America in slow motion (to the front of the bus)

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.