Saluting a freedom fighter - 11/3/05

Saluting a freedom fighter - 11/3/05: "The Rev. Al Sharpton

'Rosa Parks was not only the mother of the civil rights movement, she was the mother of this nation. You call George Washington the father of this nation, but when he became father, we weren't included in the nation. Women were not included in the nation. The first time we had a parent in this nation is when all of us were included, and Rosa Parks did that on December 1, 1955.'



Minister Louis Farrakhan

'She denied herself comfort. After denying herself, she picked up a cross -- not a cross that you wear in your ear or wear around your neck ... but a cross that represents rejection ...being evil spoken of... being falsely accused and being brought before a court of law on unjust charges. That's a cross that she bore.'

U.S. Rep. John Conyers

'The power you feel in this church is the power that she left when she walked on this earth and lived in Detroit for year after year. She worked in my office. ... This was a celebrity staffer if there ever was one. We got along well because she had that Mother Teresa-like aura about her that brought peace and harmony -- I never heard her in an argument or heard her raise her voice or use angry tones or negative words about anybody. She didn't have it in her.'



The Rev. Charles Adams

Pastor of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, which had paid Parks' rent since 2003.

'She sat there so that we might sit in higher seats. And because she sat where she sat, we are now sitting in the halls of Congress, sitting on the Supreme Court, sitting as presidents and CEOs of global corporations, heads of Ivy League schools, pastors of mega churches, secretaries of state, sitting at the table where cosmic decisions are made. Because she sat there, we are able to sit here.'"

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