Washington,
Oct 28, 2005 -
Mr. Speaker, this is indeed an extraordinary time. I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) for allowing me to participate in this great testimonial to an extraordinary woman, Mrs. Rosa Parks.
Mrs. Rosa Parks was indeed an extraordinary lady who made extraordinary contributions at an extraordinary time in American history.
You know, sometimes at certain moments in life you feel that there are no words that are adequate to really tell the true story and to give the worth that a life like Rosa Parks deserves.
But the word that comes to my mind, as I think of Rosa Parks, is that word ``great,'' because Rosa Parks was a great lady. But she was a great lady of greatness.
It might be wise of us just to take a moment and look at that word great, greatness. The great Greek philosopher Aristotle, when asked what did it take to be a great person, said, in order to be a great person, you must first of all know yourself, know thyself.
Well, Rosa Parks certainly knew herself. She not only knew who she was, she knew whose she was. For Rosa Parks more than anything else was foremost and first of all a child of God, as was so eloquently pointed out by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), who knew her so personally well. She was truly a child of God.
When that question was put to the great Roman general, Marcus Aurelius, what does it take to be a great person, Marcus Aurelius said, in order to be a great person, you must first of all discipline yourself. She was disciplined. She was focussed. She had her mind set on that goal of freedom and quality for everyone.
When that question of greatness was put to the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass, of what does it take to be a great person, Frederick Douglass said, in order to be a great person, you must have courage. Well, Rosa Parks certainly had courage. She was a woman of extraordinary courage. Think about that time when the Ku Klux Klan was running rampant, when black men were getting lynched for barely not tipping their hat or getting off the sidewalk. These were tough, dark days for a woman to sit and defy the white power structure. Courage, courage.
Finally, when that question of greatness was put to the Messiah Jesus Christ what a great person is, he said, you first of all have to sacrifice yourself. And Rosa Parks sacrificed herself. She had what I call the great Isaiah instinct, that instinct when God said, ``Who would go for us and whom shall we send,'' Isaiah cried out, ``Here am I, Lord, send me.''
At that moment of history when Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955, when God called out, ``Who will go for us and who shall we send,'' Rosa Parks said, ``Here am I, Lord, send me.''
My God, what a woman. How much gratitude we have that we must give for her. And as an African American sitting and standing in the well of this House of Representatives, it is important for us to understand that when Rosa Parks sat down and did not get up to give that white man her seat on that bus in Montgomery, as she so eloquently stated, many people said they thought I was sitting there because my feet were tired. Well, that was not the truth. Rosa Parks said, it was not that my feet were tired, it was because my soul was tired of being a second-class citizen. When I sat down and would not give up my seat, I was standing up for justice, for equality for all.
So as an African American standing here, yes, I know she stood up for all of us. She certainly stood up for black people. But let it be said that more than that, Rosa Parks stood up for America, for black people, for white people, for brown people, for yellow people, for everybody who believes in that American dream of justice, of equality, of freedom for all of us. God bless Rosa Parks, and we thank God for sending this extraordinary sojourner of truth our way.
