BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In Cincinnati, where bus seating was not a point of civil rights contention during the 1950s, African-Americans and whites often sit side by side today on Metro routes.
Aboard Route 11 buses, which connect Government Square downtown to Wooster Pike in Fairfax, a sampling of riders made this much clear: Rosa Parks deserves the recognition she receives.
"What she did, to me, was an act of bravery," Juliet Makonnen, 48, said Thursday afternoon as the air-conditioned bus cut through the heat and humidity on Gilbert Avenue.
Ms. Makonnen, an African-American from Colerain Township, works downtown for American Airlines and parks her car near the Cincinnati Association for the Blind.
"Even now, the farthest south I will go is Atlanta. There are places I know not to go," she said. "I could not do what she did. No matter how tired I was of everything, I could not have done it.
"She deserves everything she's gotten. People are placed in certain eras for certain reasons, and she didn't back down when her time came to make a stand. She created a chain reaction."
Raymond Sullivan, 71, retired from the Air Force, was stationed on a base in Washington state when he heard of Mrs. Parks' arrest.
"I admire her," said Mr. Sullivan, an African-American who lives downtown and was en route to Madisonville. "She had a great deal of courage."
Brandon Fears, 19, boarded the bus near his alma mater, Withrow High School in Hyde Park. He held a stroller in one hand and 7-month-old daughter Ja'Mia Scott in the other.
Mrs. Parks "is still part of what's going on today," said Mr. Fears of Walnut Hills, who works as a carpet cleaner. "She was a strong woman and not of the world's ways. Money was not important to her. Her principles were."
Several people, African-American and white, declined to discuss Mrs. Parks and her legacy. One young white woman said she didn't know who Mrs. Parks was until she overheard riders talking to a reporter.
Sara Dann, 22, who's white, boarded the bus at Edwards and Madison roads. A waitress, she was headed to her Over-the-Rhine apartment.
"I remember learning about her in school," said the 1994 Harrison High School graduate who is studying international business and marketing at the University of Cincinnati.
"I thought it was real ironic that blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. We always wanted to sit in the back of the bus.
"It was degrading that blacks had to sit in the back. I think it's good she had the courage to stand up for her rights. I don't think it was right that she was arrested."
