Thank you Sister Rosa

Thank you Miss Rosa you are the spark,
You started our freedom movement
Thank you Sister Rosa Parks.
--Neville Brothers

I've met rock stars and rebels, people I've loved and admired from Allen Ginsberg to Desmond Tutu, but all that today seems small compared to one day ringing the register at the Cass Food Co-op in the late 80s.

There was a long line, and suddenly, it parted like the red sea. Rasta men and radical muslims stood aside. Giving cuts isn't real Cass Corridor, so I was more than a bit bewildered.

But then Rosa Parks stepped to my register. She bought like one item, but she had her co-op card. My fingers could hardly touch the keys.

I know in her later years that she was manipulated by her handlers, who tried to make her Brand Rosa and sued folks who used her name in movies and songs.

But none of that could ever erase the feeling that I had that day and that millions of us have whenever we hear a freedom song. And frankly this is a feeling we all need to be reminded of.

Freedom. And fighting for it.

Thank you sister Rosa. Presente!!!!