Wednesday, April 17, 2002
|
Wednesday, April 17, 2002 |
|
Buses not welcome, or just bus riders? By JOHN HATCHER
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man Dec. 1, 1955, she was tired and weary from a long day of work. But more than that, Parks was tired of the treatment she and other African-Americans received every day of their lives, what with the racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws of the time. The rest of Parks' story is American history ... her arrest and trial, a 381-day Montgomery bus boycott, and, finally, the Supreme Court's ruling in November 1956 that segregation on publlic transportation is unconstitutional. If Rosa Parks lived in Fayette County today, she couldn't find a bus to board. In fact, she could find any form of public transportation to board. Why? There ain't any! She couldn't sit in the back of the bus or the front of the bus. And that seems to be the way Fayette County leadership wishes to keep it. What's a bus? To my credit, I took Latin back at Baker High School in Columbus, Ga. I learned that our word for "bus" actually comes from the Latin word, "omnibus." The word literally means, "a vehicle carrying many passengers; used for public transport." The "omni" gives the bus the idea that it is for "all" people. Could it be that all kinds of people are unwanted in Fayette County? Our local legislators surely know what an "omnibus" bill presented in the State Assembly or Congress. It's a bill that carries various topics, many of which are totally unrelated. The recent decision of Fayette County commissioners voting again public transportation for use by Fayette County residents and for use by those who may wish to enter our county by public transportation cannot be passed off just as a vote against "big brother government" encroaching on our perfect community, but it must also be viewed with eyes of equality and justice. In an Internet promotion piece issued by the Fayette County government and last updated September 2001, one can read about the transportation conveniences of our county: "Citizens also have fairly easy access to the public transportation system which serves the immediate Atlanta area. From terminals in south Fulton County, one can take advantage of the trains and buses operated by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). For a very reasonable fare, MARTA offers residents the alternative of an easy, quick commute to downtown Atlanta or to the various professional sports venues. And from the private sector, the Greyhound Bus Lines operates a local terminal in nearby Hapeville." I don't know about you, but it takes me on an average day between 45 and 60 minutes to arrive at that which is called "fairly easy access to the public transportation system which serves the immediate Atlanta area." Recent criticism has been given voice that America is becoming an increasingly segregated society. The upper crust never rubbing elbows with the poor. Black established neighborhoods and white established neighborhoods never becoming integrated neighborhoods. Rich people never developing friendships with middle-class people. Do we want communities in which the only people we know and love are people just like us? Great communities are made up of all kinds of people some who would have it no other way than to drive their Mercedes on congested highways and some who can afford it no other way than to take public transportation. Should not Fayette County give opportunity to all? Church house after church house in Fayette County invites all people regardless of race, religious background, or economic status to come and worship. Jesus cried out, "Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Do we just want folks to drive in to shop at Wal-Mart, filling county and city coffers, but we don't want them to come and live among us and worship among us unless they can drive a late model Mercedes? The Statue of Liberty cries out: "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Does Fayette County cry out, "Give us your rich, your urbane educated ones, the cream of the crop, the well-heeled, and we will keep it that way"? [John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville and a regular columnist in The Citizen.]
|
||