Resolution to Declare December 1^st National Day of Absence in Honor of Rosa Parks

ity Council members, community leaders, activists and some young "Future Leaders" from P.S. 299 gathered on the steps of City Hall recently to commemorate the life of Rosa Parks and to announce a City Council resolution that would declare December 1^st Rosa Parks Day. On that day, Parks’ life would be honored through a National Day of Absence in which businesses and schools would either close or allow their workers and students to take the day off so they could participate in events that focus attention on this country’s ongoing problems of racism, poverty and war. If children remain in school, the day would be used to study the Civil Rights movement, including Rosa Parks’ place in it.

"In a big, big way, we're saying thank you to Rosa Parks," stated Council Member Charles Barron, the prime sponsor of the resolution. "Her seemingly insignificant act – saying ‘I'm not giving up my seat’ – transformed American history. When she sat down, we as a people stood up. We stood up not only for our pride, our dignity and our integrity, but for social justice and against war and poverty. Her act of defiance," Barron concluded, "is an example of the power that we all possess as individuals to change the course of history."

Larry Holmes, a chief organizer of the National Day of Absence, remarked that Boston, Massachusetts has already passed a similar resolution to the one being introduced, and it's time for New York City to do the same. He also announced that on December 1^st, there will be a daylong teach-in on Wall Street. Speakers will include members of the Martin Luther King family, people who took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and members of the Congressional Black Caucus. "It’s not enough to just mourn our sister," Holmes commented. "We must emulate her and say no to injustice."

Referring to another woman of courage and faith in Bible, Council Member Helen Foster called Rosa Parks "our modern-day Esther who was chosen for such a time as this." Foster said that if it weren't for the fact that Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man, the 28-year-old minister who went on to lead the bus boycott – Martin Luther King, Jr. – wouldn't have been put on the map. "She sparked a movement for everyone to come after her," Foster observed.

Yvette Clarke pointed out that it was women like Rosa Parks that made it possible for her and other women of color to be Council Members today. "Rosa Parks did a single action that shook the world," Clarke said. "On December 1^st, we will continue to make those waves."

Also present at the press conference was Council Member Michael Nelson who said in an interview, "As a Jewish kid growing up in Brooklyn, I was outraged by what I saw on TV – the indignities, the cruelties and the inhumanities against Black people. It didn’t look like the world offered much hope. But then Rosa Parks stood up by sitting down. It was very inspiring. I’ve always had tremendous respect for her, and I’m glad to see her commemorated."