What’s In A Name?
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
I took a Southwest Airlines commuter plane in Santa Ana called John Wayne on my way to San Francisco. Yes, The Duke walked these parts, made blockbuster westerns then left his name for an International Airport.
A few weeks later in San Jose, I took a plane for Bob Hope International at Burbank in L.A. Bob was hugely successful as an entertainer and played golf with the Presidents. He was a big hit in radio, theater, television and the movies but never won an Oscar as an actor. But he just took it all in stride and was quoted as saying, “Oscar Night at my house is called Passover.”
Anyways, we drove around Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive and passed by Staples Center where NBA action is. But ticket prices are too expensive! D_mn! There’s an interesting freeway called Rosa Parks and my mind went racing through America’s ugly past.
Rosa Parks was the black woman who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Blacks are supposed to sit at the back of the bus according to an ordinance in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1950s. At the time, America was still deep in racism and slavery issues and Rosa Parks sparked a movement that culminated in the government’s acknowledgment of equality among the races. She died in Detroit in 2005 at the age of 92 and now lies in state at the Capitol, an honor usually reserved for Presidents of the United States.
So, what’s in a name? History my friends, history.
