Rosa Parks, 1913-2005
The remains of Rosa Parks will lie in honor in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., this Sunday and Monday, October 30 and 31, 2005. She will be the 29th person so honored, the first woman to ever lie in honor in the Rotunda, and the first American who was not previously a government official. Congressman Todd Platts today submitted the following statement for the Congressional Record in response:
“Mr. Speaker, on December 1, 1955, on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, the conscience of the nation was rallied by a seamstress from Tuskegee. ‘The only tired I was,’ Rosa Parks once remarked about that day, ‘was tired of giving in.’
“The injustice of racial segregation was overcome because so many ordinary people rallied to a great and noble cause, because so many ordinary people recognized an injustice and were tired of it. Rosa Parks’ legacy is to have peacefully compelled our great nation to face up to its greatest shortcoming. As so many have said, Rosa Parks stood up by sitting down.
“Mr. Speaker, I am proud this chamber has today adopted a resolution (S. Con. Res. 61) to allow Ms. Parks to lie in honor in the rotunda of the United States Capitol, so that all citizens of our great nation may pay their last respects. There must be room in this building for not only members of Congress and Presidents, but also for a seamstress and her moral legacy.”
Please do not attempt to reply to this message, as it is an unattended mailbox. If you wish to contact me about an issue addressed in this newsletter, or would like more information on what is happening in Congress, please visit my Web site at www.house.gov/platts for more information.
To unsubscribe to this newsletter, please visit my Web site and click the "E-Newsletter" link and follow the instructions.