Thoughts on Rosa Parks
I was riding the bus today down to the Native American Powwow at UIC because the purple line of the L train is closed for three days due to fall cleaning. In its stead was a huge trolley bus that was really the length of two buses joined in the middle with a weird accordian turret connector. As I live fairly near the end of the purple line going toward the Howard street train station, there was only like three other people on the bus when I got on.
I made my way to the middle of the bus, so that I could have the seat in the accordian section, which is a fun place to sit because is sort of swivels when the bus turns. (That's juvenile, I know...) As we were making our way down toward Howard, I suddenly realized how completely stereotypical the sections of the bus were. The fair skinned, white, blonde folks were sitting at the very front of the bus. The obviously white but dark haired folks were sitting behind them. I was in the middle of the bus with the other assorted mutts. And all the black folks were sitting in the very back.
I just found this ironic since Rosa Parks died not too long ago. Here we are almost 50 years later, and not much seems to have changed. What scared me was the fact that no one seemed to notice. I know I probably would not have noticed had I not been sitting in a place where I could see the front and the back. It makes you think.
I made my way to the middle of the bus, so that I could have the seat in the accordian section, which is a fun place to sit because is sort of swivels when the bus turns. (That's juvenile, I know...) As we were making our way down toward Howard, I suddenly realized how completely stereotypical the sections of the bus were. The fair skinned, white, blonde folks were sitting at the very front of the bus. The obviously white but dark haired folks were sitting behind them. I was in the middle of the bus with the other assorted mutts. And all the black folks were sitting in the very back.
I just found this ironic since Rosa Parks died not too long ago. Here we are almost 50 years later, and not much seems to have changed. What scared me was the fact that no one seemed to notice. I know I probably would not have noticed had I not been sitting in a place where I could see the front and the back. It makes you think.
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