Seeing that many people in the USA have just looked passed the event as just some trival thing. This is my effort at fixing that. Rosa Parks passed away this week and nothing has been said about it. Ray Charles passed away and they had concerts and special 60 minutes episode for him. Heck, Princess Diana, or even Mother Teresa (not even from the US) have gotten more press coverage than Rosa Parks has. Not to say these people didn’t deserve recognition, but Rosa stood up for the rights of all Americans not just African-American women, and gets no coverage. Apple has done their part and has a nice article about her life, but that is not enough.
As a Christian I feel that this is almost expected from the United States today. This kind of ignorance towards people who helped change the nation, is expected. Why? Because their sacrifice, like the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, is not understood. No one can quite understand why Rosa did what she did that day, and maybe it was political, like my roomate wants to believe, but it still had to be done. Rosa wasn’t paid to do what she did. She didn’t recieve an award for doing whats right, she was hand-cuffed, and put in jail. Quoting the wikipedia: “After her arrest, Parks became an icon of the civil rights movement and suffered hardship as a result. She lost her job at the department store and her husband quit his after his boss forbade him from talking about Rosa or the legal case. Mrs Parks traveled and spoke extensively to raise money for her legal fees.” Legal battles, job loss, hardships, all because she was doing what was right. It’s a shame that society today doesn’t realize the signifigance of her acts. They toss her aside as one of the players of the Civil Rights movement, instead of a leader. She paved the way for Martin Luther King, and others yet nothing is said at her time of passing.
Are people afraid to say something about Rosa? Is there any hostility towards her? How is she any different than any one else (famous) who have fought for something they believed in?
Jesus expierenced the same thing at his passing. No one was there to stand up with Him. Mary did all she could, but where were the diciples? Where were the thousands of followers that were inspired because of his words? All of them did nothing when he passed. They went back to living life the old way, taking what Jesus had done for granted and not holding on to His promises and remembering His teachings. John 21:19 says they hid in fear of the Jews, why? Death has been conquered, yet you live in fear of those who fear themselves. Had Jesus not resurrected from the dead and re-appeared to all who knew Him, nothing would have been said. No one would have stood up for Christ. Is this the same for you and I? Can no one stand up for Rosa? Most important, can no one stand up for Jesus?