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Ross attends Parks' funeral Thursday, Nov 3, 2005 By Alison Vekshin Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, was among the thousands who gathered on Wednesday to pay their respects to civil-rights pioneer Rosa Parks at her funeral in Detroit. "Rosa Parks is truly a legend and will be deeply missed, but her spirit and her legacy will live on forever in the multitude of lives that were changed by her bold decision on that bus," Ross said in a statement. The ceremony at the Greater Grace Temple Church featured former President Clinton and his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John Kerry, D-Mass. The tribute to Parks honored her place in history as the mother of the civil-rights movement. Parks' refusal in 1955 to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, led to her arrest and sparked a 381-day boycott of the bus system. One year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated seats on city buses were unconstitutional. "Brilliant in its simplicity, the impact of Rosa Parks' refusal to relinquish her seat to a white passenger will continue to be felt for generations to come," Ross said. "Her gesture transformed the South and America in a positive way by promoting actions that can lead to historic change through non-violence," he said. Parks, who died at 92 on Oct. 24 in Detroit, was placed in a mausoleum at the city's Woodlawn Cemetery. E-mail: avekshin@stephensmedia.com -- 30 -- |
