J365-2011 Actions

• Feb 1, 2011: ADOPTED
• Feb 1, 2011: REPORTED TO CALENDAR FOR CONSIDERATION
• Jan 28, 2011: REFERRED TO FINANCE

J365-2011 Text

 LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION paying tribute to the life and accomplishments of
 Rosa Parks, a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement
 WHEREAS,  It is with profound intent that this Legislative Body is moved
 to pay homage to a woman  of  indomitable  faith  and  dedication  whose
 purposeful life and accomplishments will forever stand as a paradigm and
 inspiration for others; and
 WHEREAS,  It  is the sense of this Legislative Body to give acclaim to
 individuals of great character whose lives exemplify the highest  ideals
 of humanity; and
 WHEREAS,  Rosa  Parks,  a Black seamstress whose refusal to relinquish
 her seat to a White man on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on  Decem
 ber  1,  1955,  grew into a mythic event that helped touch off the civil
 rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s; and
 WHEREAS, For her act of defiance, Rosa Parks was  arrested,  convicted
 of  violating the segregation laws and fined $10, plus $4 in court fees;
 in response, Blacks in Montgomery,  Alabama,  boycotted  the  buses  for
 nearly  13 months while mounting a successful Supreme Court challenge to
 the Jim Crow law that enforced their second-class status on  the  public
 bus system; and
 WHEREAS,  The  events  that  began  on  that bus in the winter of 1955
 captivated the nation and transformed a 26-year-old preacher  named  Dr.
 Martin  Luther  King,  Jr.  into a major civil rights leader; it was Dr.
 King, the new pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in  Montgomery,
 Alabama, who was drafted to head the Montgomery Improvement Association,
 the organization formed to direct the nascent civil rights struggle; and
 WHEREAS,  Rosa Parks's act of civil disobedience, which seems a simple
 gesture of defiance so many years later, was in fact a  dangerous,  even
 reckless  move  in  1950s Alabama; in refusing to move, she risked legal
 sanction and perhaps even physical harm, but she also  set  into  motion
 something  beyond the control of the city authorities; Mrs. Parks clari
 fied for people far beyond Montgomery, Alabama, the cruelty and  humili
 ation inherent in the laws and customs of segregation; and
 WHEREAS,  That  moment  on the Cleveland Avenue bus also turned a very
 private woman into a reluctant symbol and torchbearer in the  quest  for
 racial  equality  in  a  movement that became increasingly organized and
 sophisticated in making demands and getting results; and
 WHEREAS, The truth, as Rosa Parks later explained, was  that  she  was
 tired  of  being  humiliated, of having to adapt to the byzantine rules,
 some codified as law and others passed on as tradition, that  reinforced
 the position of Blacks as something less than full human beings; and
 WHEREAS,  A true civil rights icon, Rosa Parks died a little more than
 a month short of the 50th Anniversary of her courageous act  which  many
 view as the beginning of the civil rights movement; and
 WHEREAS,  Rosa  Parks's  pure  legacy  of quiet and peaceful rebellion
 against hatred will live on for many years to come; and
 WHEREAS, Armed with a  humanistic  spirit,  imbued  with  a  sense  of
 compassion, and comforted by numerous admirers, Rosa Parks leaves behind
 a legacy which will long endure the passage of time and will remain as a
 comforting  memory  to all she served and befriended; now, therefore, be
 it
 RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to pay
 tribute to the life and accomplishments of Rosa Parks, a pioneer of  the
 Civil Rights Movement.

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