Wednesday, October 26, 2005

What America's leaders are saying

The Detroit News

"She will always have a special place in American history, and our nation thinks of Rosa Parks and her loved ones today."

PRESIDENT BUSH

"Rosa Parks was a woman of great courage, grace and dignity. Her refusal to be treated as a second-class citizen on a Montgomery bus in 1955 struck a blow to racial segregation and sparked a movement that broke the back of Jim Crow. ... She was an inspiration to me and to all who work for the day when we will be one America. May God bless her soul and may she rest in peace."

FORMER PRESIDENT CLINTON

"I truly believe that there's a little bit of Rosa Parks in all Americans who have the courage to say enough is enough and stand up for what they believe in. She did such a small thing, but it was so courageous for her as a humble person to do."

REP. CHARLES RANGEL, D-N.Y.

"She really was a heroine to us. She was an ordinary woman and we were ordinary kids, and it seems we had a relationship. ... For me, it opened up the possibility and also instructed me that it wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth it in the end."

MINNIJEAN BROWN TRICKEY, a member of the Little Rock Nine who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957

"I fondly remember presenting her with the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in June of 1999 in the United States Capital Rotunda. At the age of 86, she stood to accept the medal and sometimes steadied herself on my arm. Rosa Parks said that her legacy of quiet strength was passing to the youth of this nation."

U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT

"Martin Luther King never saw this, Malcolm X never saw this. She was able to see this and enjoy it."

MONIQUE REYNOLDS, 37, a native of Montgomery, Ala., now living in Detroit, who noted that Parks had lived to see the changes brought about by the civil rights movement

"Rosa Parks is viewed as the person who really sat down and made African-Americans stand up in the process. I think she'll be remembered in a way that is very profound."

REP. MELVIN WATT, D-N.C., chairman of the Black Congressional Caucus

"The only regret I have is that she didn't live to see the 50th celebration and to see how we are acknowledging her greatness. It's a sad, sad day for Montgomery and a sad day for the world."

MAYOR BOBBY BRIGHT, Montgomery, Ala.

"In one single day, Rosa Parks made the world face the cause of equality, civil rights and justice. No words can adequately describe the courage of her actions, the nobility of her character or the impact she had on an entire nation."

CALIFORNIA GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER