You Will Be Missed Rosa

From the AP via Yahoo:

The Montgomery, Ala., seamstress, an active member of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People' name, was riding on a city bus Dec. 1, 1955, when a white man demanded her seat.

Mrs. Parks refused, despite rules requiring blacks to yield their seats to whites. Two black Montgomery women had been arrested earlier that year on the same charge, but Mrs. Parks was jailed. She also was fined $14.

Speaking in 1992, she said history too often maintains "that my feet were hurting and I didn't know why I refused to stand up when they told me. But the real reason of my not standing up was I felt that I had a right to be treated as any other passenger. We had endured that kind of treatment for too long."

Mrs. Parks died at her home of natural causes, said Karen Morgan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. John Conyers , D-Mich.

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Along with Betty Friedan, Martin Luther King, and Harvey Milk, Rosa Parks' stand against mistreatment of people regardless of color, religion, race, or class is one of the primary reasons why I have a decent career; why I can sit on the bus anywhere there is space, and give it up for any tired person, if I choose; and why some of my gay friends can be together most of the time without hassle.

We all want respect.

Thank you, Mrs. Parks.