Why else are we here?
With the passing of Rosa Parks, I thought I would be really sad, but I am really angry. I am angry that she has left us and we are no better off than we are.
We still have interracial fights and intraracial fights. We have affirmative action and reverse discrimination. Our church teachings say treat homosexuals with dignity and compassion. But most states don’t have laws that make it illegal to fire someone for being gay. We have No Child Left Behind that is leaving too many children behind. We have desegregation and achievement gaps. We have the movie “Crash” and the 13-year-old Olsen twins of the white supremecist movement singing about hate. We have people who claim to be pro-life who are pro-death penalty.
And the saddest part is that the list could go on. Now our politicians in Washington are trying to pass a resolution to allow Rosa Parks to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. I’m even too jaded to feel good about it because it seems too much like “too good an opportunity to pass up” given how they botched relief efforts when Katrina hit. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that we were hearing talk on t.v. about how things might have moved quicker had the people down south in need been wealthy and caucasian.
It would be nice if the motives were truly to allow people to pay their respects to an icon–to say goodbye to the woman who made it possible for so many people of color in this country to not only move from the back of the bus, but to have any opportunties at all.
I just wish we didn’t have so far to go. Nevertheless, I still have faith and that’s the only thing that makes this all worth it. Watching 21 African American and Jewish young people come together this summer in a program called Cultural Leadership to become change agents to dismantle racism, anti-semitism and other forms of discrimination makes it worth it.
I have faith that one day, like Rosa Parks, more of us will get mad enough because we’ve had enough and say “Enough”! I have faith that we will learn to love one another. After all, why else are we still here?