Rosa Parks, RIP

Rosa Parks, the brave black woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, AL, bus back in 1955, has passed on.

While race relations seem to have gotten better since then, I recently asked an African American friend of mine about the charge that racism played a part in the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. My friend said he thought it had played a part, although perhaps not an overt part like in the days when Ms. Parks had the courage to say "No."

He told me a story about how, in the past year, a policeman in VA had pulled his car over. My friend had moved to VA from out of state, and he still had LA plates (tags) on his car. The policeman said, "You're in Virginia, now, boy."

My friend is hardly a boy. He stands about 6'6", and is all muscle. One doubts if the policeman would have used such language on my friend were he not a policeman, because my friend could, well, let's say, make just about anyone "pay" for such a display of disrespect.

So, thank you, Ms. Parks. You started something 50 years ago that was long overdue. Sadly, some in this country still don't seem to get our founding principle, that everyone is created equal.

Still, there's hope, even for the VA policeman.

Be easy, Rosa, and peace, out.

-Robert Capozzi