Who else agrees, Cindy is the new Rosa Parks?

She is a political prisoner, nothing less. The so-called president got her son killed so he could get richer and now he and his followers have the gall to arrest her and call her unpatriotic as if she is supposed to love Bush more than her own son. It is disgusting what has been done to her, and I consider her a political martyr.

Not now anyway. Who knows what the future holds though, she may get to that point later.

seen as partisan or a troublemaker by those who disagreed with her.

It was only after it became embarassing to denigrate civil rights for blacks that Rosa Parks moved from controversial to public saint.

Cindy is using the same methods as Parks and MLK: non-violent resistance to draw attention to injustice.

I can't find fault with that and find a lot to admire.

bus to work for a year or so, having to walk.... Get a grip - stupid question in the first place. Rosa was Rosa; Cindy is Cindy...IMHO, of course.

...but, no, I don't think she is Rosa Parks.

And they are similar in a lot of ways. Both are accidental celebrities; Rosa Parks said that the reason she would not leave her seat was that she was just too tired and cranky to move. Cindy Sheehan would have been a footnote in history if George Bush had decided to meet with her to talk about why her son had to die. Both were not unique; Many Millions of African Americans suffered the same indignities as Rosa Parks, and many thousands of mothers lost a son in this needless war, but they both stood up afterwards to call attention to the plight of their entire group.

Is Cindy the New Rosa Parks? Nope. Rosa Parks cannot be replaced.

Cindy Sheehan is Cindy Sheenan.

Thats all she ever wanted to be.

Rosa Parks was not just a tired seamstress who didn't want to get up that day. Please don't spread this misconception! She was an NAACP youth organizer and a long-time activist.

References:
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/menutest/articles/wi06/dreier.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

I know I heard her say that she was tired in an old film clip. In any case, I don't intend to take anything away from her; She did the right thing.

She was pretty humble, apparently, and also in the early years following the boycott I'm sure she was wisely paranoid about her safety if too many right-wing nutcases found out the true nature of the plan to execute the boycott and subsequent legal challenge. So I don't doubt that she said what you quoted. But it has been cleared up subsequently.

Anyway, sorry if I sounded overly offended. This is one of my pet issues. :toast:

She had been attending work shops, meetings. Oddly enough, Rosa wasn't the first to refuse, she was just the one with an unblemished record that was prepared and was thought to be able to withstand the pressure.

but also agree that Cindy is a courageous woman in her own right.

Why can't Macy Gray be Macy Gray. MUST she be compared to or described as the "new"_____________ (fill in the blank)? Rosa was Rosa. Why can so many NOT ALLOW Cindy to be Cindy??? Cindy is Cindy. Macy is Macy.
Every one of the dozen sax players released with major media backing is his/her OWN PERSON. Paul Hackett is not the "new" __________, HE IS PAUL HACKETT. There's something really sick in all the "comparisons."

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

to happen to her. cindy is brave, but in a totally different climate.

She was an activist just as Cindy is.

And I agree with the OP, although Cindy's career as an activist is still young. There is a strong resemblance between these women.

prior to her arrest. She worked for the NAACP and had a history as an activist. Buying into the myth that Rosa Parks was not an experienced activist doesn't give her full credit for her actions, IMO. She knew exactly what was going to happen.

That said, I'm not sure I agree with the OP re: Cindy.

She was way more than 'tired'.

She knew exactly what she was doing.

She's a peace activist in my book.

she herself was Rosa Parks. :)

Some people really are about the work, not the ego.

belief that one person can make a huge difference just by standing up and for what they believe, not just for themselves, but for all of their brothers and sisters. With rosa Parks, as with Cindy..it is the public arrest that will make all of the difference. What is important now, is what will follow..keep this story alive and growing.

But thats a bit of a sterch.

that's what makes her so wonderful...she's not trying to package herself as anything but the pissed off mom that she is. She hasn't shed a single tear for herself, either, she just keeps hammering away.

judge of that. As for Cindy being a political prisoner and bush having gone to war to enrich himself, I think you're in error in both cases. Wrong as her arrest was, she wasn't held for any significant amount of time, and bush's motivations for going to war are both more complex and scarier than greed. He's both a true believer and vengeful. On top of that he has zero ability to be self-analytical.

RW conservative bosses? How about getting harrassed at airports or kicked out of 1st amendment protected political events? Police harrassment for exercising civil disobedience rights seems to be inevitable in Cindy's future, if it hasn't already happened?

and make no mistake about it, spit in her coffee is unavoidable. You don't know, unless you're black or a hippie long hair, how fucked up the world treats you. Often just under the surface, behind those GD phoney smiles, they deny you jobs, raises and break windows on your car. These are real life FACTS, ladies & gentlemen. The U.S. has treated Mexican descendant citizens horribly, and ALL of the above are real, 1st hand known facts of life in the good old U.S.A.
The liberals don't have the mean spirit, or the access to the controls of power like the RW conservatives do, WHO GOES TO WAR KILLING 100,000 CIVILIANS OUTRIGHT? liberals or conservatives?

