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The Montgomery bus boycott began soon after Rosa Parks, a lifelong civil rights activist, refused to move after the white bus driver demanded she switch seats.
Other Black women such as Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith had committed similar acts of disobedience, but the incident with Parks combined the will of the community and the urgency of the moment to create a local movement.
Under the banner of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), the Black community banded together for action. They chose a young and promising minister as their spokesperson.
His name was Martin Luther King, Jr.
Organized and fueled by Black women, the boycott lasted for 381 days. Black people walked, biked, and car pooled to and from their daily business.
Their fortitude broke the back of segregation on public buses and, aided by the Supreme Court decision in Browder v. Gayle, organizers ended the boycott in victory.
What might have happened if Rosa Parks had switched seats on that bus? How much longer might segregation have lasted if the Black community in Montgomery had not taken collective action? What would have occurred if people had not taken the side of justice?
In his book Stride Toward Freedom, Martin Luther King, Jr. reflected on lessons learned from the Montgomery bus boycott. He wrote:
“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”
Sentiments like this encourage action. They incite agitation against injustice. They illustrate the principle of “Justice Takes Sides.”
We cannot be the people on the sidelines who refuse to take the side of the oppressed, the marginalized, and the disinherited.
We must take the side of justice.
I hope you will share this video. As we move deeper into a presidential election season, as teaching racial history becomes more difficult, as we see injustice and violence across the geopolitical landscape, we must move.
We hope the justice takes sides collection is an expression of your commitment to taking a stand for righteousness in the world.
Thank you to everyone who has already supported us by getting their Justice Takes Sides apparel and merchandise.
Be sure to watch and share the video across these various platforms…
Visit: JusticeTakesSides.com
Special thanks to Ester Martinez for videography and editing and Isrielle Webster for creative direction.
We Cannot Passively Accept Evil