On November 2, the House approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 1285) to designate the federal building located at 333 Mt. Elliott Street in Detroit, Michigan, as the “Rosa Parks Federal Building.” The Senate approved a similar bill (H.R. 2967) by unanimous consent on November 1. Both measures were considered by Congress last week (see The Source, 10/28/05). They will now go to the White House to be signed into law by President Bush.
Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA) said that Rosa Parks “is well known for a simple, yet historic, act of defiance. To paraphrase something the Mayor of Detroit said at a service in her honor, ‘She stood for what was right, by sitting down.’ This act inspired further acts of civil disobedience and earned her the title of the ‘mother of the civil rights movement.’ Hers is an example that we should commend to our children and our grandchildren, an example of fortitude and resolution to do what is right, even when it meant great risk to her personal safety. She is truly deserving of this honor we are bestowing today.”
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) stated, “I spoke last Wednesday…concerning the events that led Rosa Parks to challenge the daily humiliation of Montgomery, Alabama’s black residents who were required to pay their bus fare to the driver, then get off and reenter through the rear door, and then relinquish their seats and move to the back of the bus upon the demand of any white passenger. Since then, Congress has broken with precedent and voted to allow Rosa Parks to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, and she did so just a few days ago, the first woman and only the second African American who has been accorded this honor. In so doing, the United States of America recognized the unique and extraordinary contribution of Rosa Parks to her country. Her simple act of civil disobedience in refusing to relinquish her seat on demand from a white man on a segregated bus was the functional equivalent of a nonviolent shot heard around the world.”
