From Civil Rights to Immigration: Making a Contribution

By: Dr. Troy Jackson

Fifty-five years ago, in July of 1955, a seamstress from Montgomery, Alabama penned a letter to Myles Horton, the director of the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. The labor and civil rights training institution had provided the woman with a full scholarship for a two-week training institute. Her note read, “The Highlander Folk School seems like a wonderful place. I am looking forward with eager anticipation to attending the workshop, hoping to make a contribution to the fulfillment of complete freedom for all people.” The author? Rosa Parks.

Less than five months later, Parks made more than a contribution, when her arrest for defying the city’s segregation laws on a city bus led to a year-long boycott. But the story begins with one woman longing to make a contribution.

Sadly, during the civil rights movement, most sat on the sidelines. Many black clergy and business leaders wanted to avoid the controversy and backlash and danger that was part and parcel of getting too involved in the movement. If most African Americans were cautious, the vast majority of whites were either too apathetic or afraid to join the struggle. In fact, many whites opposed civil rights and desegregation, all in the name of preserving their privileged way of life.

Thanks to our selective memory, informed by the many white clergy who descended on Selma in 1965 to march for voting rights, we forget that even the church was often deathly silent when it came to racial justice. In fact, when some tried to integrate all-white congregations in Mississippi, they were arrested so the congregations could preserve separate worship services.

Thankfully, there were many like Rosa Parks, who actively made “a contribution to the fulfillment of complete freedom for all people.” They were never in the majority, but their sacrifice brought significant transformation to our nation and inspiration to the world.

In 2010, as we face growing economic insecurity and uncertainty in a culture often driven by fear, a growing number of political leaders have sought to build and further their careers through attacking undocumented immigrants. The recent legislation in Arizona has inspired attempts to copy the anti-immigrant legislation in states throughout the nation, including Ohio. Sadly, many polls show at least tacit support for these laws by a plurality of Americans.

In the face of opposition and a growing culture of hate and fear, we can take inspiration from Rosa Parks and the generation of men and women who radically transformed this nation. Even a minority of people who are committed to the struggle for justice and dignity for all, including undocumented immigrants, can turn the tide in the coming months and years. In Cincinnati, throughout Ohio, and around this great nation, we need a new generation who will join Rosa Parks by committing to “make a contribution to the fulfillment of complete freedom for all people,” including undocumented immigrants.