Keep your eyes on the prize, don't be dismayed

"We must never forget about the power of ordinary people to stand in the fire for the cause of human dignity, and to touch the hearts of people who have almost turned to stone."

William Jefferson Clinton, 1996, in honor of Rose Parks, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor

-

-

Today marks the passing of a world figure whose life and legacy began in Alabama and who made history 50 years ago when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus -- the spark that ignited the American civil rights movement. Rosa Parks wasn't outrageous and certainly wasn't interested in a personal agenda. As she said, her legs were just tired. A saint disguised as a seamstress, Parks bravely stood up for what was right during a time when racial divisions ran deep.

Ironically another Alabama native came back home this past weekend -- Condoleezza Rice. Half a century after Mrs. Parks made her courageous gesture, our country has a black woman from Alabama in one of the highest positions in the White House, and only the second held by a woman in the 215 year history of the office. While Condi was here she visited her old elementary school in the neighborhood of Titusville where she was raised. She met with the families of the four little girls killed in the 16th St. Baptist Church bombings. Rice was friends with one of the bombing victims -- Denise McNair. I know Condi and her alliegence to the right is controversial, but that is a post for a different day. To analyze Rice's relationship to the Bush administration detracts from the signficance of today and although I have more than enough negative comments to make about the current situation in the White House, I respect Condi Rice and felt proud to watch her motorcade cruise through the heart of downtown Birmingham Friday night from the windows of the Birmingham News building.

Regardless of the racial problems that still plague not only the south, but the entire country, we have come quite a way in 50 years.

The Detriot News has an excellent article that ran today on the passing of Rosa Parks. Click here. Detriot had been Parks' home for many of her later years.

For an excellent article on the Condoleezza Rice visit to Alabama, see what The Birmingham News has to say about the visit.