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Stamp for Sister Rosa Parks per NAACP
The Issue:
Ms. Rosa Parks, who has often been called “The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” died last year at the age of 92. Under the rules of the United States Postal Service (USPS), a person must be deceased for 10 years before being honored on a stamp (the only exception is for former Presidents, who need to be deceased for at least one year prior to the issuance of a stamp).
The NAACP believes that Ms. Parks’ extraordinary contribution to our nation is sufficiently significant to warrant an exemption to these rules. Furthermore, the bigotry, discrimination and hatred that Ms. Parks spent her life fighting still exists, and we need to remind Americans that we can all make a difference in speaking truth to power as we work to realize the vision of a racially and ethnically diverse America. Therefore, the NAACP strongly supports Congressional efforts to enact legislation that would supercede the usual 10-year waiting period and thus allow the USPS to issue a postage stamp honoring Ms. Parks as soon as possible. Legislation to do this was introduced in the US Senate by Senator Barack Obama (IL) (S. 2154) and the House by Congressman Bobby Rush (IL) (H.R. 4343).
As we all know, Rosa Parks’ contribution to the US Civil Rights movement cannot be overstated. Ms. Parks’ act of civil disobedience through her refusal to give up her seat on a crowded Montgomery, Alabama bus in December 1955, and her subsequent arrest and conviction for disorderly conduct and violating a city ordinance led to a successful 381-day boycott of the bus system and ultimately a US Supreme Court decision that Montgomery’s segregated bus system was unconstitutional. The success of these actions in the face of years of institutional racism and bigotry sparked the demand for more equality, and can be directly linked to the successful enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
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