White House Hopeful Imperato Pays Respects to Late Civil Rights Leader Rosa Parks

Added: (Mon Oct 31 2005)

Pressbox (Press Release) - October 31, 2005 - West Palm Beach, FL - Today, with the utmost of respect, Americans paid tribute to Rosa Parks, with more than 30,000 filing silently by her casket in the Capitol Rotunda and a military honor guard saluting one of the most important figures of the American Civil Rights Movement.

“As we look back on the life of Rosa Parks, we are reminded of the great contributions that she made to our nation. She has changed the fabric our nation and made us embody the principles that we strive to achieve: freedom, liberty, equality, and justice for all,” commented Daniel Imperato, 2008 Presidential Hopeful.

Parks, who died last Monday at 92, was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, an incident that inspired Martin Luther King and helped touch off the civil rights movement.

“Most importantly, we should not let the vision and the inspiration of Rosa Parks die. There are still many cases of injustice that exist where we can do better as Americans, and human beings,” expressed Imperato.

Parks, a former seamstress, became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda, sharing the tribute bestowed upon Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and other national leaders. President Bush and congressional leaders gathered for a brief ceremony Sunday night, listening as members of Baltimore's Morgan State University choir sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."