Love them both, but they had completely different causes.

Just sayin.

Cindy embodies the spirit of the antiwar movement.

But Jack's a Congressman with a vote. He sent an FU letter to Bush today, calling him out to redeploy. He needs our support.

believed deeply in what they are doing. Not wanting to take anything away from either woman, I admire both ladies for their efforts and believe the country needs more women to stand and make a difference....

Let's be for real people.

Rosa Parks is in a league of her own on many levels.

...to compare them.

I'm not the "new" anyone...for better or worse I'm who I am.

If she wanted to be effective she would have to learn compromise. And right now - what she represents is the experience of going to war - no punches pulled.

No Rosa Parks. It is much different to speak up when you have lost a child and when you have the protection of beng aloud to speak up and be put in jail and knowing that nobody would lay a hand on you. It was different for Rosa. She didn't have mother bear rage to fly in on. People were murdered all around her for speaking up or crossing lines.. in the South.

accomplish... and with her continued visability - we're now finally getting to an end to this war much sooner than we would have, and as importantly closer to Impeachment, which is absolutely necessary.

Despite the "minority" status of the Dems, we're going to have articles of Impeachment introduced on the floor of the House BEFORE the Resolution of Inquiry begins, or even the before the joint investigation hearings on Domestic Spying convenes.

The race is on to see which State or U.S. Territory will be invoking Articles of Impeachment first.

With being invited to the State of the Union and wearing a shirt that was intended to be a protest?

Cindy didn't protest the war until after her son was dead.

Rosa was born black and was persecuted for who she was, not what she did or what she believed. She had to fight for the right to sit where she liked on a fucking bus, she wasn't invited to see the President.

Jesus fucking Christ.

She had not even planned to go, but was given the ticket by Rep. Lynn Woolsey. According to Cindy, this is what happened:

In the note, Sheehan called press accounts of the arrest distorted and said that she had second thoughts about attending because she didn't want to hear what Bush had to say and didn't want to be disruptive out of respect for Woolsey. She claimed she was escorted to her seat by the same person who would arrest her shortly thereafter.

"I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing three flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket," the letter read. "I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled; 'Protester.' He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like, 'I'm going, do you have to be so rough?' "

She continued, saying the "officer ran with me to the elevators yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, 'That's Cindy Sheehan.' At which point the officer who arrested me said: 'Take these steps slowly.' I said, 'You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps.' He said, 'That's because you were protesting.' "

There is a parallel to Rosa Parks that's easy enough for me to see. (And yes, I'm African-American).

Given her ticket by a member of congress.

I am also african american and I consider the parellel insulting. Rosa Parks and every other black person in the south were thrown in jail and even lynched for being black and refusing to be treated like animals because of it. Cindy has to actually do something provocative to get herself arrested. All Rosa had to do is sit where niggers weren't allowed. Yes, Cindy made a protest and was treated like shit because we live in an increasingly facistic state. That is wrong. But she didn't have a hose turned on her or get beaten unconcious with clubs. No one has set her house on fire. She can vote. She has even said she may run for office. Think Rosa would have lived another day if she did that?

Maybe you haven't heard about the wingnuts who consider Cindy Sheehan "the bitch in the ditch" and other reprehensible terms. Maybe you haven't heard about the wingnuts who dream of her death by violent means, and plot it as well.

And why? Because she is who she is. A grieving mother who wants answers from the guy in charge.

As far as I'm concerned, Cindy Sheehan is a brave individual who has said enough is enough, and as an individual, she refuses to be moved from her convictions.

Yes, I can still see a parallel to Rosa Parks.

You and I just don't agree on this.

The difference between being called names or having people hate you for your beliefs and literally risking your life simply by sitting in the wrong place on a bus because of the color of your skin.

Cindy's son was killed because he was a soldier in a war. Cindy became an activist because of what happened to her personally, not because she was born with the wrong color skin and treated like garbage because of it. What happens to Cindy is her choice, and I applaud her for chosing to protest. But she had a choice. Rosa did not. Unless you consider living like a second-class human, no matter what you do, a choice.

Many black mothers had their sons lynched just because they were black and in the wrong place at the wrong time, when Rosa did what she did. If she had been old enough, it could have been her son.

I think some people here have no sense of history.

Cindy has brought these slurs and deragtory terms on by her actions. Rosa Parks and the rest of African Americans didn't have to do anything. They were treated like crap and considered subhuman just by being born.

This isn't even close.

Everything you're referencing has nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

Rosa Parks had the same choice as every other African-American who rode those buses. She could stay silent, or she could choose to fight the system. She chose to fight the system.

Cindy Sheehan also has the same choice as all the other parents who have lost children in Iraq. She can stay quiet, or she can challenge the system. She's choosing to challenge the system. And it's no cakewalk.

The parallels I see are not confined to race. It has to do with facing enormous odds to go with the courage of your convictions.

Rosa Parks choosing to remain in her seat on the bus inspired thousands and sparked the civil rights movement.

Cindy Sheehan choosing to go to Crawford, Texas to confront Bush inspired thousands of people to join her and opened up a new chapter in the fight against the hubris of the Bush administration.

