Posted on 11/02/2005 10:24:26 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Former United States President Bill Clinton leans towards his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), at a funeral for civil rights activist Rosa Parks in Detroit, Michigan November 2, 2005. Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white man 50 years ago helped break racial segregation in America. REUTERS/John Gress
Former President Clinton, his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and hundreds of other mourners paid their respects..
including Je$$e Jackson, "Rev." Al Sharpton, Calypso Louie
Put a warning up if you're going to post pics like this. People could be eating.
Rosa made it possible for Bill Clinton (First black president) to sit in the front of the bus. A very special bus.
Probably the first time Bill and Hill have seen each other in awhile!
A vintage hearse carrying the casket of Rosa Parks heads up Woodward Avenue after leaving the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History early Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005, in Detroit. Viewing was held at the museum until 5 a.m.The procession carries Parks to the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit for today's funeral. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Mike
"the mother of a new America," - she isn't my mother
Marine First Sergeant Dwayne Farr plays 'Amazing Grace' on his bagpipes before the arrival of the remains of civil rights hero Rosa Parks at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, Michigan, October 31, 2005. Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man 50 years ago helped break racial segregation in America. Parks died on October 24, 2005 at her home in Detroit at age 92. Her funeral is scheduled to take place in Detroit on Wednesday. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI), left, and her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, look on as an honor guard carries a casket holding the remains of civil rights activist Rosa Parks upon her arrival at Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport near Detroit, Michigan, October 31, 2005. Parks' refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man 50 years ago helped break racial segregation in America. Parks died on October 24, 2005 at her home in Detroit at age 92. Her funeral is scheduled to take place in Detroit on Wednesday. REUTERS/John Gress
AFP: Final tributes to US rights activist Parks at funeral
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051102/en_afp/usrightsparks_051102171822
DETROIT, United States (AFP) - Hundreds of mourners sang gospel songs and told stories about Rosa Parks to as they waited in queue to attend the funeral of the civil rights activist.
Former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and Winnie Mandela, the ex-wife of South Africa's post-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, were to be among the 4,000 people to attend the service at the Greater Grace Temple, an enormous African Methodist Episcopal church, in Detroit.
Legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin was to sing at the funeral for Parks, who died on October 24 aged 92.
Tributes have been made around the world to Parks' influence on the black civil rights movement with her defiant gesture of refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in 1955.
The act made her a rights' icon and an inspiration to a generation.
Gertrude Smith, who joined the queue before dawn six hours before the funeral started at 11:00 am (1600 GMT), paid her own tribute.
Smith, 49, said she was at the event to show "respect, not only who she was but what she represented, not only to the people of Detroit but to the world."
Smith was too young to take part in the civil rights movement sparked by Parks act of defiance in Montgomery, Alabama, 50 years ago, but she was black and wanted to be part of the historic funeral.
Dossie Hunter, 74, grew up in Selma, Alabama, and said she knew from experience the kind of hate and discrimination that Rosa Parks struggled against.
"I never met her in person but I didn't want to miss this celebration. I'm from the south myself and I know what happened down there," said Hunter, smiling under a fluffy white hat.
"Most of us wouldn't be where we are now if it hadn't been for people like her."
Walter Perkins, the principal of a Chicago high school, said he felt blessed to have had the opportunity to attend several appearances by Parks in his city.
He wants his students to be more aware of the struggles of civil rights leaders like Parks and he will be holding a special assembly on civil rights at his school.
"I learned activism is very important because you never know how that one small act can evolve into a whole movement," Perkins said of Parks' act.
"Young people have lost our sense of history, we have to redouble our efforts to teach them."
Black activists such as Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam group, and Jessie Jackson were also to be at the funeral.
Tens of thousands of people, including President George W. Bush and other top politicians, filed past Parks' coffin when it was put on display for public tributes at the US Capitol building in Washington this week.
Parks was to be buried in Detroit, which had been her home for several decades, after the service.
WJC was introduced as "The President of our United States." I thought this was not a deliberate phrase until it was repeated a second time later in the introduction.
"Rosa made it possible for Bill Clinton (First black president) to sit in the front of the bus. A very special bus."
Wrong. According to his speech, he grew up in the segregated south and Rosa Parks inspired him and a couple of his friends to move to the back of the bus.
I am just thrilled to be able to listen to the entire set of speeches. Kinda reminds me of the Wellstone Memorial.
"1994 Mugging Incident
In 1994, Rosa Parks was attacked and mugged in her Detroit home by Joseph Skipper . She had a total of $53 stolen from her. The incident created outrage throughout America after Parks admitted she had asked Skipper "Do you know who I am?". Before beating her, Skipper (an African American, himself) was reported to have stated he did know who Rosa Parks was but didn't care."
Yeah, I bet 99/100 people in that crowd, including Clinton, couldn't have pointed her out in crowd if their life depended on it.
Ya think Skipper is there?
"Swanson Funeral Home officials confirmed Tuesday that Parks would be entombed in the 'colored' section at the back of the cemetery . . . "
I'll probably get flamed for this, but...
You know, certainly what she did was a turning point in America. No doubt it is good for people to stand up for their rights.
But I've heard her called everything from an Icon to a Hero to a Great Liberator.
"Heros" are people who give up their seat on the bus for old folks. The whole concept of great social justice is based on people who give, unselfishly.
Hell, she was a middle aged gal who told someone to get out of her face.
I'm certainly not picking on her, nor do I disagree one bit with what she did. I'm only concerned that it be put in the proper perspective.
A woman did something brave in 1955 and the vultures gather today to pick at her bones.
Parks was allowed to be viewed in state at the Capital Rotunda. Yet our soldiers who are defending and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan are not given such an honor.
Guess Parks, not giving up a seat on a bus, was more brave than they!
Heck, no one would give her any job until Congressman Conyers (D-Mich) gave her a position as 'Administrative Assistant' in his office in Detroit. From what I've observed, she was always useful as a pawn, to be trotted out whenever another good dose of 'White Guilt' needed to be administered.
BTW check out the guestlist Sharpton, Jackson, Winnie Mandela, Kilpatrick, Clinton, Aretha Franklin etc., etc. IMO a large group of race pimps, charlatans and corrupt Pols. Absent (At least I didn't see him mentioned) was Bill Cosby. Wouldn't be surprised since I suspect the organizers of this spectacle wouldn't want a truly, brutally honest man to interrupt their revisionist festival with the truth.
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