Mrs. Rosa Parks
“The national honor for Rosa Parks served to obscure the present injustices facing the nation. Less than two months after the shame of the federal government's inaction during Hurricane Katrina, the public memorial for Parks provided a way to paper over the devastating images from New Orleans. Burying the history of American racism was politically useful and increasingly urgent. Parks’ body brought national absolution at a moment when government negligence and the economic and racial inequities laid bare during Katrina threatened to disrupt the idea of a color-blind America.” - Prof. Jeanne Theoharis
