Rosa Parks tribute inspires students

By Sonia Jackson
Staff Writer

Rosa Parks was a woman who made waves in society when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. That moment rippled outward, leading to a motion against racial segregation in public transportation. Parks again made waves in society when Americans learned of her death.

UNCP students did not let her death pass quietly by them; instead, they honored her at the Rosa Parks Tribute held in the UC lounge on Nov. 8.

Students gathered in the UC and gave their attention to sophomore Michael McMillian who opened with Parks’ biography.

Photo courtesy of the Office of Minority Affairs Voices of Serenity Gospel Choir performs for the Rosa Parks tribute in the UC lounge.

Administrators and students gave touching remarks about Parks’ accomplishments and what she stood for. The NAACP president at UNCP, Latoya Purdie, told students to “stand for something. Be about something.” They could be that person who changes the world—as Rosa Parks did.

Purdie, along with Toneysha Amos, president of the African-American Student Organization, lit candles in honor of Parks. Kevin Swinney followed after with a recitation of an original poem titled, “When she said no.”

Captured moments of Parks’ life were shown on screen to students accompanied by soft music. After a powerful selection sung by the Voices of Serenity, students sang the National Negro Anthem before ending the program with a closing prayer by Elder Ian Siler, a senior at UNCP.

“I think it was a great program,” Angela Harding, a sophomore, said.

She said it opened her eyes and showed her how freedoms are sometimes taken for granted today and that we need to stop taking “no” for an answer and stand up for ourselves.

“It was very nice to see the support” the university and community showed Parks, Robert L. Canida II, director of the Office of Multicultural and Minority Affairs, said.

McMillian said he thanks Parks for all her efforts for African-Americans because an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

Parks had joined her local chapter of the NAACP to improve the situation of racial segregation before the bus boycott, according to the Academy Achievement website on Rosa Parks’ biography.

Her actions led to the establishment of the Montgomery Improvement Association led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., another prominent figure who helped change the laws not just for African-Americans, but for every minority group in America. Following Parks actions, the association had a boycott against the bus company that lasted 382 days and led to the Supreme Court decision to outlaw racial segregation on public transportation.

After that pivotal moment in history, Parks moved to Detroit, Mich. with her husband, Raymond Parks in 1957.

Later, after the death of her husband, Parks started the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development and later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996.

The last years of her life were spent in Detroit where she died at the age of 92 on Oct. 24, 2005.

“I really, truly reverence her for all that she is and was.” She was “the mother of my opportunity,” Amos said of Parks.

The Office of Multicultural and Minority Affairs, NAACP and the African-American Student Organization sponsored the Rosa Parks Tribute.