Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Ric Francis / Associated Press The Rev. K.W. Tulloss posts a flier as community activists gather in south Los Angeles to pay tribute to Rosa Parks. Americans across the country are looking for ways to pay their respects to the civil rights icon.

Sympathies pour in on Web site

People across U.S. express their feelings and thoughts about Parks on Legacy.com.

By Michael H. Hodges / The Detroit News

Rob Carr / Associated Press Johnnie Carr, president of Montgomery Improvement Association, talks about memorial plans for Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Ala. Parks' death leaves survivors of the civil rights movement with the challenge of keeping the movement alive. Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

The tributes started to pour in from all over the nation virtually the minute Rosa Parks' death was announced Monday night.

These, however, were not the comments of the great and famous -- but of ordinary people, who registered their sentiments in a highly 21st century fashion, in an online "guest book" devoted to Parks at Legacy.com.

The expressions are both homespun and complex, and appear to reflect both heartfelt reactions quickly recorded, as well as longer tributes that clearly took time to compose.

"You made a way for the rest of us," wrote Chicagoan Doris Alexander. "My condolences to the family."

From Plymouth, Richard McGlinn called Mrs. Parks "the most noble (individual) of our era -- may she rest in peace."

Reached at home, McGlinn said Mrs. Parks was "one of the fondest heroes in my life -- amazing, beautiful, graceful, and just a great joy to our country."

McGlinn, who is in his 70s and describes himself as Irish-American, said he was moved to make a public declaration because "I'm very concerned about how this country has turned recently, so dramatically away from what I believe it stands for.

"So when I do get a chance to have a few words," he added, "I take the opportunity."

Legacy.com routinely reprints obituaries from about 200 newspapers nationwide, and attaches a guest book to each where friends and relatives can record their thoughts.

By midafternoon Tuesday, the site had recorded more than 1,000 tributes to the civil rights pioneer.

Based on guest books for other famous individuals, said Legacy.com chief operating officer Hayes Ferguson, she wouldn't be surprised if the Parks book passed 10,000 inscriptions.

A link to the Parks book will be prominently displayed on the site's homepage for up to a week.

The desire to make a public declaration of respect -- or grieving -- may be particularly meaningful, suggests the Rev. Dr. V. Bruce Rigdon, with an iconic figure like Parks, who exemplified qualities many of us may feel we lack.

"In somebody like her," said the president of Detroit's Ecumenical Theological Seminary, "all these abstractions -- racism, struggle and courage -- all these are visible and made concrete."

A public avowal, he added, "may at some point keep us from being discouraged, or give us the energy to do what needs to be done."

Many wished Parks all the best in the afterlife.

"Sleep well sweet queen," wrote James Byers of New York. "You've earned your rest. Now if they start any mess up there, take care of that too."

Added Nicholas Phillips, a 13-year-old Chicagoan, "God bless. I'll see you in heaven."

You can reach Michael H. Hodges at (313) 222-6021 or mhodges@detnews.com.