But that's all she wrote

I was listening to my Outkast playlist on iTunes this morning, and Rosa Parks came on. Last month when Rosa died, it was of course very sad to see such an icon pass away. But it was really great seeing how people all over the country were honoring her, celebrating her life, and praising her courage and strength.

Most people know that that there was lawsuit involving Rosa Parks and Outkast in 1999. The lawsuit alleged defamation and trademark infringement because the group titled one of the songs from their 1998 Aquemini album Rosa Parks. You all know how the chorus goes:

Ah-ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus

Outkast said that the song wasn't false advertising or a violation of Parks' publicity rights and that the use of her name was protected by the First Amendment. Even though Outkast was later dropped as defendants (the suit went on against their label), I wonder if what made this lawsuit legitimate was because her name was the actual title of the song. Because in the Outkast song song So Fresh, So Clean (from 2000's Stankonia), Andre has a line that goes:

I love who you are
Love you ya aint
You so Anne Franke
Let's hit the attic to hide out for 'bout two weeks

Is that defamantion against Anne Franke? I mean, she's probably just as important to the Jewish community as Rosa Parks is to the African American community. Can you imagine how many rappers would be in trouble if they weren't allowed to make lyrical mentions of public figures in their records? I mean, so many of them would be getting sued right about now.

I've noticed that a lot of people don't know that it wasn't Rosa who filed the lawsuit. Rosa's lawyer filed the lawsuit on Rosa's behalf. Last year, he filed a second $5 billion lawsuit against LaFace Records, Sony BMG Entertainment, Arista Records, and two other bookstore chains that sold Aquemini.

I remember hearing about some of Rosa's friends and relatives who thought that her lawyer was only filing the lawsuits for his own financial gain. But he probably would say that he was just looking out for the best interest of his client. Some people even said that Rosa was too ill to really even know what was going on and she also reportedly suffered from dementia. Rosa received a court appointed guardian in Dennis Archer to look out for her and make sure nothing sketchy was going on. But it still kind of sucks when you have to have someone look over your lawyer's shoulder.

The lawsuit was finally settled earlier this year and as a part of the settlement, a tribute CD and a TV broadcast special will be produced to inform young people about Rosa and her huge contribution to the civil rights movement in this country. I suppose, if anything good came out of the lawsuit, that would be it. And now that Rosa has died I think that there's going to be a renewed interested in her life and her importance in American history.

I think Outkast have all the respect in the world for Rosa Parks. Rosa did so much for black people in this country, and I know that Outkast are aware of that and appreciative of it. They've certainly benefited from her courageous stand against segregation, as have I, as has every other black person in this country. I sincerely believe that they wouldn't have named that song Rosa Parks if they felt it would be disrespectful in any way. I'm sure there were some people who didn't know who Rosa Parks was before they heard that song. You'd' be surprised what some people don't know in this country. And if seeing her name on the back of an Outkast cd made some kid in North Dakota pick up a book and find out who this Rosa Parks was, then I say it's all the better.

Outkast- Rosa Parks (from Aquemini)