VIEWING AT THE MUSEUM: A holy presence inspires family's tribute to Parks
November 2, 2005
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Up before dawn, James Netter ambled into his living room and gazed at an old
photo of him sitting next to Rosa Parks.
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"It was like being in the presence of someone holy," Netter said early
Tuesday inside his Wayne home as a windy rain drizzled outside. "Her soul
was unbelievable. There was a calmness, dignity, grace -- attributes I wish
I could have poured into my own body."
That desire, to perhaps imbibe part of her spirit, was what drove Netter and
thousands of other people to organize family trips Tuesday to the public
viewing of Rosa Parks. One by one, they entered the Charles H. Wright Museum
of African American History in Detroit, craned their heads right to catch a
glimpse of Parks' casket, paused for a few moments and exited in less than a
minute.
Netter, 56, strolled by with his daughter, two grandchildren, a niece and a
nephew.
They left renewed, some a bit bewildered by it all.
"I can't explain," said Netter's daughter, Angela Netter, 36, after viewing
Parks. "I can't. I'm at a loss for words."
She paused and looked at her 10-year-old daughter, Ciara, a 4.0 GPA student.
"Rosa Parks will not be forgotten," Angela Netter said.
James Netter, a retired real estate agent, scheduled the trip to make sure
that was the case within his own family. He wanted to leave early to avoid
the long lines and make sure his grandchildren could attend school on time
Tuesday.
Just after 6:30 a.m., he stopped by his daughter's home on Detroit's west
side, picking up her, Ciara and his 3-year-old grandson, Josiah. They
bundled into Netter's Ford Taurus and headed on, crossing Rosa Parks
Boulevard at one point, and then turning south onto Woodward.
The line wasn't too long. Within about 15 minutes, they were inside. Museum
guides handed each a brief bio and a photo of Rosa Parks. Two Detroit police
officers guarded Parks' casket.
The family members didn't say a word as they passed by.
Outside, a lone man wailed on a saxophone, alternating between the "Star
Spangled Banner" and "We Shall Overcome," drawing a few people to sing along
with the song used frequently during the civil rights push of the 1950s and
'60s. Parks sparked that movement with her refusal in 1955 to relinquish her
bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala.
In front of the Netters on Warren Avenue, that same bus, on loan from the
Henry Ford in Dearborn, was being wheeled out of a truck for display.
A crowd gathered. Several people snapped photos of themselves with the
historic vehicle.
"She was a pioneer," said Netter's nephew, Peter Garland, 36, of Southfield,
who joined the Netters along with his wife, Kyra Garland. "She made it fair
for everyone. ... It would be a crime for me not to come."
Angela Netter said Parks "opened up doors for equal opportunity regardless
of skin color."
Raised in the cradle of the Confederacy, Parks grew up in a segregated South
where African Americans were treated as second-class citizens under a system
reinforced by violence.
Relevance lives
As the Netters prepared to head back home Tuesday, the line outside grew
longer and longer.
"Rain, sleet or snow -- I was going to be here," Maxie Rowden, 55, a retired
housekeeper from Detroit, said while standing in line. "Even if I was sick,
I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Parks' legacy is still relevant, Rowden said, because "prejudice is still
here."
"If you ask me, it's getting worse; they just do it in a more subtle way,"
she said.
To James Netter, that makes Parks' message all the more relevant. He once
volunteered for the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development,
helping the organization design a T-shirt. And he hopes future generations
will continue to struggle for civil rights.
"She's at peace -- I'm sure she's in heaven ... with Martin and Gandhi,"
said Netter. "Now, it's up to us to continue her memory. That's the
challenge."
Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO at 248-351-2998 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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