STATEMENT ON PASSING OF CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER ROSA PARKS

          HARRISBURG, October 26 – State Senators Shirley Kitchen and LeAnna Washington today released the following statement in remembrance of civil rights activist Rosa Parks:

          “Today every citizen is mourning the loss of Rosa Parks, one of the great icons of contemporary American history,” said Kitchen. “Her passing provides us all with an opportunity to remember her, celebrate her life, and contemplate her meaning as a heroine of the civil rights struggle.

          “Popular culture likes to remember Rosa Parks as a solitary seamstress, an elderly woman who was simply too tired to stand on that bus in Montgomery. This is a nice story, but it obscures the greater significance of Rosa’s courageous act.

          “In fact, Rosa Parks had been deeply involved in civil rights organizing for years, serving as the secretary of Montgomery’s chapter of the NAACP. This association was dangerous in the Deep South, but she returned to meetings and her work year after year. In her capacity as secretary, Rosa heard many tales of oppression. She knew the dangers inherent in standing up to the Jim Crow regime. She knew she would most surely be arrested; she had to consider that she might be killed. So on that day in 1955, Rosa Parks took action with her eyes open to the possible consequences – both positive and negative.”

          “In the face of danger, Rosa could take comfort in the fact that she was not alone,” said Washington. “She had trained in non-violent resistance at the Highlands Center and learned from the older generation of civil rights activists. She was supported by her NAACP brethren who arrived at the police station shortly after her arrest. They quickly set to organizing the Montgomery bus boycott, a sustained event that testified to the strength and resources of the African-American community in that city. While Rosa’s act was the inciting incident, it was the resolve of an entire community that finally opened the eyes of the American public.

          “In recent months, we have all had our eyes opened once again to the divides in our country. Far too many people live in poverty. Far too many people lack educational opportunities. Far too many people have limited access to health care. These divides are not as stark visually, but they are just as real. Until they have been remedied, America will not have achieved its ideal of equality.