ruled that any law requiring racially segregated seating on buses violated the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Few people know the story of Claudette Colvin the 15 year old girl who refused to move to the back of the bus and give up her seat to a white person nine months before Rosa Parks did the very same thing.
We believe that Ms. Claudette is just as important as Rosa Parks. As a young school girl she took what she was learning about Herod such as Harriet Tubman and decided she was tired of being mistreated. It is also important to not at the young age of 15 she challenged the law in court, as one of four women plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the court case that successfully ended bus segregation laws in Montgomery and Alabama.
Ms. Claudette was in the same city, the same year, the same bus system and yet, little still know what she did in March 1955. Why is it that Claudette, did not become the face of the Montgomery Bus boycott? What do you think?
Black leaders feared she was not the right face for their battle. Claudette explains in her book, "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" that "Her (Rosa Parks) skin texture was the kind that people associate with the middle class," says Colvin. "She fit that profile."
Colvin also stated, "my mother told me to be quiet about what I did. She told me: let Rosa be the one. White people aren't going to bother Rosa - her skin is lighter than yours and they like her."
But at the Lab3l we question what is the "right" face for taking a stand? We are thankful for brave leaders like Rosa Parks but we should also recognize those who helped towards the cause as well. In this day and age we still face these problems revolving around "color" and what's appealing to others. It seems as if we have not made any progressing steps over the 58 years since Parks was chosen as the face of this movement when you see all the memes and pictures taking sides based on the shade of our skin. We have to do better. We must do better.
At the end if the day, no matter what shade of black anyone is, we are still viewed as African Americans so instead of ostracizing one another we should come together and fight for each other. #StopTeamLightSkinnedAgainstTeamDarkSkinned2013
Peace & Love
-LAB
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