December 1, 1955

for contest

December 1, 1955

     I could still feel the excitement—the adrenaline—vibrating through my veins, as I walked the rest of the way home on my own. It was like my parents just told me Santa Claus was not real, which would lead me to believing that nothing they ever told me was true. See, that’s how I felt when I were young and finding out my parents were lying. When you realize that something you knew was a lie, then it might just question everything you ever thought. I bet that was exactly how the people felt when Nicholas Copernicus suggested a heliocentric model—that’s the idea of the sun being the center—back when people thought that Earth was the center of everything. I just learned this in class today… Anyways, when people heard his “crazy” idea, they were mad angry. It meant that everything they ever knew might be all messed up and, you know, people do not like the idea of change, most of the times. And that is what happened to me today. Change.

     I had just finished food shopping for my mother and I could see the bus on its way to my stop, its front reading “Cleveland Ave”, then under it, “2857”. The yellow, green, and white colored bus came rolling along and stopped right in front of me and several other passengers. Its doors swung open and I took the steps up to meet the bus driver. The bus driver, whose name tag read “James Blake”, was an average-looking white man who seemed to have little tolerance for tardiness (I speak from experience). He told me to pay my fare.  I deposited the money and walked towards the back and sat in an empty seat. We stopped several times, the bus getting more crowded as more people boarded it, and that’s when the incident took place. Some white man got on and started searching for an empty seat, but there were none. He nodded at the black woman sitting in front of me and asked her to move. It seemed to take a long time for her to answer and when she did, she said, “No.” The white man, shifting from foot to foot, anxious to get on his way, asked her again and still she refused. People were starting to turn their heads in her direction. The man walked back to the front of the bus and complained to the bus driver. James turned around and asked for her, two black males, and I to move and make room for the white passengers, because we were sitting in that row. See if a bus gets crowded and there happens to be a lot more white passengers than black ones, then the first black row would have to stand to make room for a new white row. The one black man and I got up quickly, but the other man hesitated, who, I guess, was wondering why the black lady would not budge. But he did move, eventually, which left that lady alone, still unflinching. The bus driver, looking at her, said, “Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats.” The lady did not move. When he threatened her with arrest, I thought, “Surely, she doesn’t want to get in any trouble.” Yet, she made no attempt to get up and off that seat. 

     Everybody was baffled, including me. I mean, I heard that something like this happened a while ago with some girl named Claudette, but seeing this happen in person just seemed a whole lot different. Some people were a bit angry and ready to give up their seats just to get a move on. It was that or the fact that a black woman had talked back to a white man. I had never seen such a thing and never really thought about it before, but now that I was seeing it happening, I was confused and everything seemed to change all of a sudden. I shivered and clutched my winter coat around me tighter; I couldn’t imagine walking around in the bitter cold all the way home. And, minutes later, I would no longer have to imagine it at all. I was forced off as police dragged the Parks lady to the station. I could hear the white bus driver, James, talking to the police. His angry hands were making gestures and he was yelling out, “I wasn't trying to do anything to that Parks woman except do my job. She 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.” Although it had only been a few minutes of my fifteen year old life, I was certain that it would change all that I had ever known.  It would make history.

Reviews

[STurner]

Thank you... Thank you for doing your part to change history; to keep us in a place of remembrance of what true heroes in life look like. Certainly this is something we all need to remember. Rosa Parks did change history- for the oppressors as well as the oppressed. This story is moving, seems real to life and all the more significant for the way you have told it... down to Earth and in simple terms we all know and can appreciate. How much discrimination have been perpetrated on others while rationalizing the attempt as "only doing my job?"

Peace and blessings to you.