"I Have a Dream" - Stephanie Dzialo

We are not too far removed from the month of December, a month seen as the month of holidays. However, if we travel a while back, we can find that it was the month when significant history was made. Individuals stood up for their rights no matter the color of their skin. They protested until their voices were heard. They put their lives on the line for action to be done; they risked their freedom for their people.

According to The History Place,This Month in History, on Dec. 20, 1956, the Montgomery, Ala. bus boycott ended after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling integrating the Montgomery bus system was implemented. The boycott by African Americans began on Dec. 5, 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man. The federal ruling declared the Alabama laws requiring segregated buses to be unconstitutional.

This was some progress towards true freedom for African Americans. A lot more is needed to be done, but it was a start. Decades later, African Americans continue to fight for their rights and for injustices to stop.

Now more than ever, we should all be united and love one another as we love ourselves. We should remember all the people who fought for their rights and the willingness they had to get them. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles.” This is a fitting resolution for the New Year.