In honor of Martin Luther King Jr., this post will be some images of the famous civil rights leader. A normal post would not do him justice. To read all about him, visit the Wikipedia page.

“She sat down in order that we all might stand up - and the walls of segregation came down…”
- Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson

Rosa Parks, who is commonly known as the African American woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man, died last night, peacefully in her sleep (BBC). She will be remembered as the spark that started the fuel-laden civil rights movement. Although she was just a seamstress at the age of 42, she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. She was fined $14 and arrested. To many African Americans she was the one person who had the courage and tenacity to stand up against segregation. Without her, it is quite possible that African Americans would still be experiencing extreme racism through segregation. Not only was she an agent of change in the United States, but the fact that she brought about change in a peaceful manner is what amazes me. December 1st 1955 will be a day greatly remembered because of Park’s peaceful protest against segregation. While she was arrested, she started an African American boycott of buses that lasted 381 days and was led by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who at that time was almost unknown, but who still helped start the transportation desegregation movement. Rosa Parks was the inspiration for activists for years to come, and she was eventually awarded with Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal. These are the highest honor anyone can recieve without being in the military. United States history is often described as:

“In many ways, history is marked as before, and after, Rosa Parks.”
- Jesse Jackson

You can find the obituary for Rosa Parks here, and you can post a tribute to her here.

Wal-Mart is usually a company I frown upon for their marketing tactics, human resource policies, and the way they treat minority workers. Today is not the day to be frowning upon Wal-Mart. Even before Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Wal-Mart was using its warehouses and distrubution centers for emergency kits, food, and water storage. After it hit, they were the second group to respond to the hurricane, second only to the Salvation Army. I find this highly honorable of Wal-Mart. They seem to be trying to rebuild their image, and hopefully this will result in better treatment of their workers, regardless of what ethnicity they are, or where they live. Sam Walton, the original owner of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club was a Christian, often giving to the poor. His companies were at one point quite moral, and quite ethical. It seems after his death, that they’ve been involved in a lot of law suits about gender discrimination, labor laws, and pay problems.

I hope Wal-Mart continues in this direction to return to the point where they had been at when Sam Walton was still alive. They still have a long path to get there, but in the end, I can see it being worth it. It’s not like the company is going to go under anytime soon. They’ve got a large customer base, and a great deal of profits coming in.

Let me know your feelings about this, as I feel I may only be presenting one side of the issue.

Additional Reading:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/09/news/fortune500/walmart_image/index.htm