Chicago church remembers Rosa Parks

October 30, 2005 (WLS) -- In Chicago, Beloved Community Christian Church held a tribute of their own to Rosa Parks. Several dignitaries attended the service late Sunday evening.

Rosa Parks said it was the murder of a Chicago boy, Emmett Till, that was on her mind that day she refused to give up her seat on that Montgomery bus. During a church service on Sunday, her inspiration of the civil rights movement is what was remembered in song and dance.

Members of Chicago's Muntu dance theater reminded celebrants this is an occasion to applaud the accomplishments of an individual, one small woman whose actions sparked the civil rights movement.

"She is the standard that I measure myself by and all other by. She is the standard. She showed us what it takes," said Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times Columnist.

Those who gathered at the church were encouraged to do far more than look back at one woman's life. Rosa Parks in the subsequent 381-day bus boycott proved African-Americans, through their choices, have the power to initiate great change. It is a power speakers say should be exercised far more frequently today.

"If we only think about Rosa Parks in terms of the past, then we have to concept of the present as well as the future. I think the key for us is to talk about her and what she did and what others did, but also say how we can use the same methods or same strategy to move African-Americans forward in the 21st century," said Roland Martin, Chicago Defender, Editor.

"The institutional racism right now much more inside Ii didn't say. It is not as easy recognizable. But it is still present. It is more lethal. It keeps the African-American community and other minority communities in a perpetual state of second class citizenship," said Rep. Bobby Rush, (D) Chicago.

Congressman Rush says he believes Rosa Parks was the inspiration for others to take stand around the world. He fears not enough young people today are taking the time to understand, let alone appreciate the civil rights struggle and live up to its promise.

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