Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Hundreds come to honor civil rights legend

By Alison Bethel / Detroit News Washington Bureau Chief

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WASHINGTON- Hundreds of people stood shoulder to shoulder along M Street in Washington's northwest quadrant Monday to watch and listen as politicians, movie stars, family members and admirers filed into Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church to honor civil rights legend Rosa Parks.

Everything about the memorial service, the second in as many days, was pulled from the struggle of African Americans: The Negro National Anthem; songs from the civil rights struggle; actress Cicely Tyson reciting poet Langston Hughes; members of the Little Rock Nine, who helped desegregate Little Rock public schools; Julian Bond; Dr. Dorothy Height and the leaders of the NAACP.

Parks' body was moved to the historic Metropolitan AME Church after laying in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol for two days. She is the only woman and one of only two African Americans to have had such an honor.

Thousands from across the country stood in line for hours to view her body until mid-morning Monday.

Parks' family arrived at the downtown church in three old-fashioned city buses as onlookers wiped away tears and bowed their heads in silent prayer.

Inside the church, the three-hour service resembled an old fashioned Baptist revival complete with ushers, gospel choirs and robed ministers. Bishop Charles H. Ellis III of Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, where Rosa Park's funeral will take place Wednesday, sat at the alter overlooking Parks' casket. Her body will lay in repose at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit today. President Bush on Monday ordered all flags flown over government buildings to fly at half staff Wednesday.

A memorial service was held Sunday at St. Paul AME Church in Montgomery, AL.

On Monday, one by one the famous climbed up to the pulpit to speak of Parks who was repeatedly described as a gentle woman who by her sitting down caused America to stand up.

"We mourn a person who stood for much. Who changed the nation, changed us for the good. We mourn that loss. We celebrate that life," said U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, chairman of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights subcommittee of the Committee on Judiciary. "I can't help but be impressed at how God lived through her ... Here was a humble woman who had grace and gave grace to a nation that needed her. She taught this nation the importance of dignity, freedom and equality."

"I believe what was most important to Mrs. Parks," said U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., "was the love and respect she received every day, especially from the people of Detroit" where Parks moved in 1957, two years after her refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man resulted in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which helped spark the civil rights movement.

"She reminds me of one of my favorite sayings, 'I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. Lord, help me to do that which I can do.' Rosa Parks did what she could do and she changed the world forver. Thank you, Mrs. Parks," Stabenow said.

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, received standing ovations as did actress Cicely Tyson and Oprah Winfrey, who told the crowd she would not "be standing here today nor standing where I stand every day if she had not chosen to sit down.

"I know that and I honor that," she said. "If she had not chosen to say, we shall not, we shall not be moved. ... So I am here to say a final thank you sister Rosa."

Conyers, who pushed for the honor of Parks' body lying in the Capitol rotunda, said the importance of Parks' actions have reached across the globe.

"When Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison came to Detroit and we were there to welcome him, what did Nelson Mandela do when he found out that Rosa Parks was in the stands, he led a chant, 'Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks, Rosa Parks.' That made us realize that this is an international phenomenon."

The service, organized in large part by Gwen Ifill, senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, was held at Metropolitan in honor of Rosa Parks' long affiliation with the church.

The symbolism of holding the memorial service at the historic Metropolitan AME Church was not lost on the crowd. The impetus for the founding of the church was the treatment of blacks at the predominantly white Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church. Black members of the church petitioned for permission to start the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the District of Columbia. Several prominent Americans have spoken at the church and Frederick Douglass was buried there.

You can reach Alison Bethel at (202) 662-8734 or abethel@detnews.com.