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Greens Pay Tribute to Rosa Parks Wednesday, October 26, 2005 Contacts: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders mourned the passing of Rosa Parks, and encouraged Americans to recognize that the struggle for human rights and freedoms -- of which Ms. Parks remains a towering symbol -- is far from over. "The best way to remember Rosa Parks' courage in 1955 is to rededicate ourselves to civil rights in 2005," said Rick Tingling-Clemmons, Black Caucus delegate to the National Committee of the Green Party of the United States. "Ms. Parks' act of civil disobedience on a bus led to passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which enforced the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The obstruction and manipulation of votes in the 2000 and 2004 elections -- especially African American votes -- demonstrate that the civil rights movement isn't over, that we're still fighting for the right to vote for all Americans." Greens have called for congressional legislation, a new Civil Rights Act, guaranteeing and enforcing a national right to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court gutted the principle of 'one person, one vote' in its 2000 Bush v. Gore decision, in disregard of the 14th Amendment's voting rights provisions (Section 2). The experiences of the 2000 and 2004 national elections, including evidence uncovered in the Ohio and New Mexico recount campaigns in 2004 initiated by Green presidential candidate David Cobb, have proven an ongoing and concerted effort to prevent people from voting and to prevent votes from being counted. African American, young, and low income voters were especially targeted. A state 'Voter ID Law' passed earlier this year makes voting more difficult for citizens in Georgia, an effect of which will be the disenfranchisement of thousands of African American and other voters <http://www.gp.org/press/states/ga_2005_09_02.shtml>. "There are many civil rights struggles still being fought: for the right to vote; for the rights of poor and African American Katrina survivors who have faced official indifference and mass removal; for social safety net guarantees of health care and housing; for basic freedoms in the era of the USA Patriot Act; for reparations for the descendents of slaves; for repeal of draconian drug laws sending thousands of young people to prison; for women's equality and the right to make our own health care and reproductive decisions -- the list goes on and on. We in the Green Party are fighting these battles, and we're doing so in the spirit of heroes like Rosa Parks," said Morgen D'Arc, co-founder and co-chair of the Green Party National Women's Caucus. "The greatest tribute we can pay to Rosa Parks, who moved the conscience of America, is to recognize that the struggle for equal rights and human dignity continues around the world. Here in America we still suffer from racism, segregation, and poverty that are often hidden from sight, which makes its impact even more devastating for so many," said Dr. Alice Green, Green Party candidate for mayor of Albany, New York and founding director of the Center for Law and Justice. MORE INFORMATION Green Party of the United States
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