You don’t think dropping Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke counts as wacky shenanigans?
2 Likes
It also subtly blames blacks for segregation during the previous decades, as if nobody had ever remained seated before and all it would have taken was one noncompliant rider to bring the whole system crashing down at any time.
17 Likes
2 Likes
Cracked nailed it with this parody;
11 Likes
There is slightly more to the story as well. Claudette Colvin had done the stunt before Rosa Parks. However the situation did not look good for the movement as she became part of a scandal considering her age and that she got pregnant resulting from an affair with a married man… and apparently local leaders did not like her demeanor and appearance. So her role had been swept under the rug and Rosa Parks went out and did the same with the backing of the local black leaders.
Not bringing it up to diminish Rosa Park’s contribution, but to bring to attention of Claudette
Here’s her wiki 
13 Likes
At the museum, they talked about Claudette Colvin. From what they said, there was, yes, the optics issue and they really wanted to show blacks as “respectable,” but from what they said, the real issue with her was that she was really young and it was super dangerous. King’s home had been bombed with his young children in it. Claudette was just not willing to put her life at risk and endure the whole trial in the public light. Rosa Parks knew the risks of taking the case to trial but had the strength of her beliefs.
There were actually a bunch of cases prior to Rosa Parks - they’d been looking to bring a case forward for many years - but it was a combination of timing and having the right person that made her case the one that got promoted.
One of the things they showed, too, at the museum was how all the people involved dressed in their Sunday best for every photo opp, in order to present themselves as upstanding, respectable citizens rather than as the maids, servants, and laborers that most white people usually saw them as - and usually clothed for those roles.
It was very cool at the museum as some of the guides were people who were involved in activism, so a lot of it was first hand history.
12 Likes
That’s really neat 
sounds like the kind of place i’d enjoy very much checking out.
2 Likes
Funny… in a recent stand up act, Michael Che did a whole rant on how powerful white women are (with regards to gentrification), and if we really wanted to end the Syrian Civil War and the threat from Daesh, we’d just drop a bunch of white there and let them gentrify the place.
4 Likes
It is a really well done museum. Having grown up visiting Montgomery all throughout the 70’s - 90’s when my grandparents were living, I was used to the downtown being all but deserted except for businesses. Montgomery was ashamed of their history for so long. It was wonderful to see them embrace the revolution they had birthed, and to own Rosa Parks as the great activist she was. It was great to really connect to the danger that people put themselves in to change the world. It was great to see a revitalized downtown where people of all colors came together to share in a spirit of pride. It really was the best of the South, the people that forced the change, and they are still there and still a part of shaping the world there.
2 Likes
Think i’d seen something similar though i forget the comedian. In his bit he said they should send a bunch of hispanics to the gaza strip to slowly drive people out of neighborhoods so they wouldn’t have to fight over who gets what there.
Off Topic but, that made me think of one company that could gentrify a street in one fell swoop:
1 Like
Was it a Latino comic, do you remember?
Yeah, but so many advantages!
Everyone drinking Starbucks Americano instead of that murky brown stuff, and Pottery Barn to help redecorate all the burnt out homes!
1 Like
Boy i don’t remember. I almost want to say it wasn’t… but i could be wrong. I do recall a bit in that joke where he talked about jews complaining about the hispanics in the area and them leaving the neighborhood. Hmmm.
1 Like
Is gentrification still a thing? Should we start a thread?
1 Like
Indeed it’s still a thing…
Feel free to start a thread!
3 Likes
I jest of course.
Like Rob Ford’s death, gentrification is something everybody already knows about yet it seems constantly to be a surprise. (Also an extended discussion of it might be off topic.)
3 Likes
Oh, I knew you were jesting… But since you’re right that people are still often surprised that it still happens, I figure I’d drop some info on what’s happening now in my neck of the woods.
2 Likes
Come on, not wanting to risk getting your house blown up is hardly a sign of weakness or lackluster commitment to the cause.
1 Like
Not at all. Claudette Colvin made the right choice for her.
I think that we just don’t hear how violent the conflict was. How terribly dangerous it was for Rosa Parks to not yield her seat when there was a busload full of drunk white people and a driver in a position of power over her. How dangerous it was to continue with the case. She was extraordinarily courageous.
4 Likes
