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Dignitaries likely to flood into Detroit
Politicians, celebrities are expected to visit area to pay respects to late civil rights pioneer.
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When Rosa Parks took her stand in a Montgomery, Ala., bus, her quiet message echoed around the world.
And when diplomat Yusuf Omar arrives in Detroit on Tuesday, he will be bringing the thanks and thoughts of the people of South Africa, a nation that heard her message loud and clear.
"In 1955, the year that Rosa took her stand, we drafted our freedom charter," said Omar, a South African consul general.
"For someone to have taken the stand that she did, that gave us hope that there was a way to freedom. There was a way that we could stand up for our rights," he said.
Omar is one of many dignitaries, politicians and celebrities expected to converge on Detroit this week to pay respects to a woman viewed as the mother of the civil rights movement.
Among the notable attendees, funeral planners say they hope Winnie Mandela, former wife of South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, is able to attend.
"It's our hope that she can and our belief that she will," said former judge Adam Shakoor, who is helping plan Parks' funeral.
Former President Bill Clinton, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and a slew of congressmen and -women are planning to attend Parks' funeral Wednesday, including Juanita Millender-McDonald, Al Green, John Conyers, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Julia Carson.
Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; NAACP President Bruce Gordon; and Bishop T.D. Jakes also plan to attend, Shakoor said.
Aretha Franklin is expected to sing at the service, scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.
Other local tributes are planned. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is lobbying for a national monument. An effort in the U.S. House and Senate would rename the federal Homeland Security office in southeast Detroit the Rosa Parks Federal Building.
"I regard Rosa Parks as a first lady of this nation because she has contributed in harmonizing the racial tensions of this nation more than any other human being -- even any president -- that I know," said Mangedwa C. Nyathi, assistant to the pastor at Hartford Memorial Church in Detroit and a South Africa native.
"Her spirit is one that is going to draw people throughout the nation."
You can reach Dorothy Bourdet at (734) 462-2203 or dbourdet@detnews.com.
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