[해외논단]로사 파크스의 용기

진정으로 세계를 변화시켰다고 주장할 수 있는 사람은 역사상 흔치 않다. 그것도 단 하나의 사건으로 그리했다면 더더욱 흔치 않을 것이다. 그러나 지난주 92세를 일기로 사망한 로사 파크스는 바로 그런 일을 해냈다.
1955년 12월 1일 그는 앨라배마주 몽고메리에서 버스를 타고 있었다. 그리고 여자의 몸으로 백인 남성에게 자리를 양보하라는 요구를 거부함으로써 편협과 무지에 대한 혁명을 촉발시켰다. 그는 나중에 자신은 육체적으로 피곤했던 것보다도 모든 인간은 태어날 때부터 평등하다는 원칙을 갖고 있는 나라에서 2등 시민으로 대우받는 것에 더 지쳐 있었다고 술회했다. 파크스의 저항은 짐 크로의 법안을 종식시켰고 그 이후 미국은 이전과 완전히 다르게 변했다.
불과 50년 전에 미국의 많은 곳에서 흑인들이 버스의 앞부분에 앉거나, 백인들과 나란히 앉아 점심을 먹거나, 분수대 옆에 앉아 물을 마시는 것이 불법이었다는 사실은 좀처럼 이해하기 어려운 일이다. 로사 파크스의 항의는 다른 많은 사람에게 이 같은 폭거에 저항하는 시민 불복종 운동을 일으키도록 만들었다.
흑인과 백인, 기독교도와 유대인, 노인층과 청년층을 가리지 않고 수많은 사람이 이 같은 불의에 맞서기 위해 거리로 뛰쳐나왔고 미국은 본래의 이상에 따라야 한다고 주장했다. 이러한 현대의 민권운동이 바로 로사 파크스에 의해 촉발된 몽고메리 버스 승차 거부 사건에서 비롯되었다.
당시 자리 양보를 거부한 흑인들에게는 10달러의 벌금이 부과됐다. 이는 직장을 구하기도 어렵고 직장을 구한다 해도 백인들에 비해 훨씬 적은 임금을 받아야 했던 흑인들에게는 부담스러운 액수였다. 그러나 백인들이 지배하는 사회에 저항한 흑인들은 이보다 더 가혹한 처벌을 당해야만 했으며, 심지어 이로 인해 죽기까지 했다.
파크스가 몽고메리의 버스조례 위반 혐의로 재판받기 위해 법정에 서던 날 4만명에 달하는 몽고메리의 흑인들은 버스 승차을 거부했고, 이는 이후 1년 이상 계속된 버스 승차 거부 운동으로 이어졌다.
마틴 루터 킹이라는 젊은 흑인 목사를 민권운동 지도자로 탄생시킨 이 승차거부 운동은 미 연방대법원이 공공버스에서 흑인과 백인을 분리시키는 것은 불법이라는 판결을 내린 뒤에야 끝났다.
그러고 나서도 10년 가까운 세월이 흐른 뒤에야 미 의회는 인종차별을 불법이라 규정한 법률을 마련했다. 공공숙박시설 이용과 고용, 연방자금 수령 차별을 처음으로 금지한 1964년의 민권법안이 바로 그것이다. 1년 뒤인 1965년 미 의회는 다시 선거에서의 차별을 금지시킴으로써 미 남부의 많은 주들에서 흑인들이 처음으로 투표할 수 있는 길이 열렸다. 그리고 1968년 의회는 주거 자유에서의 흑백 차별마저 금지시켰다. 이러한 모든 것들이 바로 로자 파크스의 용기에서부터 비롯된 것이다.
파크스는 앨라배마에 더 이상 남아 있을 수 없었다. 1950년대와 60년대 다른 많은 흑인이 그래야 했던 것처럼, 그 역시 북쪽으로 이주했다. 그는 여전히 재봉사로 일했고 나중에 존 코니어스 하원의원의 사무실에 합류했다. 1990년대 빌 클린턴 대통령은 그에게 대통령 자유메달을 수여했고, 미 의회 역시 그에게 의회의 골드 메달을 증정했다. 그는 결코 주목의 대상이 되려고 하지 않았고 명성을 얻는 것 또한 꺼렸다.
그러나 흑백을 가리지 않고 그는 많은 사람들에게 영웅이었다. 그의 위엄과 강인함은 많은 사람들에게 자신들이 옳다고 생각하는 것을 위해 맞서 싸우도록 고무시켰다. 미국은 그로 인해 보다 살기 좋은 나라가 됐다. 자유가 가치 있는 것임을 인정하는 모든 사람들이 그를 그리워할 것이다.
워싱턴 타임스

