~~~Quote: "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies. But the silence of our friends", unquote, Assassinated Head of the African American Civil Rights Leader, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. , (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)~~~
I
Because of Robinson, Rosa Parks got on the National City Lines bus, (No. 2857). She was singled out by white bus driver James Fred Blake, (April 14, 1912 – March 21, 2002), and contacted the police. Blake, (who was part of the European theatre in WWII, and joined the US Army), was quoted as saying, "I wasn't trying to do anything to that Parks woman except do my job...She, (Parks), was in violation of the city codes. So what was I supposed to do? That damn bus was full and she wouldn't move back. I had my orders", unquote.
II
Blake's first run-in with Parks was in 1943. Parks arrived on the Alabama bus via the rear door; Blake closed it. Parks didn't use the back door. But Blake ignored her. And Parks was forced to go home when it was a particularly rainy day.
III
Rosa Parks was a seamstress. She became the Secretary of NAACP. And, knowing that Blake's adversive behavior towards African-Americans, her disgust that Blake would continue his bus route, countinued. She paid her fares; she did what any law abiding woman would do in America. And, for all her troubles, Blake's racist tone was soon to be crumbling down.
IV
By December 5, 1955, Rosa Parks was forced to pay $US10 and an extra $US4 court costs for, quote, "Not following bus procedures", unquote; Rosa Parks appealed, and the barrier between the whites and African-American communities in The Deep South of America, was now like a chasm...not a hole.
~~~
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The JFK Files: A non-fiction book by Robert Helliger
Non-FictionThe true story of the 1963 assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. An account of the life and death of one of the most popular politicians our the 20th century by Robert Helliger. Rated PG-13 for some violence, sex references, some coarse lan...
