Alabama state House votes to pardon Rosa Parks, others from segregation er

[NVMojo]

Alabama state House votes to pardon Rosa Parks, others from segregation era

(AP) - MONTGOMERY, Alabama-Civil rights icon Rosa Parks and hundreds of other victims of segregation-era arrests would be pardoned - but not forgotten - under a bill passed unanimously by the Alabama House on Thursday.

The bill was amended to say that the arrest records would not be expunged or sealed from public view, but would be turned over to the state Department of Archives and History.

That way, the records will provide a permanent record of civil disobedience that, in many cases, helped lead to desegregation.

Some critics of the original legislation had argued that the pardons might cause history to forget such courageous acts as Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus on Dec. 1, 1955.

more...

http://news.lp.findlaw.com/ap/o/51/03-31-2006/b542000a5eaf1db5.html

[Ian David]

1. Wow. It actually passed unanimously.

That'll show everyone that they really care about the black vote... I mean, about black people... who vote.

[ThinkTwice]

2. I don't know...

I think maybe they stepped in it again.

I'd personally be pissed if I was "pardoned" for doing what Rosa Parks did. What they really owe her and the others is an apology. And if they wanted to wipe the slate clean and remove all "official" record of the arrests, then that might be nice too.

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Welcome to DU, Think Twice

I would read this as an apology. The state legislature is admitting that they were wrong.

They did the right thing. When the Berlin Wall was being torn down, it was my hope that they would leave a section of it standing as a monument to tyranny and a reminder of why we fight against it.

[MrPrax]

4. Correct and Welcome...

too little too late from a state that only in 2000 had nearly 40% vote to uphold it's miscegenation laws.(why it would even go to a state vote...who knows)

Coupled with the fact that the US national legislature took 70 years to 'apologize' for illegal murders (lynchings) by public officials, is more just an insult to the African-Americans.

[QC]

5. "why it would even go to a state vote...who knows"

Constitutional amendments require a referendum.

So what would you have had the legislature do? This sounds to me like a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation--is there anything they could have done that would have pleased you?