On Rosa Parks

A letter to my black friends: 

On this day of remembering the advocacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., your faces come to mind. I admit to you that I haven’t lived your family history or experienced your personal aches about your family’s future, but I’m committed to learning how my individual choices can make a difference in my sphere of influence right now.

One individual who challenges me to courageous, yet simple actions is Rosa Parks. This past year, I discovered and read her book Reflections by Rosa Parks: the quiet strength and faith of a woman who changed a nation. The chapters are divided into topics that she spoke on, wrote about, and personally applied over the course of her life. 

She lived out of straightforward conviction regarding right and wrong, an uncomplicated approach to complex racial discrimination against her. Straightforward doesn’t mean socially acceptable, and uncomplicated doesn’t mean easy. What she endured grieves me - for your sake and our nation’s - and I’m sad to say, I doubt I’d have her faith or stamina. 

But I aim for it.

“I have learned that, 

in order to bring about change, 

one must take the first step, 

or else it will not be done.” 

-Rosa Parks