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The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, defiant until the end and beyond, could not be forced into the back of the Cadillac Crowne Royale Limo Hearse that was to transport her from the hospital to the Mitchell Brothers Funeral Home in downtown Detroit yesterday.
“I’ve never seen anything like it”, said Casey Waldorf, hearse driver and 12-year employee of Mitchell Brothers, “we got her in the coffin okay, but when we got it back to the car, the door was jammed up, and it wasn’t opening for anything. It’s never done that before.”
Thousands joined the procession.
According to Waldorf, Parks’ vigilant protest continued from there.
“We decided to try and cram the casket into the back through the front door, but that wasn't going to happen. It’s one of those big fancy ones we see every now and again when someone rich or special dies. Well, I knew we were going to have a problem as soon as we opened the door, because we brought the smaller of our two hearses. The other one was grabbing somebody across town. Sure enough, that thing wasn’t fitting in there for shit. We must have tried ten different angles but it just wasn’t going in.”
The two men found the only way to get the casket in to the hearse was to wedge it into the front seat with the feet end sticking out of the passenger window. With Mrs. Parks secured with a set of borrowed bungee cords, the funeral procession continued on as scheduled. And having once again battled oppression and won, Parks took her rightful place in the front seat.
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