Respect

Posted bywriterravenclawPosted inWeekly Word PromptsTags:

Written for https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2024/02/22/reenas-xploration-challenge-319/ This image makes me think of Rosa Parks.

She was an African American human right activist, who refused to give up her seat when a white member of the public got on a full bus on December 1st 1955. Even with the knowledge of being arrested and fined – this didn’t stop her. Nine months after this event, a pregnant woman called Claudette Colvin did the same thing. Their deeds resulted in a refusal to use the buses until, on June 5th, 1956, they agreed to a fully integrated service. To evade the law, Montgomery implemented segregated stops instead.

White supremacist groups responded to this decision with further violence. A mother-to-be had her legs shattered when one rioter fired at passengers. Martin Luther King started his dream of being treated with equal rights because of this amazing lady.

Now, nearly seventy years later, we are moving in the proper direction. It isn’t perfect. At least change is happening. I cannot comprehend what other people go through. Something that has stuck in my mind is of a race. They ask all those with privilege to take a step forward, when asked questions about their life. This is to gain a monetary prize. Those without a head start could never win.

Respect is an important part of being human – or at least it should be. I admire her. It took courage to do what she did. To treat somebody different because of the colour of their skin is wrong.

I love the diverse nature of our earth.

Published by writerravenclaw

I am a fifty something mother of two grown up children, and one beautiful grandchild. I have been married for nearly thirty-four years. My first book was published ten years ago. I wrote my book Sticks and Stones because of my experience of being bullied at school.

17 thoughts on “Respect”

  2. On 7th June, 1893, Mahatma Gandhi was removed from a whites-only train carriage in South Africa where he was practicing as a lawyer. The incident fired a revolution in his mind and finally led to India’s independence on 15th August, 1947.

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