Anti-mask politician compares herself to civil rights icon Rosa Parks, touching off anger and support
Updated Apr 29, 2021;
A Temecula, California, City Council member who compared her fight against face mask mandates to Rosa Parks’ bus demonstration for civil rights has touched off a weeks-long controversy in the majority-white Riverside County city where residents are sharply divided over the comments and Black community members have expressed anger over the remarks.
The council member, Jessica Alexander, a staunch anti-mask Republican, has not addressed the issue since an April 13 council meeting when she brought up the civil rights icon while expressing opposition to masks at in-person council meetings.
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A Temecula City Council member who compared her fight against face mask mandates to Rosa Parks’ bus demonstration for civil rights has touched off a weeks-long controversy in the majority-white Riverside County city where residents are sharply divided over the comments and Black community members have expressed anger over the remarks.
The council member, Jessica Alexander, a staunch anti-mask Republican, has not addressed the issue since an April 13 council meeting when she brought up the civil rights icon while expressing opposition to masks at in-person council meetings.
“Look at Rosa Parks. She was accommodated to the back of the bus, but she finally took a stand and moved to the front because she knew that that wasn’t lawful. It wasn’t truth. So she took a stand. At what point in time do we?” Alexander said. “I’m getting to the point where I’m getting accommodated in my office. I feel like I’m getting pushed to the back of the bus.”
Print
A Temecula City Council member who compared her fight against face mask mandates to Rosa Parks’ bus demonstration for civil rights has touched off a weeks-long controversy in the majority-white Riverside County city where residents are sharply divided over the comments and Black community members have expressed anger over the remarks.
The council member, Jessica Alexander, a staunch anti-mask Republican, has not addressed the issue since an April 13 council meeting when she brought up the civil rights icon while expressing opposition to masks at in-person council meetings.
“Look at Rosa Parks. She was accommodated to the back of the bus, but she finally took a stand and moved to the front because she knew that that wasn’t lawful. It wasn’t truth. So she took a stand. At what point in time do we?” Alexander said. “I’m getting to the point where I’m getting accommodated in my office. I feel like I’m getting pushed to the back of the bus.”
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The trial is over. The most damning evidence against the accused was, of course, the video of a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee against a Black manâs neck for nearly ten minutes while the man kept telling him he couldnât breathe. Three other policemen stood around and watched and, although this was my own impression, they seemed to be just daring anyone to interfere. After all, they were the authority figures.
George Floyd probably died before Derek Chauvin took his knee off his neck. It wasnât that unusual a story in America, but it proved to be the proverbial straw. The concerted outrage from the public reminded me of Peter Finchâs now iconic howl in âNetwork,â âIâm mad as hell and Iâm not going to take it anymore.â It resonated beyond this country and was taken up by people around the globe.
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The Rev. Al Sharpton fended off criticism over his use of a private jet to travel to Minnesota for the Derek Chauvin verdict and for the funeral of Daunte Wright – during his eulogy of the Black Minnesota man killed by a police officer who allegedly confused her handgun for a Taser. We ain t in the back of the bus no more, Sharpton said, calling back to Rosa Parks act of civil disobedience in 1955. I’d have taken an Apollo rocket if it was available.
Wright, a 20-year-old father, was killed in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, when he tried to resist officers during a traffic stop on April 11.