린다 차베스 미국 칼럼니스트
정리=유세진 객원편집위원

Ride to immortality

Few people in history can claim to have truly changed the world, and even fewer by one simple act. But Rosa Parks, who died this week at 92, did just that.
On Dec. 1, 1955, she boarded a bus in Montgomery, Ala., and helped launch a revolution against bigotry and ignorance by refusing to yield her seat to a white man. She later said she was tired -- not physically so much as weary of putting up with second-class citizenship in a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal. Mrs. Parks'' defiance was one more nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, and the United States would never be the same.
It is almost unfathomable that barely 50 years ago it was illegal in many parts of the country for blacks to sit in the front of public buses, or eat at lunch counters or drink from the same water fountains as whites. Rosa Parks'' protest inspired thousands of others to engage in civil disobedience against such tyranny. Soon, blacks and whites, Christians and Jews, old and young were taking to the streets to march against injustice and demand that this nation live up to its ideals. But the modern civil rights movement began with the Montgomery bus boycott sparked by Rosa Parks.
The official penalty imposed on blacks for failing to give up their seats was a fine of $10, a substantial sum for those who could be, and were, paid less than whites -- when they weren''t being denied jobs altogether. But blacks who defied the white power structure could face far worse penalties, even death. Just months before Mrs. Parks'' refusal to move to the back of the bus in Alabama, young Emmett Till was lynched by a mob of white men in Mississippi. The 14-year-old''s "crime" was allegedly whistling at a white girl outside a country store. An all-white jury later acquitted the only two men ever prosecuted for Till''s killing, although one of the men later admitted to being part of the lynch mob in a shocking expose published by Look magazine.
The day that Rosa Parks went to court to be tried for violating Montgomery''s bus ordinance, 40,000 black Montgomery residents refused to ride the bus, sparking a boycott that lasted more than a year. The boycott, which established the reputation of a young black minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., only ended when the Supreme Court handed down a decision outlawing segregation on public buses.
It took another decade before Congress acted to make racial discrimination illegal, first with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which barred discrimination in public accommodations, employment and programs that receive federal funds. In 1965, Congress prohibited discrimination in voting, making it possible for blacks in many southern states to vote for the first time. And in 1968, Congress outlawed discrimination in housing. But in many ways, it was Rosa Parks'' courage that set these events in motion.
Mrs. Parks did not remain in Alabama, moving north as so many blacks did in the 1950s and ''60s. She continued to work as a seamstress, later joining the Detroit office of Rep. John Conyers. In the 1990s, President Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Congress bestowed its Congressional Gold Medal. She rarely sought the limelight and wore the mantle of fame reluctantly. In her later years, she even became the victim of a vicious crime by a 28-year-old black man who broke into her apartment, beat her badly and stole $53, having no idea who she was.
But for many people -- black and white -- Rosa Parks was a hero. Her quiet dignity and strength inspired others to stand up for what they knew was right. America is a better place for Rosa Parks. She will be missed by all who value freedom.

Linda Chavez is a nationally syndicated columnist.

Few people in history can claim to have truly changed the world, and even fewer by one simple act. But Rosa Parks, who died this week at 92, did just that.
On Dec. 1, 1955, she boarded a bus in Montgomery, Ala., and helped launch a revolution against bigotry and ignorance by refusing to yield her seat to a white man. She later said she was tired -- not physically so much as weary of putting up with second-class citizenship in a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal. Mrs. Parks'' defiance was one more nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, and the United States would never be the same.
It is almost unfathomable that barely 50 years ago it was illegal in many parts of the country for blacks to sit in the front of public buses, or eat at lunch counters or drink from the same water fountains as whites. Rosa Parks'' protest inspired thousands of others to engage in civil disobedience against such tyranny. Soon, blacks and whites, Christians and Jews, old and young were taking to the streets to march against injustice and demand that this nation live up to its ideals. But the modern civil rights movement began with the Montgomery bus boycott sparked by Rosa Parks.
The official penalty imposed on blacks for failing to give up their seats was a fine of $10, a substantial sum for those who could be, and were, paid less than whites -- when they weren''t being denied jobs altogether. But blacks who defied the white power structure could face far worse penalties, even death. Just months before Mrs. Parks'' refusal to move to the back of the bus in Alabama, young Emmett Till was lynched by a mob of white men in Mississippi. The 14-year-old''s "crime" was allegedly whistling at a white girl outside a country store. An all-white jury later acquitted the only two men ever prosecuted for Till''s killing, although one of the men later admitted to being part of the lynch mob in a shocking expose published by Look magazine.
The day that Rosa Parks went to court to be tried for violating Montgomery''s bus ordinance, 40,000 black Montgomery residents refused to ride the bus, sparking a boycott that lasted more than a year. The boycott, which established the reputation of a young black minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., only ended when the Supreme Court handed down a decision outlawing segregation on public buses.
It took another decade before Congress acted to make racial discrimination illegal, first with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which barred discrimination in public accommodations, employment and programs that receive federal funds. In 1965, Congress prohibited discrimination in voting, making it possible for blacks in many southern states to vote for the first time. And in 1968, Congress outlawed discrimination in housing. But in many ways, it was Rosa Parks'' courage that set these events in motion.
Mrs. Parks did not remain in Alabama, moving north as so many blacks did in the 1950s and ''60s. She continued to work as a seamstress, later joining the Detroit office of Rep. John Conyers. In the 1990s, President Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Congress bestowed its Congressional Gold Medal. She rarely sought the limelight and wore the mantle of fame reluctantly. In her later years, she even became the victim of a vicious crime by a 28-year-old black man who broke into her apartment, beat her badly and stole $53, having no idea who she was.
But for many people -- black and white -- Rosa Parks was a hero. Her quiet dignity and strength inspired others to stand up for what they knew was right. America is a better place for Rosa Parks. She will be missed by all who value freedom.

Linda Chavez is a nationally syndicated columnist.