Dear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Claudette Colvin. Nine months prior
to Rosa Park’s arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat, an empowered 15-year-old
delivered her refusal. Yet, we don’t know her name. At least, I didn’t until
this past summer when I visited the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta.
Upon a wall with a collage of photos of Rosa Parks and other key figures in the
Montgomery Bus Boycotts, was a small black plaque depicting Colvin and her
story. I was shocked as I (squinted and) read how Colvin’s case, similar to
Parks’ in refusing to comply with a white bus driver, was swept under the rug.
Why? Colvin was from a lower-class family, dark skinned, too young, and months
after the bus incident became pregnant. Civil Rights leaders, as McGuire points
out, perpetuated the “culture of dissemblance:” faced by black women and
engaged in “respectability politics” and decided Colvin was “not fit” to be the
face of a campaign that would later spark bus boycotts throughout the South.
Colvin would not be fit. Her morals and background were questionable.
Months later, a light-skinned
middle aged woman, also a family friend of the Colvin’s, makes headlines. Now,
we have found the perfect face for a movement! As you put it, Dr. King, “[no
one] can doubt… [Parks’] character...or the depth of her Christian commitment.”
It’s great that of all people the bus driver tried, it as Rosa, right? Wrong.
Women, young and old, even before Colvin, refused their seats, but were deemed “unfit”
to carry a movement. Learning of Colvin’s story opened my eyes to even more of
the strategy and politics within Civil Rights Movement. Who deserves to be the
face of revolution, of justice, when all face hardship? I understand that clean
appearances and strategy are key when appealing to the oppressor, but when can
we reach a point when injustice upon an “unfit” person is just as much of an
injustice upon someone who is deemed respectable and pure? Will we ever
acknowledge injustice as injustice no matter who it is brought upon?
Sincerely,
This is a really interesting topic because the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were engaged in social respectability and how the Black race would be seen by whites and how it would affect how successful the movement would be. Its interesting because at this point in time, leader of the black movement were still basing their identity and worth off of whites instead of realizing that Black people were and are beautiful. They wanted to hide away their imperfection and didn't want one bad person to speak for the rest of the black community. It interesting how minorities are always having to ask for forgiveness; are always having to hide their imperfections to be accepted, while the imperfections of the majority are forgiven or characterized as just being human.
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