Rosa Parks: 1913-2005

Rosa Parks stood by sitting. And by sitting, she demanded that her humanity be respected, that Jim Crow take a back seat.
Myth has sometimes obscured Rosa Parks, making her into an icon when she was simply a woman who made a choice that she would not abide being treated as less than an American citizen.
But she also was not simple, being that she was a black woman active in the NAACP, who agitated against segregation at a time when doing so was dangerous.
She looked fragile but contained within her a strength and integrity that helped inspire black people to fight against injustice.
I was born in 1972, years after she took her sitting stand on Dec. 1, 1955. By the time I took my first steps, Jim Crow had long been killed and buried, though remnants of racism still existed.
Even now, as a 33-year-old black man, I cannot quite grasp what it meant to be black in 1955, how dangerous it was then to just live. That to demand equal treatment could mean death for you and your family.
So Rosa Parks' singular act takes on greater meaning today. For the charged atmosphere of Jim Crow in which she lived no longer exists for me. Jim Crow is a moment in history, a memory vivid only to my parents and grandparents.
Her choice was not easy. It involved pain. It involved sacrifice. But she and others knew what they were doing was bigger than themselves. The right to have their humanity recognized and respected was important. And it remains important today.
My journey through life is made easier because of Rosa Parks and other black people who determined that the status quo was not and never would be good enough, who forced America to face the ugly truth of segregation.
For that, honor is due. May Rosa Parks' soul find eternal peace.