|
When Courage Fails Us
By Charles Sullivan
11/06/05 "ICH
" -- -- he death of civil rights activist Rosa Parks has caused me to think
about courage and the apparent paucity of it today among so many.
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man in a black
section of a bus in Alabama and sparked a civil rights revolution.
The courageous act of defiance occurred at a time when black men
were lynched for lesser acts in the Deep South. Although she had not
broken any laws, Ms. Parks was arrested and taken to jail. Rosa
Park’s courage brought into prominence a young minister by the Name
of Martin Luther King. Soon afterwards, the Montgomery bus boycott
was organized and a movement was born. America would never be the
same.
Civil rights activists Rosa Parks, Dr. King, and Malcolm X faced
grave threats from the white supremacists who ruled the slave states
of the south. History records that Dr. King and Malcolm X were
assassinated because of the threat they posed to the established
order. These extraordinary people understood that a price would have
to be paid. Freedom isn’t free. It is paid for with the bravery and
blood of good people. In America—the land that fosters
apartheid—freedom is not delivered to one’s door. Freedom is not
guaranteed by the constitution; nor is it actualized by the bill of
rights. The police and the National Guard, as has always been the
case when oppressed people rise up to demand their freedom, sided
with the oppressors. Thus, we know they exist to protect the
interests of the wealthy and powerful, not as guardians of
democracy; nor as purveyors of justice, as we have been mislead to
believe by the history books.
Rosa Parks acted out of a sense of outrage against the gross
injustice of racial segregation. Buoyed by an immense reservoir of
inner courage and innate decency, a simple act of defiance allowed
this ordinary woman to free herself from her oppressors. The dangers
faced by those in the civil rights movement of the fifties and
sixties cannot be overstated. Thousands of black people were beaten,
castrated, burned and lynched by white supremacists. Their homes
were burned and even children were brutally murdered by faceless
cowards in white hoods. Few of them were ever prosecuted. Does
anyone remember Emit Till? Yet Rosa Parks found the courage to act
against injustice. And that seemingly innocuous act changed the
political and social landscape of America. But the work of
transforming America is unfinished.
To look at Rosa Parks’ slight body lying in that casket in Detroit
this week, one wouldn’t think that she could have ignited the civil
rights movement. One wouldn’t have thought that she could have
brought down the Ku Klux Klan, the institution of slavery; the
tradition of racial segregation. But she did. Her advice was to
‘Free yourself.’
In other words: don’t wait for justice to come to you. Go out and
make it happen. Be just. Don’t wait for anyone else. ‘Free
yourself.’
This is exactly what Thoreau meant when he stated: ‘A Power rises
behind every individual that would float the British Empire like a
chip.’ Power to the people. The power lies within us; but like Rosa
Parks, and so many other spirited people from every walk of life who
fought for justice and equality—it requires courage to bring it to
life. Ideas devoid of action are just ideas. They can accomplish
nothing of their own accord. It is conviction that changes
everything. Conviction leads to action. Action is what brings about
change.
What is so puzzling about the spectacular failure of courage from
the multitudes today is that we face none of the threats and
consequences faced by Rosa Parks, Dr. King, and organized labor in
its hey day. By comparison, we have nothing to be afraid of. Yet we
are paralyzed by fear. Fear of what? Are we afraid of phantom
weapons of mass destruction? Are we afraid of ghosts? Do we fear the
truth of American history? It is fear that keeps us from taking
action. What ever happened to courage?
Are there no more Rosa Parks moving among us today? Did hope for
social justice and simple human dignity get buried with Thoreau,
Mother Jones, Joe Hill, Dr. King and Rosa Parks?
Horrendous events like the Bush presidency, the invasion and
occupation of Iraq, a world wide array of secret gulags and torture
chambers are birthed in darkness when courage gives way to fear in
the masses. It was the failure of courage that allowed the
liquidation of millions of Jews to happen in Nazi Germany. The most
absurd tragedies of human behavior occur because good people allow
them to happen. So much tragedy, so much suffering among so many
people could have been alleviated had our courage overcome our fear.
All any of us have to do is to follow the sage advice of Rosa Parks:
‘Free yourself.’
Had enough of us freed ourselves from our fears and allowed courage
to bubble to the surface, more than a hundred thousand Iraqi people;
more than two thousand American soldiers would be alive today. Their
dreams and hopes would be alive too. A heavily medicated George Bush
and his cronies in the evil empire would be serving the remainder of
their miserable lives in prison. The world would be a better, safer,
and more beautiful place.
Charles Sullivan is a furniture maker, photographer, and free lance
writer residing in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. He
welcomes your comments at
earthdog@highstream.net.
Translate
this page
(In accordance with Title 17
U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information for research and educational purposes.
Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the
originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House
endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) |