These are the parallels I see.

she would rather have her life and son back before the war monger pResident changed it all for her. He put her in her present role. I feel so bad for her and all the other parents/wives/spouses/siblings/friends and others who have had their loved ones ripped from them because of the lies ** and his evil malAdministration and bidness partners have visited upon on us all. Where she finds the strength to carry on, I don't know. :cry:

Good Lord can DU PLEASE end the cult of personality/hero worship that exists here and realize that what's wrong with this country needs to be fixed by each of US

:eyes: :puke: :nuke:

of racial discrimination for much of her life. She took a dangerous and brave stand for a minority of Americans that had been denied human dignity for 200 years. I love Cindy but the comparison is a huge stretch.

I don't think Cindy has to fear that the Ku Klux Klan might fire bomb her house tonight for what she just did. Yeah sure, there are isolated crazies in the world, but in the deep South when Parks took a stand by sitting down, the crazies weren't isolated. They were often in power and they lynched and they killed people who threatened their racist system.

Rosa Parks took her life into her hands that day in Alabama, and she did it knowingly. The comparison is almost an insult to everyone who struggled to end a system that originally enslaved and then "legally" oppressed an entire race of people. I am sure Cindy would never make that comparison herself.

popping up on any road signs soon. Cindy Sheehan has a great drive and passion to end the war, but unfortunately she has been alienated, like they are still trying to do with Murtha...

Two different times, reasons, cultures, etc.,

I dont like that comparison.

Rosa Parks is a genuine hero.

Two very strong women. Two very different situations.

:shrug:

I typed out two different responses and erased them both because I can't answer this and feel confident either way.

she is Cindy Sheehan and we'll see how history judges her somewhere down the line.

Cindy is in no way shape or form anything like Rosa Parks.

Let's not forget. Rosa Parks couldn't use the same fucking bathroom or sit at the same lunch countrer simply because of the color of her skin.

This comparison is assine at best.

Shes not even in the same league with Rosa Parks. Rosa parks is the "mother" of the civil rights movement. Cindy helped to open some eyes as to the Iraq war. As history goes, one is far more important and far reaching then the other.

Vietnam lasted for a decade, killed or wounded more than 50x what this war has and ended in a flat out defeat. I can bet most people in this country could not even name the most important protest leaders beyond John Kerry. In 20 years nobody will probably remember her either, but Rosa Parks will always be rememembered.

although, i must admit her handlers are doing a great job of using he to bring loads of media attention (but little else) to the anti-war/bush movement. good for cindy, but i disagree that she is anywhere near parks/gandhi in terms of symbolic power.

...to their respective movements.

It is no wonder then that people will try to undercut them personally in an attempt to discredit the causes that they fight for.

I agreed 1,000%! Oh yes, yes, yes!

I don't think you can make the comparison.

Ms Parks didn't become an activist only after she or someone she loved was treated unfairly; she became an activist and allowed herself to be used, at great cost to herself, to help fight for a cause that benefited not just the NCAAP but us all. She had tremendous courage - just think, doing what she did when she did it, not only as a black person, but as a black woman, could have easily gotten her beaten or killed, or her house burned to the ground, or both. (And forget everything else for a moment, and just think about how much courage it took to know, "This could get me killed, but it must be done" and then to have gone and done it. What an impressive human!)

Ms Sheehan became an activist once she herself suffered a terrible loss, and she has done many, many good things in the name of ending this latest shameful, wasteful war. I think she is driven out of a need to heal a horrible wound, and that in no way diminishes what she has set out to do, but that does make her a little different from Ms Parks.

history, logic, and even accurate definitions of words have eluded you. I don't mean to sound harsh at all, as you yourself sound like a very sweet and energetic young person. But more study is in order.

GO CINDY!! YOU ROCK, BABE!! KICK BUSHCO'S ASS!!

or a lunch counter? Is she limited to what water fountain and toilet to use?

You are either very young who have no idea about segregation or simple minded who does not think through.

This is an insult to Rosa Park. And to Coretta Scott King, and to all the brave people who were beaten by Mississippi and Alabama police when they were fighting for civil rights.

Shame on you.

No comparison. None.

had she only done the protest in Crawford. She set the debate in motion. She mobilized the base. In this sense, much like Rosa Parks did.

Instead, she has worn out her welcome with many people who first positively responded to her initial protest. She has now become a characature of herself which is said because her initial message was so powerful. Therefore, I believe that she is now a distraction rather than a springboard.

Rosa Parks didn't seek out attention. She had no agenda. She simply wanted to sit on the bus like everyone else.

They are entirely different.

History treated Rosa well (subjectively speaking), it ha syet to be determined what history will due with Cindy (so far its looking good in some respects).

With Cindy, it might take longer for progress, but she's also a pioneer who is willing to be arrested for a just cause.

Cindy can pick and choose when she wants her issue to be in the forefront Rosa Parks skin made that impossible. I think it is wrong to even compare them because Rosa could never not be involved that issue was never going away. x(

by "getting her son killed"?