So I understand most everything about the Rosa Parks and bus boycott story, from the perspective of the african-american community, but what I don't understand is why the bus boycott was so disturbing to the white community...

I mean, the whites didn't want to sit next to black people so why were they so freaked out by the prospect of the boycott?

I was thinking maybe if they boycotted it, the busses would lose the money to keep operating, but if there were that many black people and that few white people riding the bus, then, again, why would the white people care if a bus service that mostly catered to the af.am. community stop its service?

10/29/2005 2:20:29 PM

black or white it doesn't matter, its all about the bottom line.

10/29/2005 2:24:39 PM

The bus company didn't like segregation to begin with, much less after they were rendered insolvent by the dramatic drop in ridership.

10/29/2005 2:53:23 PM

what are you talking about - the bus company was the one that wouldn't negotiate with the black community

10/29/2005 3:42:25 PM

^
IIRC it was actually a government ordinance, not the bus company's policy, that demanded segregated ridership

Parks wouldn't have been arrested and tossed in prison for violating a bus company's policy

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Quote :

"Excoriator: I was thinking maybe if they boycotted it, the busses would lose the money to keep operating, but if there were that many black people and that few white people riding the bus, then, again, why would the white people care if a bus service that mostly catered to the af.am. community stop its service?"

If ridership was 55-45% black/white, or even 50-50%, the bus company is going to need that $texas to continue its operations. Otherwise that 45-50% of white folks that use the bus would be pissed...

[Edited on October 29, 2005 at 5:05 PM. Reason : ---]

10/29/2005 4:53:42 PM

Quote :

"IIRC it was actually a government ordinance, not the bus company's policy, that demanded segregated ridership Parks wouldn't have been arrested and tossed in prison for violating a bus company's policy"

yes i know that, but when the city suggested changing the ordinance, the bus company strongly oppposed that change

anyway, does anyone ACTUALLY know why the whites were so disturbed by the boycott? I could speculate all day long also, but i want to know the real reason.

[Edited on October 29, 2005 at 10:34 PM. Reason : s]

10/29/2005 10:33:51 PM

The city could not afford to have the busses run without blacks paying the fares. So basically it forced the issue.

Also desegregating the bus would imply that "niggers" were as good as whites. This was very very hard for the whites to take, and caused outright rage in white communities.

[Edited on October 29, 2005 at 11:37 PM. Reason : a]

10/29/2005 11:36:05 PM

^^ What do you mean by disturbed? It went on for such a long time that I find it hard to believe the whites were all that upset about it. The pro-segregationists were obviously upset that a certain segment of society had "forgotten its place" but given that the boycott was sucessful I suspect the average white person either cared little or supported the cause.

10/30/2005 12:00:23 AM

read up on the reaction of the white community to the boycott

10/30/2005 12:04:50 AM

Ok... I don't see the relevance. Why don't you go read up on just how LonG the darn thing went on. Secondly, read up on just how little violence there was. As it stands, all of the violence that was commited could easily have been commited by a small band of whites roving the city day by day.

Secondly, when the city finally relented there were no large-scale protests. The violence largely ceased. The average white person was evidently not too freaked out about black people riding in the front of the bus.

10/30/2005 8:59:15 AM

the membership in the white citizens council increased something like 300% in the first month of the boycott. that's just one example

10/30/2005 9:14:30 AM

I think they were concerned to see the blacks politically organizing. The cause was secondary.

10/30/2005 10:56:46 AM

^ I'd buy that.

10/30/2005 11:36:59 AM