An Embrace of Rosa Parks, Job Justice, and Equal Rights

Activist Rosa Parks held onto me in a lingering maternal embrace. As our hearts beat next to each other, I became lost in the hug. At the time, in 1988, she was 75 years old and slight in build. I was 23 and fit. Yet, hers was the more powerful grip—one that defied her age. 

The nearby street sounds faded that day in Tuskegee, Alabama. So did the laughter of uniform-wearing school children who were standing by to honor Mrs. Parks at a street-naming ceremony. Her motherly cocoon insulated me from all distractions. When I emerged back into consciousness—back into my role of professional journalist—I realized I might have stepped over a boundary in asking Mrs. Parks to accept my hug. So, I loosened my arms from around her body. I let her go with great reluctance. 

But the Mother of America’s Civil Rights Movement did not let go of me. For a few moments more, she continued to hold me. 

Now decades later, the thump thump of her heartbeat and the smoothness of her check against mine remain with me. I feel honored by the extended attention. Though she never bore biological children, Mrs. Parks transferred something to me that day. And now awakened to her life-long social justice work, I know I am supposed to train the spotlight of interest on fair opportunities at work, at school, and in the voting booth, to name a few causes. And, as Mrs. Parks achieved, I will work to leave each cause better than I found it.

That’s why I’m inviting you to Listen to Others as you would have them listen to you®. Understanding someone better can help you treat him better.  

What have you faced in the arena of job justice? Advancements and respect that you earned or micro-aggressions and disrespect? I’d truly like to listen to you so please share a story. You can read about my «economic lynching,» a term I coined and explain in Civil Rights Baby: My Story of Race, Sports, and Breaking Barriers in American Journalism.  

But I believe we can create workplace fairness and even out some of our race-based, economic advantages and disadvantages. 

Doing nothing means we’re accepting a permanent upperclass, a permanent underclass—and a troubling, widening gap in the U.S. The accumulated wealth of white families is 10 times higher than that of Hispanic families and 13 times higher than that of black families.* If we Listen to Others®, we can roll back undeniable discrimination in career opportunities and in housing purchases, two traditional cornerstones of wealth-building.

*Source, Institute for Policy Studies (2016), #ReversingInequality
*Book and banner photos by Marie Julliard