Posted on 12/01/2005 10:14:46 AM PST by FeeinTennessee
President Signs H.R. 4145 to Place Statue of Rosa Parks in U.S. Capitol Room 350 Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
10:33 A.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Welcome. Please be seated. Thank you all for being here. Laura and I thank you for joining us on this special day.
Fifty years ago an African American woman named Rosa Parks helped set in motion a national movement for equality and freedom when she refused a bus driver's order to give her seat to a white man. The bill I'm about to sign calls for a statue of Rosa Parks to be placed in the Capitol's National Statuary Hall. (Applause.)
By placing her statue in the heart of the nation's Capitol, we commemorate her work for a more perfect union, and we commit ourselves to continue to struggle for justice for every American.
I'm honored the Secretary of State has joined us, as well as Secretary Alphonso Jackson. I want to thank the bill sponsors, Jesse Jackson, Jr. -- I see you brought some of your family with you. (Laughter.) Senator John Kerry, Senator Thad Cochran; Senator Dick Lugar joining us, as well.
I'm proud that Bruce Gordon is here. He's the President and CEO of the NAACP. Thanks for joining us, Bruce. I want to thank all the civil rights leaders who've joined us, as well. I particularly want to say thanks to Elaine Steele, Representative of the Rosa Parks Institute.
MS. STEELE: Right here.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Welcome. (Applause.) We've got a seat for you.
It's great to see Dr. Dorothy Height, as well. Welcome, Dr. Height. (Applause.) I want to thank all of Rosa Parks' family who have joined us as well; you're kind to come.
Rosa Parks was a daughter of the South who worked as a seamstress at a department store in a Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1, 1955, she boarded a city bus. Under local and state law, African Americans had to give up their seats if any white people were standing. But after a lifetime of discrimination and a hard day's work, Rosa refused. As she would later say, "I wasn't tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day ... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."
By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks showed that one candle can light the darkness. Like so many institutionalized evils, segregation ultimately depended on public accommodation. Like so many institutionalized evils, once the ugliness of these laws was held up to the light, they could not stand. Like so many institutionalized evils, these laws proved no match for the power of an awakened conscience -- and as a result, the cruelty and humiliation of the Jim Crow laws are now a thing of the past.
By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks helped inspire a nationwide effort for equal justice under the law. When she refused to yield her seat, Mrs. Parks was arrested, convicted of violating the segregation laws, and fined $10, plus $4 dollars in court fees. Her arrest sparked a boycott of the Montgomery bus lines by its black passengers, and the formation of a local association of African-Americans led by a young preacher named Martin Luther King, Junior. The boycott ended more than a year later, after the Supreme Court struck down segregation on buses. What had begun as a simple act of civil disobedience ended up galvanizing the modern movement for civil rights.
By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks called America back to its founding promise of equality and justice for everyone. When the police officer boarded the bus and told the seamstress that he had to arrest her, he explained that the law was the law. Rosa and the black ministers who defended her invoked the Constitution and pointed to a higher law. Our Declaration of Independence makes clear that the human right to dignity and equality is not a grant of government -- it is a gift from the Author of Life. (Applause.) And by holding our nation true to the words of its founding document, Rosa Parks helped her fellow African-Americans claim their God-given freedoms and made America a better place.
Eventually the civil rights movement would succeed in persuading Congress to pass more sweeping legislation that dealt with voting rights and discrimination in public places, and school segregation -- and the United States Congress should renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Applause.)
Dr. King liked to say that our Civil Rights Act was written in the streets by the citizens who marched for justice and equality. And on this day we remember the great inspiration this movement drew from the quiet courage shown by an Alabama woman riding home on a Cleveland Avenue bus.
It is fitting that this American hero will now be honored with a monument inside the most visible symbol of American democracy. We hope that generations of Americans will remember what this brave woman did, and be inspired to add their own contributions to the unfolding story of American freedom for all.
And now it's my honor to sign the bill that will make Rosa Parks the first African American woman to be honored with a statue in our nation's Capitol. (Applause.)
(The bill was signed.) (Applause.)
END 10:40 A.M. EST
Yes, she does deserve the honor.
Anybody here have a problem with that?
Agreed. Sometimes it is the "little people" who make the difference.
More proof that Bush hates the minorities... /sarcasm
Just curious. What are you implying?
There's usually about a dozen freepers who come to these threads talking about how inappropriate this is (believe it or not).
Really? Didn't realize it.
LOL, yeah
They should put it next to a bus stop
LOL. Personally, I like my sacred cow cooked bloody rare.
When Mrs. Parks was honored by being laid In State in the Capitol a bunch of Freepers complained.
It was one of the very few times I was ashamed of FR.
This is a great honor for a great lady. Whether she was more or less than her legend (something some of the idjits started hitting on) is irrelevant.
Our local city bus service recently honored her for a day by forbidding any riders from sitting in a designated seat at the front of every bus. How's that for irony?
Actually, she was not 'laid in State'. That honor is reserved for those who have 'State' funerals. She was able to 'lay in honor' just as the two Capitol Police who died defending the Congress were so honored.
dvwjr
One of the few?? I am ashamed of Freepers quite often. I expect liberals to trash each other with the name calling but I hold conservatives to a higher standard. I can't believe how people on this site speak to one another. Having said that I have had many a conversations with people who show respect for those they address. Unfortunely there are too many on this site that don't. I am sure you have seen plenty of it yourself.
I have been on the wrong side of a few flame wars in my time. So my house isn't totally clean. But I have always apologized when I see the error of my ways.
Sadly, some FReepers can't see beyond the end of their nose. And I agree we can and should hold conservatives to higher standards. Conservatism is a philosophy steeped in true reasoning and rationality (and optimism). We should demand suh from each other.
Must have missed those as I have always found you to be respective of other.
Well, thank you! And I am glad you missed the others (it doesn't happen much -- just when I think someone is being presumptous or contemptuous).
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