[Mb-civic] Thousands Honor Courage of Rosa Parks

[William Swiggard]

Thousands Honor Courage of Rosa Parks
A Gathering of Gratitude For Movement's Inspiration

By Sue Anne Pressley and Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 31, 2005; Page A01

With reverence and a deep sense of indebtedness, the nation's capital 
last night began its simple but dignified farewell for Rosa Parks, the 
humble woman whose courageous act 50 years ago led to the breakdown of 
racial segregation in the United States. A massive crowd of people of 
all ages, colors and political beliefs pressed together, then lined up 
patiently at the U.S. Capitol to view her coffin and talk about the 
enormous changes she brought the nation -- and them.

Parks, who died Oct. 24 at age 92, made history even in death. She 
became the first woman, and only the 30th American, to lie in honor in 
the Capitol Rotunda. The nation's farewell to Parks, which began 
yesterday with a vigil and a memorial service in Montgomery, Ala., will 
continue today with a 1 p.m. service at Metropolitan AME Church.

A funeral and burial will be held Wednesday in Detroit, and President 
Bush has ordered that flags at the White House and other federal 
installations be flown at half-staff that day.

What struck many about last night's event was how much it seemed to 
reflect the guiding principles of Parks's long life: dignity and 
understatement. No elected officials, not even Bush, spoke at a brief 
service at the Rotunda, and the coffin itself -- a plain, highly 
polished, cherry-wood coffin with eight wooden handles -- sat in the 
center of the Rotunda, with no carving, flag or flowers upon it.

Shortly before 7:30 p.m., the motorcade -- a hearse, three Metro buses 
draped in black for the family and friends, motorcycles and squad cars 
-- arrived at the Capitol, receiving a huge reaction of applause from 
the waiting crowd.

Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrived in a separate motorcade. The 
stately quality of the event was striking for a woman who talked of 
growing up on her grandfather's Alabama farm, worked as a seamstress and 
married a barber, and never seemed to seek a spotlight for herself.

As the crowd waited quietly in ever-lengthening lines for the viewing, 
bundled up against the night chill, some held signs that read, "Thank 
You, Rosa Parks." Others spoke of "Miss Rosa" and her impact on their 
lives as if they had known the former Montgomery resident who decided 
one day in 1955 that she would rather go to jail than give up her bus 
seat to a white passenger. That act led to a Supreme Court ruling that 
segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional, and the civil 
rights movement began to flower.

"Miss Rosa means a great deal to me," said Deric Colander, 41, of 
Chester, Va., who is retired military and arrived at the Capitol six 
hours before the public viewing of Parks's coffin was to begin. "Miss 
Rosa set the stage for a whole lot of opportunities I've had. She set 
the tone for the civil rights movement."

By the time the motorcade filled with dignitaries arrived from 
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the crowd 
waiting in the darkness outside the Capitol had grown to enormous 
proportions. It stretched from Second Street and Constitution Avenue to 
Fourth and Constitution, filling two giant fields.

Many had waited for five hours and still anticipated hours of waiting 
before they got to the Rotunda. At 10:30 p.m., the line snaked from one 
side of the Mall to the other, doubled up and then went almost to the 
doors of Union Station. Metro announced that it would stay open an extra 
hour, until 1 a.m., to accommodate the crowds. Early this morning, the 
wait was still estimated at five hours.

Officials said they would keep the Capitol open as long as it took. 
"It's almost as much as Reagan," said U.S. Park Police spokesman Bill 
Line, referring to the massive crowds at the public viewing of the 
former president last year.

As the Morgan State University choir, in gold-trimmed royal blue robes, 
sang a muted version of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," members of 
the D.C. National Guard, who had carried the coffin from the hearse and 
up the steps, brought it into the Rotunda. The Bushes, along with 
leaders of the House and Senate, had stood silently for 15 minutes 
before the coffin as brought inside, more than an hour late.

(continued)...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/30/AR2005103000814.html
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