You say you want a revolution??

I've been reading a lot about Rosa Parks this week. I mean, who can help it? The woman is everywhere. With good reason, of course.

I just finished an article about thousands of people showing up at St. Paul's A.M.E. Church in Montgomery, Alabama to pay their respects to her. THOUSANDS! Isn't that incredible? I always figured I'd consider myself lucky if thousands weren't dancing in the street singing "Ding, Dong, The Witch is Dead" when I die . But I'm no Rosa Parks.

She was born on February 4, 1913 and was home schooled until she was 11. She graduated from Booker T. Washington High and when she was 20, she married Raymond Parks. She battled the segregation laws in a quiet way. One article I read said that she'd go home thirsty rather than drink from a "blacks only" water fountain and that she took the stairs instead of the "blacks only" elevator. Both small things, sure...but small things add up.

She was active in the Montgomery Voters League and the NAACP. In 1943, she was elected Secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. A mere 12 years later, at the age of 42, she made history by refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and igniting the Civil Rights Movement.

And now, 50 years later, she is making history once more. She's the first woman (and only the second African American) to lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda. It's a shame that she's gone but hey...92 years is a long life. And starting a revolution in the process? Hell, it doesn't get much better than that! May she rest in peace.