Friday, Jan. 20, 2012

Song, music and dance to pay tribute to Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks will be celebrated Feb. 4 at the Miller and Lux Building with song, poetry, music and testimony.

The informal gathering, sponsored by the Los Banos Cesar Chavez Committee, will fete the woman who played a role in the civil rights movement and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.

"Rosa Parks was a person who wanted to make the world a better place and had the desire and courage to help make this happen," said Tommy Jones, former mayor of Los Banos.

Jones said the event is a great gesture designed to bring the community together and remind residents how far our country has come and to help it continue to move forward.

In 1955, Parks' refusal to follow the order of a Montgomery, Ala., bus driver to move to the back of the bus spurred a boycott that resulted in desegregated buses in the city. One of the people who led that boycott was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Parks was born on Feb. 4, 1913, and died in 2005. She would have been 99 this year.

Pascual Mendivil, one of the members of the Cesar Chavez Committee, said Parks had the courage to take a stand.

"She is an inspiration to everyone who is willing to stand up and speak up for justice, especially those who can't speak up for themselves," Mendivil said.

Included in the Los Banos celebration will be folklorico dancers, a reading of a city proclamation in honor of Rosa Parks and several speakers who will share what Parks has meant to them and to the country.

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Stone said she was glad to see people excited enough to have an event like this.

"We need to let our children know about the heroes in American history like Rosa Parks," Stone said. "She is an example of an apparently ordinary person doing something extraordinary."

The celebration will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 4 in the Miller and Lux Building, 830 Sixth St.