Civil rights movement - Rosa Parks

The man’s shoes crunched through the powdered snow. They detonated like Christmas crackers every time his feet hit the ground. The world around him was imprisoned in a glair-white silence Snow steadily descended and glistened the congested streets of Montgomery, Alabama. The lambent lights covered the town creating joy and a sense of euphoria. The man dressed in an all-black dapper suit, squinted, and tired brown eyes with a compact black briefcase on his way back to his work after a brief lunchbreak. Dull and emotionless, Kevin is a meticulous and introverted person, however regarded as ‘the finest lawyer in town’. Kevin has lived his entire forty-four years in Montgomery and is born into a conservative and traditional family. Upper-class and well-educated, Kevin’s family is a high achieving and successful family, well-known throughout the town. Frantically making his way back to his bus stop he takes a moment to stop and read the vibrant graffiti that engulfed the city buses. Racial remarks and racial slurs splattered over the front of the buses. ‘Only whites up here’ A commonly found sentence in Montgomery that truly represented the racial tension within Alabama. Kevin took a seat at the bus stop and checked his Blancpain watch in panic as he was running late for work. Buses proceeded by however, no sign of the 221 bus that he routinely caught every day. Finally, after twenty-five everlasting minutes of waiting the bus finally arrived at the stop. Kevin frantically hopped onto the bus and was greeted by an older substitute driver. ‘Sorry Kevin the bus was late the depot was quite disorganised this morning, take a seat. ’ Kevin replied bitterly; ‘doesn’t change the fact I’m going to be late this morning, does it sir? ’ Added to his vexation, there were no seats available on the bus and was forced to stand. Kevin glanced across the bus and noticed something peculiar, a middle-aged black lady seated on the fifth row of the bus. ‘Excuse me …. lady, the line moves back now as I got on the bus, take your belongings, and head up the back now. ’ The lady replied: ‘No. ’ Her voice echoed throughout the bus as people stare at this lady with wide open eyes that couldn’t shut, complete paralysis in everyone’s eyes. The bus had pulled over and stopped at an instant. Time froze. An unprecedented response. The bus driver sprung out of his seat and flounced down the aisle of the bus as his footsteps thumped down the bus aisle. In raucous voice the bus driver screamed ‘Get up now and move to the back or we will have serious problems, do you understand me woman? ’ The lady stood up and stared directly into the bus driver’s soul with a hostile glare and said; ‘My name is not woman; my name is Rosa. I got on the bus at Prattville and took a seat and that’s not going to change, okay? ’ Tension slowly intoxicated the bus and rage filled the bus drivers face. Rosa pulled out her phone and proceeded to ignore the bus driver blatantly while the bus was halted in complete silence. The bus driver towered over Rosa, fear spread all throughout Rosa’s body and she shrivelled into a prawn. The bus driver aggressively snatched the lady’s phone from her hand and hurled it across the bus, shattering the phone into thousands of shards of glass spread across the bus floor. The situation escalated. Violence jumped into the situation in a flash. Rosa leaped out of her seat darting down the aisle of the bus in desperate rescue of an irremediable phone, but before she could the bus driver yanker her back by her hair. Rosa fell down onto her knees in serious agony. ‘If any person on this bus decides to film this, you too will be in the same boat as this scumbag. ’ Exclaimed the bus driver. As Kevin stands there in complete awe and a guilt-ridden face slowly emerges, the situation escalates rapidly. Kevin had been confronted with racist acts throughout his life but never had he experienced the abuse this lady is facing. ‘That’s enough now, that’s enough’ said Kevin in a shy, timid voice. Rosa lay there covered in a pool of blood, half-conscious and a troubled breathing pattern. Kevin rushed out of the bus in desperate search for local police officers on duty. Thousands of thoughts dashing in his head. Finally, he located a police officer off-duty at the café Kevin was at on his lunchbreak. Leading the police officer to this brutal scene motivated by racism. ‘Sir, sir this lady needs help immediately, hurry. ’ ‘What happened? ’ ‘This black lady was beaten up because she didn’t offer me my seat and now, she’s in a really bad condition. Quick! ’ As Kevin sprinted back to the bus, the officer ambled to the bus in his own time with no sign of concern or rush. The officer greeted the bus driver with a handshake and a look of familiarity. A few words were exchanged under their breath and a small grin ended the conversation. The officer strolled up the bus in a suave manner. Rosa gained consciousness. Slowly reaching her feet she found herself in hand cuffs and a tall white man gripping onto her shoulder. She stumbled down the bus like a drunk person barely holding on. People stood-by and watched as the officer arrested this beaten up, half-conscious lady in broad daylight. Kevin watched on closely and spotted the bus driver look-on with a satisfactory smirk. Behind was the people on the bus, phones in hands, all recording. Kevin knew this would be the spark of change. It was.