50 Years Ago Today...

[paineinthearse]

December 1, 2005

Friends,

I just thought we should all pause for a moment today to remember the simple act of courage, defiance and dignity committed by Rosa Parks when she refused to move to the back of the bus because the law said she had the wrong skin color. The greatest moments in history, the ones that have truly mattered and have taken us to a better place, are made up of scores of these singular acts by ordinary, everyday people who could no longer tolerate the crap and the nonsense of those in charge.

Today, whether it is a student who holds a sit-in to get the army recruiters off his campus, or the mother of a dead soldier who refuses to leave the front gate of the president's ranch, we continue to be saved by brave people who risk ridicule and rejection but end up turning huge tides of public opinion in the direction of righteousness. We owe them enormous debts of gratitude. It is not easy to stand up for what is right, especially when everyone else is afraid to leave the comfortable path of conformity.

Rosa Parks may have been alone on that bus at the moment of her arrest but she wasn't alone for long. The old order was shaken, the world was upended and, as a people, we were given a chance for a bit of redemption.

Perhaps the best way to celebrate this most important day in American history is to ask yourself what it is that you can do today to make a difference. What risk can you take to move the ball forward? What is that one thing you've been wanting to say to your co-workers or classmates that you've been afraid to say -- but in your heart of hearts you know needs to be said? Why wait another day to say it or do it?

There is probably no better way to honor Rosa Parks -- and yourself -- than for you to put a stop to an injustice you see, not allowing it to continue for one more second. Do something. Then send me an email ([e-mail]) and tell all of us what you did (I'll post as many as I can).

Fifty years later, the bus we're on could use a few more people simply saying, "No. I'm sorry. I've had enough. I'm not going to take it anymore."

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com

[RepublicanElephant]

1. thank you, rosa.

O8)

[Richard Steele]

2. recommended, in remembrance of a REAL American hero.

[StellaBlue]

3. BRAVO!

Thanks for this great post.

You've made my day, already.

:applause:

[kliljedahl]

4. Thanks for posting

and thanks to Michael Moore for remembering

[Kool Kitty]

5. Kick.

This is a must-read and a must-remember. Bless you, Rosa Parks. Her courageous act should show everyone what the courage and act of one person can do.

[peacetalksforall]

6. May I invite you to read a beautiful tribute in poetry and learn about

a PEACE website that looks excellent?

http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2005/11/00_krieger_day-like-any-other.htm

[paineinthearse]

7. Beautiful, this deserves a stand-alone nt

[lwbaby]

11. By whispering no, you shouted yes.

Perfect.

[autorank]

8. Great inspiration and metaphor for our current dilemma. REC

Thanks paine. We need to go back to our Democratic basics. There's an entire battle plan here. "No, I'm sorry, I've had enough. I'm not going to take it any more." Neither are we.

[bonito]

9. Kick n/t

[bigwillq]

10. Thank you Rosa!

Thank you Michael.

[madokie]

12. Thank you Rosa Parks

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. One answer to those who spread despair: one person CAN do something

to make a difference, if there is planning and organizing. That bus ride did not happen in a vacuum - her life before and after was dedicated to the struggle for social justice and many others worked to make the changes happen. But she did get on that bus by herself and endured the spectacle and stress of what followed.

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. -- Frederick Douglass

They could not capture me except under a white flag. They cannot hold me except with a chain. – Osceola

You have to make more noise than anybody else, you have to make yourself more obtrusive than anybody else, you have to fill all the papers more than anybody else, in fact you have to be there all the time and see that they do not snow you under, if you are really going to get your reform realized. -- Emmeline Pankhurst

There is one thing you have got to learn about our movement. Three people are better than no people. -- Fannie Lou Hamer

You can't wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time. -- Pat Schroeder

We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. -- Marian Wright Edelman

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." --Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. --Edward R. Murrow

Either the world was not so huge and frightening a place as she'd once been led to believe, or else...she was not so small and helpless as she'd once been encouraged to imagine herself. If power was an illusion, wasn't weakness necessarily one also? –Lois McMaster Bujold (Civil Campaign, epilogue)

"There are no enlightened persons, just enlightened actions." --Suzuki Roshi