A.J. Williams
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thread 1/8
I think this is proof of how history is rarely properly taught. I did not know this about Rosa Parks.

Thank you Marcelius Braxton over on the bird app.

A lot of people keep referencing Rosa Parks, so can we please tell the Rosa Parks bus story properly?
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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A.J. Williams
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thread 2/8
It’s actually more telling that way. She DID NOT try to sit in the front of the bus. What actually happened might be more telling for how power is used and wielded.

Rosa Parks paid to get on the bus and actually sat in the first row of the “colored section” behind ten rows of white seating.
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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A.J. Williams
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thread 3/8
So, she sat in the rows she was technically allowed to sit in. But what happened was that the bus was filling up and some white people were standing. So the bus driver actually moved the “colored section” behind Rosa Parks and demanded that she and others in that row stand up.
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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A.J. Williams
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thread 4/8
That’s when she “broke the law”, and that’s very different than the story people tell. It’s important to talk about this distinction. It shows how people in power purposely create rules and laws that give them discretion
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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A.J. Williams
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thread 5/8
and they can use that discretion to harm you or even create a narrative of lawlessness or “breaking the law”. It also shows that unjust rules/laws do not allow you to truly follow rules or “comply” because those rules can be easily changed to take away your autonomy and agency.
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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A.J. Williams
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thread 6/8
It’s also notable that the rage didn’t come from Rosa Parks wanting to “take something away” from white people. She initially “followed the rules”. It was that she dared to want to sit, have space, have that space respected, and not defer to white people at every turn or whim.
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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A.J. Williams
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thread 7/8
Rosa Parks is important, AND we should amplify the names of Irene Morgan, Sarah Louise Keys, Lillie Mae Bradford, Claudette Colvin, and many others who had bus sit-ins.

Irene Morgan did it back in 1946 and her case (Morgan v Virginia) set the tone for Boynton v Virginia.
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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A.J. Williams
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thread 8/8
Thoughts?
06:03 PM - May 03, 2024
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