Letters

A recent article in The New York Times by Jeanne Theoharis, “The Real Rosa Parks Story Is Better Than the Fairy Tale,” begins by stating: “The way we talk about her covers up uncomfortable truths about American racism.”

The article points out that the well-known photo of Rosa Parks, Mugshot No. 7053, isn’t what it seems. It is not the mugshot taken at the time of Ms. Parks’s arrest in Montgomery, Alabama, on December 1, 1955, after she famously refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger.

In fact, the photo is from a later arrest, in February 1956. This was after she and 88 other “boycott leaders” were indicted by the city in an attempt to end the boycott.

The confusion around the image reveals Americans’ overconfidence in what we think we know about Rosa Parks, and about the civil rights movement.

Advocating for a cause can be dangerous, and extremely tiring, thankless, and most times — like “our history” — overlooked, misinterpreted or erased. In her words, Ms. Parks said it was “very difficult to keep going when all our work seemed to be in vain.” But she persevered.

Who has the right to tell her story and many other stories? The real stories.

It’s time to tell our story.

The way I see it, when it comes to the economically disadvantaged, the “less than,” there seems to be a slight imbalance. It’s a sort of “ping-pong ball” scenario: Carefully keep your eye on the ball, depending on who’s telling the story. A certain party has a particular agenda that might involve “investing,” and another certain party comes in and reverses the agenda to “invest in the people.” They each must take advantage of the ball when it’s in their court.

One case in point: the “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009,” named after an Alabaman who found out that she had been paid less than her male counterparts. No-brainer, right?

In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act required that a person must file a complaint within 180 days of when the discrimination first occurred. Which, in this case, was six months after she received her first paycheck — many years before she actually discovered the pay disparity. “Oops … sorry, ma’am, too late.”

So the other “certain party” personally reached out to Lilly Ledbetter, because they interpret the Civil Rights Law in another way. Lilly Ledbetter from Alabama was given the honor and privilege to witness pen to paper on a law in her name, solidifying a small personal victory.

Lilly was invited to have the privilege to “tell her story.” (“Her-story.”)

Brenda Simmons

Executive Director

Southampton African American Museum

Southampton Village