"It's just too easy......"

By Mark Malaszczyk

I remember, as if it were yesterday, that fateful day 50 years ago. I was a 9-year-old southern white boy who rode a segregated bus every single day of my life. I sat in the front. Black folk sat in the back.

When Rosa showed us that black folks didn't have to sit in the back anymore, two of my friends and I, who strongly approved of what she had done, decided we didn't have to sit in the front anymore.


The "Man from Hope" is at it again, casting himself a starring role in the truly courageous life of someone else. At the funeral services for African-American Civil rights leader Rosa Parks, 42nd President of the United States William 'Bill' Jefferson Clinton, [known as 'BJ' Clinton by both close friends and political opponents], delivered a very emotional tribute to Ms. Parks by telling us about his thoughts and actions on the day that she made history and opened America's eyes to the realities of Jim Crow and the segregated, Dixiecrat [that's Southern Democrat] South.

"Most historians date the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States to December 1, 1955. That was the day when an unknown seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This brave woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her lonely act of defiance began a movement that ended legal segregation in America, and made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere." [1] According to Clinton, it was also a day when three 'ordinary kids' [young Bill and two of his friends] made a 'tiny gesture' on a segregated school bus; they sat in the back with the 'black boys.' Of course, this sounds very touching; if only it could have been true.

"Hope, Arkansas, was a town of less than 9,000 when Bill Clinton was growing up there. Towns that small [did] not have public bus systems. So, he had to be talking about school buses. At that time, the school system in Hope was racially segregated. There would not have been any black students on the bus, relegated to the back of the bus." [2] Desegregation in Arkansas Public Schools did not begin until 1957, and it required Federal intervention to enforce and uphold the Brown v. Board of Education [Topeka,KS] ruling. [3] In fact, segregation in Clinton's home state was particularly acute; in 1937 the state of Arkansas even segregated race tracks and gaming establishments. [4]

Why didn't the mainstream media pick up on Clinton's paltering? This is a heinous example of the narcissist-in-chief rewriting history to elevate himself to level of Rosa Parks in terms of courage and leadership. As the Institute for Public Accuracy has written:

"Jesse Jackson compares Clinton to Martin Luther King, but Clinton has manipulated images of King for his own ends. Clinton used Rosa Parks at the State of the Union address as a prop — his speech contained no initiatives on civil rights....'[his] record' is purely symbolic. Consider Clinton's treatment of Lani Guinier and Jocelyn Elders; or his 'welfare reform'; or his continued double standards in the 'war on drugs'; or his outrageous proposal that citizens in public housing surrender their Fourth Amendment rights." [5]

Clinton's record on civil rights is dismal to say the least. When the New York Times reported that "President Clinton has amassed a civil rights record rivaling that of any President in the last 30 years," they factored in things like:

• "Lift caps on damage awards in sex discrimination cases."
  
  
• "Work to pass Motor Voter bill."
  
  
• "Support statehood for the District of Columbia."
  
  
• "Require every employer to spend 1.5 percent of payroll for continuing education and training."
  
  
• "Expand Earned-Income Tax Credit." [6]
  
  

Despite these facts, Bill Clinton is often hailed by civil rights activists as the 'First Black President.' The press turns a blind eye to Clinton's prevarications, yet they sent out the mobs to tar and feather Bill Bennett for his problematic analogy regarding the aborting of black children to reduce the crime rate. [7] Let us never forget that Clinton's political mentor was the old-time segregationist from Arkansas and former U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright. Fulbright led the filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964; yet Clinton has spent years lauding Fulbright and his legacy. Clinton even presided at the erecting of a 7-foot tall statute in Fulbright's honor. [8]

Clinton is an articulate and eloquent orator. He could have said many things to pay tribute to Ms. Parks as a pioneer of civil rights, a pillar of strength, and a heroine to us all. The fact that he chose to inject himself into her actions as a nine-year old boy in a historically impossible anecdote is evidence of his pathological tendency to lie. It leads many to ask the simple question: Why does he do it? According to John Armor of Yale University:

First, this is a lifelong pattern. The spotlight must always switch back from whatever is the subject at hand, to Bill — his life, his times, his ego, himself. Note that this statement neatly does that.

The second reason was stated by an Arkansas politician, familiar with Bill, during the 1992 presidential campaign, "Bill Clinton would rather climb a tree to tell a lie, than to stand on the ground and tell the truth." Lying is in his nature, and always has been. He lies even when it is not particularly necessary.

The last point is obvious to anyone who was once a boy who got into a fair amount of trouble. We all sat in the back of any bus because it was easier to get away with stuff when you were as far as possible from the view and supervision of the driver. Bill was just taking an ordinary situation and trying to turn it into something that made him look good. But any way you scratch it, Bill was lying again, and the press was giving him a free ride again. [9]

Whatever the case may be, Rosa Parks is an icon in the American quest for universal human equality. This author believes that she can read this column in the paradise that she has entered into, and hopes that she knows how admired she is for her bravery and fortitude in the act that ultimately began the Civil Rights Movement, and propelled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. into the national spotlight. "We the People" are eternally grateful to you, Rosa. But we can all rest assured that a young 'Bubba Clinton' sat in the front.

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© Mark Malaszczyk