Hush That Fuss
Outkast has finally reached a settlement with the most over-rated figure of the 20th century, Rosa Parks. Parks' name also served as the title of one of Outkasts most successful songs back in 1998. The suit was initiated by Parks' seedy handlers (she suffers from dimentia) years ago, but the settlement was reached by her new guardian, former Detroit mayor and Michigan Supreme Court justice Dennis Archer, who took over custody recently after close family pleaded that Parks was being taken advantage of. Archer admitted there was no fault on the part of Outkast, and came up with a cuddly plan where the two parties will work together to promote a cuddly idea I don't remember from the article.
Perhaps if the band had it to do over again they would have just named the song--which never mentions Parks; only moving "to the back of the bus"--Mary Louise Smith or Claudette Colvin, two teenagers who were jailed for not giving up their bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama long before Parks. Though a resistence movement to the bus policy was already in the works, these young women were not considered "suitable icons" around which to build a movement. In the case of Colvin, the first recorded resister, she was 15, rebellious, and, by the time of her trial, visibly pregnant. NAACP chapter secretary Parks turned out to be suitable enough indeed and the incredibly successful and inspirational Montgomery bus boycott was luanched upon her arrest.
Her fortune to be the poster child for this movement has probably made her name the second most recognizable among figures of the civil rights movement (second only to the boycott's leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), ahead of men like Medgar Evers or perhaps even Malcolm X, both of whom gave their very lives to the cause (literally and figuratively). They unfortunately did not live to boycott NAACP functions hosted by Cedric the Entertainer because--can you believe it?--he raised the question of whether others might deserve to share much of Parks' credit in Barbershop.
Perhaps if the band had it to do over again they would have just named the song--which never mentions Parks; only moving "to the back of the bus"--Mary Louise Smith or Claudette Colvin, two teenagers who were jailed for not giving up their bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama long before Parks. Though a resistence movement to the bus policy was already in the works, these young women were not considered "suitable icons" around which to build a movement. In the case of Colvin, the first recorded resister, she was 15, rebellious, and, by the time of her trial, visibly pregnant. NAACP chapter secretary Parks turned out to be suitable enough indeed and the incredibly successful and inspirational Montgomery bus boycott was luanched upon her arrest.
Her fortune to be the poster child for this movement has probably made her name the second most recognizable among figures of the civil rights movement (second only to the boycott's leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), ahead of men like Medgar Evers or perhaps even Malcolm X, both of whom gave their very lives to the cause (literally and figuratively). They unfortunately did not live to boycott NAACP functions hosted by Cedric the Entertainer because--can you believe it?--he raised the question of whether others might deserve to share much of Parks' credit in Barbershop.
posted by Luke @ 8:21 AM
2 Comments:
At 2:34 AM ,
Anonymous said...
This is an unfortunate blog that was cited on a nationally seen website. You have your facts right, for instance that Ms. Colvin was arrested prior to Ms. Parks in 1955. However, what you fail to recognize is the fact that the movement in Montgomery needed a suitable icon to mobilize not only the middle class Black community of the Alabama city, but the white community as well. The bus boycott would never have lasted the 300 plus days that it did with a pregnant 15 year old as its symbolic figurehead. To call Ms. Parks the most overrated figure of the 20th century is utter ignorance and lack of insight into one of the most important events of the civil rights movement. Without the symbolism of middle class gentility, feminine respectability and all the other qualities that Ms. Parks brought to the table, there would have been no successful Montgomery bus boycott, and therefore no Martin Luther King Jr., seeing as how the boycott in Montgomery catapulted him to national prominence. While you may disagree with the settlement of the Outkast case, please do not disparage Ms. Parks and her legacy.
At 5:22 AM ,
Lucas Brachish said...
Nice article .... The first comment here (the one from "anonymous" giving you the smack-down) also makes some valid points, but I'm assuming your statement of Ms. Parks being "the most over-rated figure of the 20th century" is purposely overstated, in order to attract attention and start a debate. And in that regard, it works well.
As "anonymous" notes, Rosa Parks is important, and she cannot be overrated to the extent that what she stood for -- what she represented for the movement and in history, and the boycott she helped spark -- cannot be underestimated; even if Ms. Parks was not truly the first resister, even if she was just following orders for larger Civil Rights groups. She still did a brave thing, and the IDEA of "Rosa Parks" as both a symbol and a modern myth was and is important to a vast degree.
That being said, her actual actions -- when compared to the actions of so many others from the same time and the same general movement -- are not that spectacular in and of themselves, and the American propensity for inflating reality does need a strong kick in the pants now and again (i.e., Abe Lincoln may have told some lies, George Washington probably didn't chop down a cherry tree, and George W. Bush is a second-rate president).
So, thank you for doing a bit of myth busting and mentioning Mary Louise Smith and Claudette Colvin, etc.
Also, I agree heartily that the Rosa Parks controversies surrounding Outkast and Cedric the Entertainer were ridiculous.
But I'm also glad that "anonymous" left a comment here, because it's a necessary counter-point to your punchy, incisive tale.
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