• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Development
  • Food+Drink
  • Things To Do
  • Doing Good
  • Lifestyle
  • Arts
  • History
  • Lists

Daily Detroit

What To Know And Where To Go In Southeast Michigan

Header Right

  • PODCAST
  • NEWSLETTER
  • SUPPORT
  • ARCHIVE
  • CONTACT
  • LISTEN ON:
  • APPLE PODCASTS
  • SPOTIFY
  • GOOGLE PODCASTS
  • STITCHER
  • Submit An Idea To Daily Detroit
  • Get Your Daily Detroit Newsletter
  • Listen To The Daily Detroit Podcast
  • Contact Us
  • LISTEN ON:
  • APPLE PODCASTS
  • SPOTIFY
  • GOOGLE PODCASTS
  • STITCHER

Where’s Our Rosa Parks Statue?

You are here: Home / Opinion / Where’s Our Rosa Parks Statue?

Dec 15, 2019 by Jer Staes

A couple of weeks ago there was news out of Montgomery, Alabama that they unveiled a new statue of none other than civil rights activist and icon Rosa Parks.

It didn’t stop south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

For three days on the Milwaukee bus system, they reserved a spot for Parks — along with a note and a rose — so that riders today remember her.

It’s a pair of great honors for a great woman. Then it hit me.

Where is our Rosa Parks statue? Where she lived for so many years?

We have Christopher Columbus mere yards from city hall, notorious for his not discovering of America and the mistreatment of native peoples.

He gets honored, along with a whole slew of white guys past and present. Some, deserved, Some, not.

And sure, there’s the Rosa Parks Transit Center, but in today’s Detroit, places of reverence for our history and culture matter.

The fact is people of color and women are basically absent from Detroit’s public honor and statuary.

Sure, there’s the misunderstood Joe Louis fist and the Joe Louis fighter in Cobo. But not much else.

Everybody who takes a selfie with a Rosa Parks statue would keep the memory alive, and would remember it was less than a lifetime ago where blacks had to give up their seats on bus for whites.

Less than a lifetime ago, when drinking fountains couldn’t be shared.

It’s a reminder we must always be vigilant when fighting for freedoms and not forget — as objects in our country’s racist rearview mirror are closer than they appear.

After all, Martin Luther King Jr. would be the same age today as the very much alive Barbara Walters. This isn’t our distant past. This within a lifetime.

There was a picture on Twitter that recently went viral with Parks and a 24 year old model and artist, Chandler Cosey.

Lil Chan vs Big Chan pic.twitter.com/P0BltGh8l6

— Chan Cozy (@lovechvn) November 19, 2019

In major part, Parks was the catalyst for making our nation a more perfect union. She is, after all, in the U.S. Capitol. But she’s not good enough for Woodward? Or Jefferson? Come on.

And as to the buses, sure, we have THE bus at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, but reserving a seat on all buses, suburban and city, would show thousands of bus riders the important contribution a woman who moved to Detroit made to the world.

I’m sure we could come up with some of our own honors, too.

After all, Detroit was the home for Parks after her act of defiance and she continued to serve the community for decades here.

Future generations of Detroiters should see her face and know her story. And in the most visible parts of the city, so the whole world can see.

Honoring Rosa Parks — along with others more reflective of the place we are today — in a place of pride is something the whole city and region should be able to get behind.

Apple logoGoogle logoSpotify logoAmazon logoPocketcasts logoStitcher logoOvercast logoIheartradio logoRss logo
FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail

Filed Under: Opinion

Be In The Know In About 20 Minutes A Day

“Thanks for your excellent coverage! Daily Detroit is part of my morning routine and as a lifelong metro area resident I appreciate your focus.”

– Jessica

Be like Jessica and keep up on the news, stories, and people that are pushing the Motor City forward on the Daily Detroit podcast. Free in your podcast app of choice:

Apple logoGoogle logoSpotify logoAmazon logoPocketcasts logoStitcher logoOvercast logoIheartradio logoRss logo
Previous Post: « Inside Brewery Faisan, A Belgian-Inspired Taproom In Detroit’s Islandview Neighborhood
Next Post: Your December Detroit Dining & Drinks Roundup »

Primary Sidebar

Support the businesses & orgs that keep us on the air!

Fusion Marketing

Media funded by listeners serves our listeners. Become a member, get swag!

Support this podcast

PODCAST: The End Of Auto Shows As We Knew Them Plus NACTOY Winners w/ Eric Trytko

PODCAST: 7 Things To Know Around Metro Detroit

PODCAST: WTF Happened in Washington w/ Steve Friess

PODCAST: 7 Things To Know Around Metro Detroit

PODCAST: College players can get paid in Michigan; Free beer for Lions fans and more w/ Fletcher Sharpe

PODCAST: The Real Story of Detroit’s “Fist” – The Monument to Joe Louis

PODCAST: 3 Things To Know Plus Sports w/ Fletcher Sharpe

PODCAST: Big Sean And The Pistons, Detroit City FC News, Three Lions Go To Pro Bowl w/ Fletcher Sharpe

Beating Coronavirus For Christmas – A Miracle for Mom

PODCAST: Why We Should Save The Bandshell On The State Fairgrounds Amazon Site

Get our newsletter covering what to know & where to go in Metro Detroit in your inbox!


Footer

Popular Topics

Belle Isle Brush Park Business Cars CBD City 5 City Of Detroit Corktown Crowdfunding Culture Development Doing Good Eastern Market East Riverfront Education Events Featured Ferndale Food + Drink Fun Green Hamtramck History Lifestyle Lists Macomb County Midtown New Center News Newsflash Oakland County Opinion Podcasts Policy Royal Oak Shopping Southwest Detroit Sports Staff Picks Tech Things To Do Transit University District Video Wayne County

On Social Media

Visit Us On TwitterVisit Us On InstagramVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On LinkedinCheck Our FeedVisit Us On Youtube
  • Submit An Idea To Daily Detroit
  • Get Your Daily Detroit Newsletter
  • Listen To The Daily Detroit Podcast
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 · Daily Detroit · 1420 Washington Blvd, Suite 301 · Detroit, MI 48226

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!