I choose to be a black minister in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As a black minister, my Christian duty is to support my church members and community’s growth spiritually, physically, psychologically, and economically. The Montgomery bus system has a segregation policy that treats blacks with contempt. Our fellow community members have been harassed and even arrested on a racial basis on the buses. Although Mayor W. A. Gayle received our requests and proposals for the bus system in 1954 through the Women’s Political Council, African Americans, especially women, have continued to face threats and arrests (Retzlaff, 2020). In early 1955, a 15-year-old girl, Claudette Colvin, challenged the segregation policy and was arrested (Retzlaff, 2020). Similarly, a young woman called Mary Louise Smith was arrested late that year for failing to give her seat to a white man.
On 1 December 1955, the police arrested Rosa Parks, a seamstress, for failure to yield her bus seat to a white man. I join the black ministers to gather the community together and give a befitting reply to the continued harassment of black people in the Montgomery bus system. Although our ultimate goal is to end segregation laws in this great country, our boycott demands revolve around the bus system’s policy. We demand that African Americans are treated with courtesy by bus drivers and conductors, and the bus companies hire black drivers (Retzlaff, 2020). Additionally, seating should be on a first-come, first-seat basis, with whites occupying front seats and blacks the rear seats, and nobody should be made to stand over an empty seat (Retzlaff, 2020). Martin Luther King, Jr. should lead the bus boycott because he is relatively new in Montgomery. As such, he might not have established enemies or friends in civil rights protests who can deter the course of the boycott.
Reference
Retzlaff, R. (2020). The Montgomery bus boycott and the racial basis for Interstate Highways and Urban Renewal.Journal of Urban History.