What Matters Most
By Larry J. Knight, Jr.
As most of you know, Rosa Parks, an icon of the Southern Protest Movement, died last night. She was 92. All day today, I thought about what I could say that would encapsulate how I felt about this woman. It just seemed as if no words would suffice; that was however before I read the tribute postings on The Detroit Free Press' website.
As I read each of the poignant and intimately written postings, I found my words. Sure, I can be verbose at times, but in light of everything that Rosa Parks stood for, I felt that simplicity was best. In this case, minimalism would win. It is a widely known fact that Mrs. Parks was humble in her greatness; that she felt that what she did way back in 1955 was not some grand gesture, but more of something that just had to be done. As I considered the sad truth that we, not just African-Americans, but the entire world population, had lost a revered, loved, and honored citizen of the human race; a person who single-handedly changed our world, not to mention the world's perception of African-American women, I found my words, and I began to type...
"Thank you, Mrs. Parks...from an entire generation."
As I stated, simplicity was required.
