People have said over the years that the reason I did not give up my seat was because I was tired. I did not think of being physically tired. My feet were not hurting. I was tired in a different way. I was tired of seeing so many men treated as boys and not called by their proper names or titles. I was tired of seeing children and women mistreated and disrespected because of the color of their skin. I was tired of Jim Crow laws, of legally enforced racial segregation.

I want to be treated like a human being.

I thought of Emmett Till, and when the bus driver ordered me to move to the back, I just couldn’t move.

If I can sit down for freedom, you can stand up for children.

Why do you all push us around?

I knew someone had to take the first step. So I made up my mind not to move.

I'm tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.