Rosa Parks: The Power Of An Individual To Change Society

The death of Rosa Parks was sad news of a great individual who made a difference in society. It propelled a young minister of God's Gospel, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King to wage a moral war against the sin of racial discrimination in American society.

Unfortunately most individuals often leave no more of an imprint on society in their 70 or more years of life than a footprint left in the sand that is soon washed away by the tides. But in her long life of 92 years, Rosa Parks made a difference in American society that is long lasting and permanent. And for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, it also represented the days when figures in the religious community were respected for opening up society for more opportunity for all, unlike some of the current religious community noted for horrible sex scandals based on abuse of power in unequal relations with their flock or for promotion of discrimination against homosexuals in jobs and housing.

American society, while better for minorities since the early 60's, still is an unequal society. The poverty of many in the American Black community was well noted in so many desperately poor in New Orleans during the recent Katrina disaster. Unequal economic standing still victimizes many in the Black community, and some "conservatives" still attempt to grab onto any bits of racism that they can by opposition to affirmative action, or support for "conservative" justices who are code worded as "strict constructionists". It was sweeping court decisions that ruled the segregation of Montgomery, Alabama's bus system was unconstitutional, or a sweeping decision that ruled in Brown v. Board Of Education, that "seperate but equal" was unconstitutional. Great men such as Abraham Lincoln, whose life was nearly that of a Biblical figure, combining the best of Moses with the long suffering nature of Job, had a vision of an equal society for all. Rosa Parks was the cataylst for one big step towards equality in American society.