Rosa Parks seems to be eager to get into arms over anything.
What's the line the guy in 'Barbershop' said? "All Rosa Parks did was sit her ass down!"

RIGHT HERE, JONATHAN

Capitals are scary.

THANKS AL

so sorry, jonathan. i was using caps to emphasize that it was a link.

Barger, one needs to know the rest of the song to analyze whether there is a case here. I suggest you post at least the stanza that lyric is part of. My take so far is she doesn't have a case. As a public figure, she should expect her name to be used by others, sometimes in ways she doesn't like.

I must disagree with Jonathan. Rosa Parks did a lot more than 'sit her ass down.' That should have been a simple act, but thanks to the law of the land at that time, it wasn't.

Again, I don't want to take anything away from her legitimate contribution- I just do not appreciate her now stepping on other people's freedom of expression.

She's only too happy to bask in the warm glow of public adulation, but part of the price of that is that she made herself a public figure, thus open to be invoked as a common cultural symbol, praised, criticized, or just plain parodied. Note that her name is directly only used in the title, not actually in the performed song at all.

In full, then, the lyric in question:

Rosa Parks
[Hook]
Ah ha, hush that fuss
Everybody move to the back of the bus
Do you wanna bump and slump with us
We the type of people make the club get crunk

[Verse 1:(Big Boi)]
Many a day has passed, the night has gone by
But still I find the time to put that bump off in your eye
Total chaos, for these playas, thought we was absent
We takin another route to represent the Dungeon Family
Like Great Day, me and my nigga decide to take the back way
We stabbing every city then we headed to that bat cave
A-T-L, Georgia, what we do for ya
Bull doggin hoes like them Georgetown Hoyas
Boy you sounding silly, thank my Brougham aint sittin pretty
Doing doughnuts round you suckas like then circles around titties
Damn we the committee gone burn it down
But us gone bust you in the mouth with the chorus now

[Hook]

I met a gypsy and she hipped me to some life game
To stimulate then activate the left and right brain
Said baby boy you only funky as your last cut
You focus on the past your ass'll be a has what
Thats one to live by or either that one to die to
I try to just throw it at you determine your own adventure
Andre, got to her station here's my destination
She got off the bus, the conversation lingered in my head for hours
Took a shower kinda sour cause my favorite group ain't comin with it
But I'm witcha you cause you probably goin through it anyway
But anyhow when in doubt went on out and bought it
Cause I thought it would be jammin but examine all the flawsky-wawsky
Awfully, it's sad and it's costly, but that's all she wrote
And I hope I never have to float in that boat
Up shit creek it's weak is the last quote
That I want to hear when I'm goin down when all's said and done
And we got a new joe in town
When the record player get to skippin and slowin down
All yawl can say is them niggas earned that crown but until then...

[Hook]
[Harmonica Solo]
[Hook til fade]

What gets me is the on-going historical ignorance that leads some people to claim that Rosa Parks didn't do anything, or much at all. What such critics are actually saying is that they don't know much else about Rosa Parks. The fact of the matter is that she and her husband Raymond had already been Civil Rights activists for years, before Rosa's legendary act.

She was far more than just some "colored" woman whose feet got tired, and just got ornery one day, out of the blue. Her act was a calculated move to get herself arrested, in order to give Civil Rights groups a test case to challenge Montgomery's segretation or "Jim Crow" laws.

As for the clearly disdainful quip that she was "only too happy to bask in the warm glow of public adulation", many would take issue with the accuracy of such a slap in face, including U.S. Representative John Conyers:
"For a long time people were a little bit afraid of Rosa Parks because she had created this whole new modern civil rights movement. They didn't know what to expect, and they certainly didn't expect someone that quiet. She sought no limelight; you'd never hear her talking about her own civil rights activities and all the things that she had been in."

Perhaps her objection to OutKast's song was "petty" in the opinion of some. Life is hard. Get over it. In the opinion of others, Ms. Parks' life-long commitment to the service of others, and pursuing a greater good is deserving of more respect than to toss her name around in a song talking about "hoes" and "niggas". And that isn't even getting into the disrespectful silliness in "Barber Shop".

Ms. Parks didn't like her name (and her contributions to human history associated with it) being used the way it was. Whether I or anyone else agrees with her is ultimately beside the point Feathers sure got ruffled by her lawsuit. Hissy fits abound. And personally, I couldn't care less. Small minds are dwarfed by the enormity of this woman's LIFE-LONG COMMITMENT to making things better for others. To claim that she was about anything less shows nothing but ignorance and disdain.

Rest in peace Mrs. Rosa Parks. And THANK YOU for everything you did for Civil Rights in the years before and the generations AFTER your arrest.