Rosa Parks

The death of Rosa Parks highlights for me how much the world has changed in the last few decades. I find it almost impossible to understand how a country which has done so many great things, and was founded on principles of liberty, still had segregration in the 1950s and 1960s.

I don’t regard as objectionable that the US had slavery up until the early 1800s because that was very much a different world, and many generations ago. Don’t get me wrong slavery is an offence against decency, but the world was so different then, that you can’t judge by today’s standards too harshly.

However the 1950s is not ancient history. It is the era my parents grew up in, the era of fighting for democracy and against tyranny. And again I find it hard to comprehend how the US could have had such appalling stuff such as seperate seats on buses for the races.

NZ is not immune here. Up until the year I was born, Maori were not allowed to enrol in general seats. Disgraceful.

I long for the day when a person’s skin colour has no more significance than their eye or hair colour! We have certainly come a long way.