Mrs. Rosa Parks

I’ve been watching the coverage of the funeral for Mrs. Rosa Parks, and have been surprised again at the power of one simple act of courage. It was such a simple thing; she refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. It was a deliberate act, and any number of really awful things could have happened to her in consequence- more awful than being arrested, I mean, which was pretty damn awful for a black person in Alabama in 1955.
Her refusal to move is said to have triggered the civil rights movement. It may have done. What it certainly did was show the economic clout of a segment of the population no one seemed to know had any. The 381-day bus strike in Montgomery HURT, and a new, powerful weapon joined the fight for equality- the dollar.
I don’t think Ms. Parks knew she was triggering an economic revolution when she refused to give up that seat, but she surely knew it was a political act. She was a smart, dignified woman, and she had a lot of courage. I don’t know that I could have done what she did if our roles and lives had been reversed.
It would be nice if courage were as contagious as fear.