When Rosa Parks refused to

give up her seat to a white man Dec. 1, 1955, she was tired and weary

from a long day of work. But more than that, Parks was tired of the treatment

she and other African-Americans received every day of their lives, what

with the racism, segregation, and Jim Crow laws of the time. The rest

of Parks' story is American history ... her arrest and trial, a 381-day

Montgomery bus boycott, and, finally, the Supreme Court's ruling in November

1956 that segregation on publlic transportation is unconstitutional.

If Rosa Parks lived in Fayette

County today, she couldn't find a bus to board. In fact, she could find

any form of public transportation to board. Why? There ain't any! She

couldn't sit in the back of the bus or the front of the bus. And that

seems to be the way Fayette County leadership wishes to keep it.

What's a bus? To my credit,

I took Latin back at Baker High School in Columbus, Ga. I learned that

our word for "bus" actually comes from the Latin word, "omnibus."

The word literally means, "a vehicle carrying many passengers; used

for public transport." The "omni" gives the bus the idea

that it is for "all" people.

Could it be that all kinds

of people are unwanted in Fayette County? Our local legislators surely

know what an "omnibus" bill presented in the State Assembly

or Congress. It's a bill that carries various topics, many of which are

totally unrelated.

The recent decision of Fayette

County commissioners voting again public transportation for use by Fayette

County residents and for use by those who may wish to enter our county

brother government" encroaching on our perfect community, but it

must also be viewed with eyes of equality and justice.

In an Internet promotion piece

issued by the Fayette County government and last updated September 2001,

one can read about the transportation conveniences of our county:

"Citizens also have fairly

easy access to the public transportation system which serves the immediate

Atlanta area. From terminals in south Fulton County, one can take advantage

of the trains and buses operated by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit

Authority (MARTA). For a very reasonable fare, MARTA offers residents

the alternative of an easy, quick commute to downtown Atlanta or to the

various professional sports venues. And from the private sector, the Greyhound

Bus Lines operates a local terminal in nearby Hapeville."

I don't know about you, but

it takes me on an average day betwee n

45 and 60 minutes to arrive at that which is called "fairly easy

access to the public transportation system which serves the immediate

Atlanta area."

Recent criticism has been given

voice that America is becoming an increasingly segregated society. The

upper crust never rubbing elbows with the poor. Black established neighborhoods

and white established neighborhoods never becoming integrated neighborhoods.

Rich people never developing friendships with middle-class people. Do

we want communities in which the only people we know and love are people

just like us?

Great communities are made

up of all kinds of people some who would have it no other way than to

drive their Mercedes on congested highways and some who can afford it

no other way than to take public transportation. Should not Fayette County

give opportunity to all?

Church house after church house

in Fayette County invites all people regardless of race, religious background,

or economic status to come and worship. Jesus cried out, "Come unto

me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Do

we just want folks to drive in to shop at Wal-Mart, filling county and

city coffers, but we don't want them to come and live among us and worship

among us unless they can drive a late model Mercedes?

The Statue of Liberty cries

out:

"Give me your tired, your

poor,

Your huddled masses yearning

to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your

teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed

to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden

door!"

Does Fayette County cry out,

"Give us your rich, your urbane educated ones, the cream of the crop,

the well-heeled, and we will keep it that way"?

[John Hatcher is pastor

of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville and a regular columnist

in The Citizen.]