"After Colvin's arrest, she found herself shunned by parts of her community. She experienced various difficulties and became pregnant. Civil rights leaders felt she was an inappropriate symbol for a test case."
why was it bad that she became pregnant? lots of women have babies. Was she unwed and irresponsible? Was she a hooker? unlike Levi I'm unaware of the intricacies of the story.
From Wiki: "She was an unmarried teenager at the time, and was reportedly raped by a married man soon after the incident, from which she became pregnant."
I know the "real" hero was Claudette Colvin who deserves our thanks for starting the landslide which would eventually make the world a better place, but all those activists were heroes to my eyes. I am also a fan of Rosa Parks, who was the second "pebble" that eventually became the civil rights landslide, and every day I take a train to "Rosa Parks" station where I take a bus (for aficionados, it's on the RER E line ;-).
And with due respect to Levi (parenthetical libations to Aunt May), I celebrate both women. It's a brutal but nonetheless important fact that when mounting political campaigns people have to choose their symbols carefully. Activists always figure out which case has the best chance of getting to the supreme court and precipitating a favorable outcome even though that means stepping past perfectly good, albeit for whatever reason less attractive, symbols. The same is true of politics.
In this instance it's important to remember the social climate of the time. A pregnant teen--even if by no fault of her own--would have been even more easy to dismiss through stereotypes and prejudices than Rosa Parks. So they went with Parks, who by dint of her color was already controversial and yet close enough to the "responsible" adult necessary to function as a political symbol. In my mind that makes her a hero even if only one, and possibly the less heroic, of the pair.
I admire both women and hope that one day Colvin gets her due as well. They bequeathed to us a better country.
This took way too long to happen. I see a problem in many cases where people wait and then eventually do the right thing, when the cost to them is less and enough time has passed to diminish any likely repercussions to them personally. On one hand yes, you want to credit them with doing the right thing. But on the other hand, there is little credit left over when decades go by and a known injustice is swept under the rug because those responsible for the injustice need to grow old and die or be removed from power before the right things can happen. I am glad to see this issue get the attention that it deserves and saddened by how long it took to happen. Is this the first commemoration of Rosa Parks to be put in place? What is the name of the white man that tried to get Rosa Parks to give up her seat? Does his family still live in the area and are they willing to denounce what he did? Is he still alive? If not, when did he die and was he ever publicly shamed for what he did? Did he ever apologize for what he did? If not, maybe they can put the word "Racist" on his gravestone.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2019 08:34AM by azsteve.