It seems a small thing today for a person to be free to sit in any available seat on a bus or train. But, because she was African-American, Rosa Parks was not free to sit where she chose in Montgomery, Alabama.
Then, on this date, December 1, in 1955, she was arrested when she refused to move to the back of the bus that day and let a white man have her space. Her action caused a local disturbance, fueled the civil rights movement, and eventually attracted international attention. Four days later, she was convicted of disorderly conduct.
Mrs. Parks spent long, tiring days at work, but, in a much larger sense, she was tired of segregationist policies requiring her to pay her fare at the front of the bus, then get off and go to the rear door in the hope that the bus driver would not deliberately drive away and leave her standing on the curb.
This brave lady’s action sparked a 381-day bus boycott in Montgomery and led to a ruling by the Supreme Court that segregation on transportation is unconstitutional.
Her action and the Supreme Court decision were first steps, not the final ones, to establish equality for all people in America.
In the New Testament era, there was discrimination. St. Paul’s birth religion treated outsiders harshly: In the Temple in Jerusalem, all Gentiles were prevented from entering the inner space reserved for Jewish men. On the fence protecting this special place, this warning was posted:
NO FOREIGNER
IS TO GO BEYOND THE BALUSTRADE
AND THE PLAZA OF THE TEMPLE ZONE
WHOEVER IS CAUGHT DOING SO
WILL HAVE HIMSELF TO BLAME
FOR HIS DEATH
WHICH WILL FOLLOW
Throughout history, attempts have been made to keep people “in their place”: Christians slaughtering Muslims in the crusade to reclaim the Holy Land; Nazis killing Jews, Gypsies, and others; white South Africans displacing blacks through apartheid; and Jews and Muslims murdering each other in the Middle East.
As we enter the season of Advent, we recall St. Paul’s declaration that Christ put an end to man-made distinctions: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
The good news about Jesus, whose coming we anticipate in Advent, is that He has accepted all people who will come to Him, and we should accept each other.
A Verse for Today
“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us” (Ephesians 2:14).
Each day through New Year’s Day, January 1, 2013, daily inspirational thoughts will appear on this website, in keeping with Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. These are from my book, Reflections for the Festive Seasons. © 2002. All rights reserved.
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