Reply #56: Why Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus was pointless...

[Blue State Blues]

Why civil rights activists who staged sit-ins at whites only lunch counters hurt their cause...

Your logic seems to be that because an action won't fix the problem in one fell swoop that it's not only not worth doing, but that we will somehow manage to be worse off than we are now.

Yes, the media coverage will be negative. I'm sure the newspapers in the deep south in the 60's were just as negative in their coverage of such "disturbances."

Yes, it would be a symbolic action. The election result would not be instantly overturned. But the time has come when we need a senator to stand up -- to stand up for the basic and sacred right of the people to vote, to stand up for our right to have those votes counted fairly, to stand up simply because voter suppression, racist disenfranchisement, and election fraud are wrong. We need a senator to stand up simply because he or she cannot remain in her seat and let this happen without protest.

Yes, it would be a symbolic action for a senator to stand up -- just as it was a symbolic action for Rosa Parks to stay in her seat.

This is a marathon, not a sprint. No one action will fix the problem and it will take many many small steps before we even see the finish line in the distance. But if no one has the courage and principle to take the first step, we won't get anywhere.