Imagine all the bus
rides through history. The rides that brought us to today. Okay, bad
example. All the rides that brought us to 2016. Even so, had it not
been for all those bus rides, bus barriers, people refusing to give
up seats on buses, America could not have maintained that distance
gained in the current political climate. All these rides, motivations
of people, all the willing (and unwilling) transports of people are
part of To the Front of the Bus: movement toward a fair
Democracy. The “freedom rides” of the early 60s were an early
drive to end segregation in the Deep South. Black and white riders
took their lives in hand for a cause, an end that impassioned them.
Being of mixed race, I had an uneasy feeling on a visit to the Deep
South 40 years ago. The South embraces diversity, perhaps only
because laws for decades have made them. At the time, white
southerners begrudgingly accepted them, at times requiring federal
enforcement. Some 70 years later, each generation having become a
little more tolerant, the laws were there in their time. They were
necessary. Time has let most southerners embrace diversity—one can
hope. I point these laws out in my book. I wager them, look at how
they've stood in time, how they've opened future doors when
litigated, how they've closed a few.
Detours
The
bus boycotts in Montgomery, AL were done to desegregate municipal
busing. Rosa Parks was one of many women who remained seated in the
face of breaking an ordinance. They went to jail, paid court fees and
fines, so future generations could sit where they wanted. It is worth
noting, though, that economic had something to do with this
particular win for Democracy. In the early 60s, blacks made up over
70 percent of the ridership of buses. If that much of your business
is lost a company will eventually start losing money. I rarely
discuss the motives.
Buses are powerful.
They symbolize not just a kinetic force, but a spacial and figurative
presence. They have been used as barriers meant to keep people out.
In 1970 the youth of America were protesting Nixon's bombing in
Cambodia. On May 7, White House advisor Edgil Krogh had the idea to
corridor the White House off to the protesters with buses. He said
“What's the worst that can happen, they puncture the tires, write
graffiti?” If they do look over the buses we'll just “squirt a
little tear gas.”
Transportation is
vital. As America began to seriously consider the environment in the
early 70s, public transportation became important. It needed to be
accessible to everyone. On July 5, 1975 the group ADAPT (Americans
Disabled for Accessible Public Transit) staged a protest in Denver.
They sat in their wheelchairs forming a human barrier to the movement
of the buses. The members attained accessibility on Denver buses.
In
the beginning
To the Front of
the Bus: movement toward a fair Democracy is about the
movements—literal and figurative—of people. It began with the
most removed, ingested, but remembered (every October) movement to
displace history. Columbus visited a murderous, proselytizing,
disease infested on America. They moved Natives off the land. They
laid inroads for a hierarchy, inbred a sense of superiority of a
class that made things like the Trans-Atlantic slave trade a
sustainable activity. Like a clock's pendulum is released, Spain's
actions in America set a course for unremitting movement.
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