THE EDITOR, Sir:
I THOUGHT it might be interesting to your readers to hear what I call my 'Rosa Parks Story'.
In 1965, British Airways (then called B.O.A.C.) hired five Jamaican girls to be stewardesses. I was one of the five selected, along with Yvonne White, a beautiful girl who had just won the title 'Miss Afro Jamaica'. Yvonne had a dazzling smile and a wonderful, bubbly personality, and she and I became close friends.
Yvonne and I worked on a flight to New York, where we had three days' layover. Excited about being in New York together, we decided to go shopping. So we met downstairs, rushed outside and jumped on a bus on Lexington Avenue and sat down in the front seats. The bus was quite full and we were aware of a silence that took place when we sat down. The driver looked at us and signalled the conductor. The two of them talked for a while, looked at us and talked some more. The bus did not move.
We continued to chat like two schoolgirls on an outing, when the conductor interrupted us. He bent down and said quietly, but determinedly to Yvonne, "You have to move to the back of the bus."
"Excuse me?" she said.
"YOU HAVE TO MOVE TO THE BACK OF THE BUS!" Now he looked threatening. So we both got up and started to move to the back. He tapped me on my shoulder and said "NOT YOU. HER. YOU CAN STAY."
It was then that we realised what was happening. My black friend was to sit in the back of the bus, but me, of lighter shade would be permitted to sit in the front. We froze with fear and loathing. I grabbed Yvonne's hand and said, "Come on, Yvonne, let's get a taxi. I wouldn't sit on this horrible bus if you paid me!" And we got off.
I will never forget that experience. It made my skin crawl. I, therefore, salute Rosa Parks. It was about that time when she refused to get off the bus in the South and in doing so, she not only stood up for black people in America, she stood up for two Jamaicans who had the same loathsome racial experience in New York.
I am, etc.,
SALLY PORTEOUS
Mandeville
