On Wednesday, November 2, 2005, politicians, spiritual and civil rights leaders from across the country gathered to pay tribute to Rosa Parks at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, Michigan.
The political speakers included the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton; Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator John Kerry, Governor Granholm, Senator Carl Levin, and Senator Debbie Stabenow, all of Michigan, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Representative John Conyers and Representative John Dingell, and the then junior senator from Illinois, now 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. The spiritual and civil rights leaders that spoke in tribute included Bishop T.D. Jakes, Reverend Bernice King, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the controversial minister, Louis Farrakhan. All gathered in honor of a simple black woman that led a most extraordinary life.
Internationally renowned as the mother of the modern Civil Rights movement, Rosa Parks was thrown into the national spotlight on December 1, 1955 because of a simple act of civil disobedience — her refusal to surrender a seat at the front of a bus to a white male passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. May we always remember the transformative power of a quiet, courageous act of defiance, but also the lifetime of service thereafter. A life dedicated to the causes of equality, peace and justice.
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