Coalition calls for day to honor Rosa Parks

Yawu Miller

A coalition of local activists is calling on the city of Boston to shut down on Dec. 1 in honor of the 50th anniversary of civil rights activist Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat.

The activists have flooded the city with white and yellow flyers declaring Dec. 1 Rosa Parks Human Rights Day and publicizing a march the activists plan to hold running from the beginning of Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury to City Hall.

“In the spirit of Rosa Parks the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee calls on the city of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to declare Dec. 1 a Rosa Parks day,” said UMass Boston Professor Tony Van Der Meer during a press conference announcing the march Tuesday.

The call for a day of commemoration comes on the heels of an Oct. 26 City Council resolution calling on businesses to shut down on Dec.1 in observance of the 50th anniversary of Park’s historic refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala. bus — the move that is widely seen as an opening salvo in the Civil Rights Movement.

A coalition of white, black and Latino activists calling itself the Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee is leading the local effort for a day of commemoration.

“When Rosa Parks decided that she was as valuable a human being as anyone else, she took a stand for all of us,” said City Councilor Felix Arroyo.

The call for a day honoring Rosa Parks was first aired during the Million Workers Movement demonstration in Washington D.C. last year, according to Steve Kirshbaum, a member of the city’s bus drivers’ union.

The organizers of the Boston movement are echoing the themes of the Million Workers Movement — a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, a reduction of the military budget, restoration of funding for social programs and a living wage for all U.S. workers.

A call for a day honoring Rosa Parks was also issued during the Millions More Movement in October. Those calls gained momentum after Parks’ death Oct. 24.

Resolutions for a day of observance have passed in other cities including New York, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland. State Legislatures in Michigan and Ohio have declared Dec. 1 a state holiday.

The coalition met with city officials Tuesday in an effort to pressure the city to close municipal offices on Dec. 1.

“Nothing’s been decided in terms of what been suggested in the city council resolution,” said Brooke Woodson, who is serving as a liaison between the Menino administration and the coalition.

Woodson noted that closing schools on Dec. 1 might not give parents adequate time to plan for child care.

City officials have also said they’re not sure whether the coalition can march from Dudley to City Hall, Woodson said.

“The city’s police and transportation departments are meeting with the organizers tomorrow at 10 to make sure everything is safe and in order,” he said.