California city councilwoman compares herself to Rosa Parks for refusing to wear mask
A California councilwoman is under fire after she compared having to abide by mask rules during the coronavirus pandemic to Rosa Parks’ civil rights struggle against racial segregation.
Temecula City Council member Jessica Alexander said during an April 13 meeting that she was “getting pushed to the back of the bus.” The council was discussing whether to meet in person or to hold meetings virtually until June.
“I think something we can all understand and agree with is that 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 true,” Alexander said. “So she took a stand. At what point in time do we? I’m getting to the point in time where I’m getting accommodated in my office. I’m getting pushed to the back of the bus. This is what I’m telling you I feel like. At what point in time do I come out and stand up and say I’ve had enough.”
She added: “For the last year, I’ve had to go around not because I wanted to always go around without a mask but the fact of the matter is, I cannot put it on. I will not put it on. So it’s not that I want to be disrespectful. But the fact of the matter is when is enough enough?”
Alexander did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Tuesday.
Parks, a Black woman, helped spark the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama when she was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered the city to integrate its bus system.
Corey Jackson, political action chair for the Riverside chapter of the NAACP, told The Press-Enterprise that Alexander’s remarks show that “unfortunately, people don’t understand their history and she clearly missed the whole point about Rosa Parks and twisted it for her own political reasons.”
“Not being treated as a human being or (being treated as) a second-class citizen is totally different from a universal measure to protect lives,” Jackson said.
Tisa Rodriguez, chairwoman of the Riverside County Democratic Party, said: “Being asked to choose between wearing a mask or the privilege of sitting comfortably in your office during public meetings is not at all the same as the incredibly difficult sacrifices Rosa Parks and so many others made to fight for the rights to vote and live free of institutionalized segregation.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state’s economy would fully reopen June 15 if there are enough vaccine doses for everyone 16 and older and hospitalization rates remain “stable and low.”
California has had more than 3.6 million coronavirus cases and 60,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the state Department of Public Health.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 1:31 PM with the headline "California city councilwoman compares herself to Rosa Parks for refusing to wear mask."