Douglas Alexander: “This week we have honored the memory of Rosa Parks, a woman whose quiet stand for her individual rights reverberated…”

“This week we have honored the memory of Rosa Parks, a woman whose quiet stand for her individual rights reverberated across this country. We often discuss how far we have to go as a country in terms of race relations. Thinking of Rosa Parks reminds me how far we have come. In 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, African Americans in the South could not eat in the same restaurants, go to the same colleges, sleep in the same motels, be cared for in the same hospitals or compete on the same sports teams as other Americans. Rosa Parks' actions that day in Montgomery helped spark a movement that changed our country forever for the better. Condoleezza Rice, one of the bright minds leading our country today, rightly noted at the memorial service in Alabama, ``. . . that without Mrs. Parks, I would not be standing here today as Secretary of State.'' Rosa Parks and those who took up the call inspired me, too. As editor of the student paper at Vanderbilt University, I wrote editorials urging desegregation of that school in 1962. We made great progress in those days, as we continue to do today. Our Nation has always been a work in progress, ever since our Founders signed the Declaration of Independence declaring that ``all men are created equal.'' We're still working to achieve that noble goal of recognizing our equality. But thanks to Americans like Rosa Parks, we've come a long way.…”