50 Years Ago Today... From Michael Moore

December 1, 2005

Friends,

I just thought we should all pause for a moment today to remember the simple
act of courage, defiance and dignity committed by Rosa Parks when she refused to
move to the back of the bus because the law said she had the wrong skin color.
The greatest moments in history, the ones that have truly mattered and have
taken us to a better place, are made up of scores of these singular acts by
ordinary, everyday people who could no longer tolerate the crap and the nonsense
of those in charge.

Today, whether it is a student who holds a sit-in to get the army recruiters
off his campus, or the mother of a dead soldier who refuses to leave the front
gate of the president's ranch, we continue to be saved by brave people who risk
ridicule and rejection but end up turning huge tides of public opinion in the
direction of righteousness. We owe them enormous debts of gratitude. It is not
easy to stand up for what is right, especially when everyone else is afraid to
leave the comfortable path of conformity.

Rosa Parks may have been alone on that bus at the moment of her arrest but
she wasn't alone for long. The old order was shaken, the world was upended and,
as a people, we were given a chance for a bit of redemption.

Perhaps the best way to celebrate this most important day in American history
is to ask yourself what it is that you can do today to make a difference. What
risk can you take to move the ball forward? What is that one thing you've been
wanting to say to your co-workers or classmates that you've been afraid to say