Do not dare to UTTER her name.

I have been in transit the last few days, and this is my first chance to post about this, but I wanted to make sure to register my outrage.

Mr. Bush on Thursday made a great show of signing a bill to raise a statue of Rosa Parks.  While he was at it, he generously supported renewal of the Voting Rights Act (why is that controversial among Republicans?  Why is this a grand concession?  Why does it not go without saying?)

This is the third time, at least, that George W. Bush has attempted to use Rosa Parks's reputation for his own purposes.  He seized upon her death as a photo opportunity, and allowed Samuel Alito to view her coffin in the Capitol Rotunda to bolster the nominee's respectability.  This is three times too many, and must not pass without comment.

This man has refused several times to address the NAACP, an organization for which he expresses open contempt -- the same organization of which Ms. Parks was a dedicated member, and which organized the protests and boycotts that turned her civil disobedience into social change.

He has presided over the effective disenfranchisement of African American voters across the country, a necessary step to achieving  his own electoral victories.

He has gutted the civil rights faculties of the Justice Department.

He has nominated for the Supreme Court a man whose judicial record on civil rights is poor -- and ---

He has nominated to the Supreme Court even a man who joined, and boasted of joining, an organization dedicated to keeping blacks and women out of Princeton University.

Mr. Bush:  Fortunate for you that Ms. Parks is no longer living.  You are not her equal.

You would not be fit to bring her water.  Do not use her image, do not use her story, do not attempt to grasp onto her mantle.

Do not dare to UTTER her name.

•  Thanks for reading.

  I have to tip my hat again to the important diaries by jre on misremembering Ms. Parks.  She was a dedicated activist within an organized movement.  That is what we need to get our country back.

  by jem6x on Sun Dec 04, 2005 at 04:00:59 AM PDT

•  Shameless

  These people (for want of a better term) are shameless.  They will continue to use her name, just like they use that of Jesus.  It doesn't matter what the original said, stood for, or wouldn't stand for.

  Just as long as we don't do it.

  by grada3784 on Sun Dec 04, 2005 at 07:48:56 AM PDT