Reuters, has reported that the Senate voted on Thursday to honor Rosa Parks by making her the first women to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda. This would seem to be a no-brainer for the House to approve this on Friday, but given that there were even holdouts in June when the Senate voted on the historic
anti-lynching measure, you never know what may happen when a female African American civil rights icon is to be honored.
I know we are all focused on the Fitzgerald indictments, but please take a minute to call your House member and ask them to support allowing Sister Rosa to lie in state in the Rotunda.
More below the fold.
Here is the Reuters story, as reported in the
Washington Post:
The Senate voted on Thursday to honor the late civil rights icon Rosa Parks in the Capitol Rotunda. The House is set to take up the measure Friday and would make her the first woman to lie in honor, a tribute usually reserved for presidents, and the House of Representatives is set to approve the tribute on Friday.
Parks, a black woman who helped spark the U.S. civil rights movement when she refused to give her seat on an Alabama bus to a white man 50 years ago, died on Monday at the age of 92.
"The movement that Rosa Parks helped launch changed not only our country, but the entire world, as her actions gave hope to every individual fighting for civil and human rights. We now can honor her in a way deserving of her contributions and legacy," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.
According to the Architect of the Capitol, the Capitol Rotunda has been used for this honor only 28 times since 1852. Most recently, in 2004, the remains of President Ronald Reagan lay in state.
Other Americans so honored include Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson; Pierre L'Enfant, who planned the city of Washington, World War II Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the remains of several unknown soldiers.