What would have Rosa Parks said?

Zeenat Khan from Maryland, USA | Published: June 25, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

When I saw the picture of the swearing-in of Loretta Lynch as the Attorney General of the United States of America on the front page of a few American dailies on June 15, Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks came to my mind. I was thinking had she been alive, she would have smiled and said, "It took long enough to see this picture." Or would she?
Exactly sixty-years ago a 42-year-old Rosa Parks, an African-American seamstress on her way back from work, refused to give up her seat for a white passenger while riding a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was sitting in the middle section of the bus behind the first ten seats that were reserved for white people. 'People of colour' used to ride the bus sitting on the back seats. Rosa was asked by the bus driver to get up, because the first ten rows were already occupied and a white man who had just gotten on the bus needed to sit. Rosa remained seated and refused to get up. She was arrested for violating segregation law. That ignited a statewide protest and boycott of public transportation. She was convicted but appealed the legality of US segregation law.
"When I made that decision," Rosa Parks said later, "I knew that I had the strength of my ancestors with me."
That happened a long time ago. How much has changed in America since then in terms of race relations? Yes, of course, in America we now have a president who is the child of a biracial couple (he is commonly referred to as a black president), a black Supreme Court justice, forty-three African-Americans in the House of Representative and two in the Senate. Now Loretta Lynch has joined the list of other successful African-American people as the US Attorney General (the highest law enforcement official). She was handpicked by Barack Obama.
At her second swearing-in ceremony conducted by Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor (of Puerto Rican descent), Loretta Lynch placed her hand on the Bible that once had belonged to African-American Human Rights leader Frederic Douglass. "She hit the ground running from day one. She's already made her mark here at home and abroad," Obama said. Then he added, "The law is her map; justice, her compass. She is tough, but she is fair. She is firm, but kind," he said. "Her intelligence and her judgment, her grace under fire have earned the trust and admiration of those she works with and those she serves -- and even those she goes up against."
With a contemplative expression, the US president looks on during a formal ceremony at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. The president standing next to her -- this must have been one pivotal moment in Loretta Lynch's life. We can see the decorous pride in her husband's demure look, and the overawed expression on her father's face taking in the moment! I wonder exactly in those reflective moments what were their thoughts? Was president Obama thinking that Loretta holds the same strength in her genes to get to this point like Rosa Parks did?  
The highly publicised Loretta Lynch appointment came at a time when the USA is facing a very difficult time in showing solidarity in the face of recent race-violence inflicted on the African Americans. Since last summer, three young black men had endured torture in the hands of white cops resulting in the deaths of the young men. The unnatural demise of black people by torture at the hands of white cops has ignited the nation's fury from far and wide. Some are calling it 'white terrorism" in order to keep white supremacy alive. The minorities in America commonly believe that the white people want to dominate them and often think of them as disposable. This past April, the Baltimore, Maryland riots again brought out white supremacist ideology into the forefront after an African-American man named Freddie Gray who had died in police custody after enduring severe torture.  
All these are happening in front of our eyes as we have entered the new millennium.
President Obama has given statement after each racially motivated murder, called the family members to give his condolences and denounced hate crimes and killing of blacks for minor reasons. In such cases if the shoe was on the other foot, a white man wouldn't have faced any major repercussions, let alone death. As a child of mixed race, Obama seems to understand the discrimination more than any other US president and has been pretty vocal about it.  But denouncing something and getting rid of the cancer (racism) which plagues America today, is not the task of one person.
The nationwide movement "Black Life Matters" was formed at the aftermath of Ferguson, Missouri riot in 2014. This movement is dedicated to the betterment of black lives and they focus on the youth group. The activists on a regular basis meet up in major cities to raise consciousness that a black young man has as much right as the white person. They join together and participate in protests. They stop the flow of life in the cities by disrupting traffic, sit together across railway tracks to stop oncoming trains; they link arms on major intersections before an athletic event where the traffic becomes a virtual standstill. Sometimes they even temporarily take over shopping malls or a police precinct or government office buildings to make their points.
The predominant message this organisation carries through slogans, banners and donning T-shirts where the central message is, "Youth are powerful." To everyone, including the activists, it is apparent that racism is still a huge problem in America and should be confronted on every level. They have no qualms about disrupting public life, running of commuter trains and stopping others going to work, businesses and other places because they need people to hear their message.
The minority community had a lot of confidence on Obama, and they had believed that he would carry on as their saviour and help them get out of their misery. They thought his term in office would hugely benefit the "minorities and the poor." Once he took office in 2008, he didn't seem very interested in changing the destiny of the millions of poor and minority population. He had other priorities to tackle.
Some pundits have mistakenly ranked Obama too high by saying America has reached a "post-racial" period during his presidency. A lot of the black population continues to suffer and are victims of racial discrimination. In cases where the violence escalates, the president's office issues statements and Obama himself comes out in front of the camera using the same rhetoric about race relations in America. He has given statements urging, a particular heart-breaking event "…requires we listen, and not just shout. That's how we are going to move forward together - by trying to unite each other, and not simply divide ourselves from one another."
Meanwhile, on June 17,  a 21-year-old white gunman named Dylan Roof walked into a historic black church in South Carolina, stated he was there to kill black people and stood up fatally shooting nine people including the pastor. People all over social media are debating whether he was a deranged person or a cold-blooded killer who hated blacks. The jury is still out on that.
To come back to swearing-in that I introduced at the very top of this article, for the very few like Loretta Lynch, it is a dream come true as an African-American to hold such high positions in the government. They are few and far between.
When the Senate Republicans were holding up the Lynch nomination Rep. Emanuel Cleaver told the Huffington Post, "For many minorities, Latinos and African Americans, it would be just another contemporary sign that we have not moved as far as we had hoped."
Before that interview Senator Dick Durbin compared Loretta Lynch with civil rights icon Rosa Parks in regard to the confirmation delay.
"Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar," Durbin said. "That is unfair. It's unjust. It is beneath the decorum and dignity of the U.S. Senate," said Dick Durbin.
Sixty years after Rosa Parks had protested to give up her bus seat to a white guy on behalf of other black Americans, America is nowhere near done in resolving its race problem. The black and white division gnaws in the psyche of conscientious Americans on a daily basis.
Suppose Rosa Parks was in Loretta Lynch's swearing-in ceremony, would she be proud? Perhaps it would be a trick question and the answer could be yes and no.
The writer is a freelancer. zeenat.khan1983@gmail.com