Man Who Attacked Rosa Parks Offers Apology

[Judi Lynn]

Man Who Attacked Rosa Parks Offers Apology
Man Who Attacked Rosa Parks in 1994 Offers Another Apology and Seeks Redemption

MUNISING, Mich. Mar 19, 2006 (AP)— A man who beat civil rights icon Rosa Parks and took $53 from her during a break-in at her Detroit home in 1994 says he dreams of redemption.

In a prison interview published Sunday in The Detroit News, Joseph Skipper, 40, repeatedly apologized for the attack and said he cried when he learned that Parks died in October.

Skipper is serving an eight- to 15-year sentence at the Alger Maximum Correctional Facility in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He told the newspaper he had hoped for a face-to-face apology someday.

"I will go down in history as the man who robbed Rosa Parks," Skipper said. "I'm sorry that she died. I was hoping to get out in time to tell her I was sorry. I have to draw strength from God."
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1743558&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312



Rosa Parks in 1955, with the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the background.

[Beelzebud]

1. Oh fuck him... What a POS.

Would he be offering this apology if he had just robbed an anonymous older lady? I don't fucking think so.

[pitohui]

2. so lemme guess...he's seeking parole or something right?

v. hard for me to have any sympathy for someone who breaks into a home while an older woman is there and punches her in the face, sure he was on drugs, you know what, i know lots of drug addicts and somehow most of them manage to muddle thru w.out sticking guns in people's faces or breaking into people's homes and terrifying them, once you do that, far as i'm concerned, you have crossed the line

hell, a lot of times... you wonder if they would have even bothered to arrest and prosecute the dude if not for the inconvenient fact that the woman he terrorized turned out to be rosa parks

his "i'm sorry" don't make up for a woman being so afraid she had to give up her home and move into a high rise

[MADem]

3. Oh, cry me a river, Skippy!!!

Did he write her a letter? Why is he giving interviews now? I am profoundly unimpressed by his sudden urge to express his profound regrets. Let's see, he's doing eight to fifteen, and the crime happened in 94. He was sentenced in 95, he's exceeded ten years in the pokey--two more than his minimum sentence. Angling for parole, perhaps? When is his next hearing??

Do the full time, pal, and then do some repenting on your release by working with the poor and homeless...then get back to us.

[Zensea]

4. I don't know this man ...

... so I have no way of knowing if he is sincere or not. Neither do the others who have responded so far.
None of them know the man, so none of them have any way of knowing if he is sincere or not.
The responses so far strike me as being mean spirited.

[omulcol]

6. I don't know this man either ... but

my immediate thought was he should have drawn strength from his God BEFORE going out and attacking old women.
He should have been sentenced to ninety nine years for contemplating the crime ... another ninety nine for committing it ... and another ninety nine for hypocrisy.

[fishwax]

9. wow. 99 years for "contemplating" a crime

seems a little harsh ...

[Terran1212]

5. Wow, all of the replies don't understand Forgiveness

One of the most powerful sentiments of the African American civil rights and liberation movement.

[wain]

7. It's nice that he's sorry; better than no remorse

But the deed was done and that cannot be erased.

His being sorry does nothing for me.

[mitchum]

8. I've always assumed that he's been doing really hard time

[fishwax]

10. I'm guessing Rosa Parks would have forgiven him

but, of course, i have no way of knowing for sure.

[Raine]

11. He's sorry he attacked Rosa Parks

cause he will go 'down in history' as the man who attacked Rosa Parks. I wonder if he would be as upset it she had just been an elderly unknown woman that he attacked. I doubt it because the statement about the historical nature of it is a give-away. :-(

[pitohui]

13. yeah that got me too

this one is no prize catch

[annarbor]

12. Being from the Detroit area...

I remember the day that this happened. He should thank his luck stars that the cops caught him when they did. When the word got out that Mrs Parks had been robbed and assaulted, the people of Detroit went looking for him. I can't even imagine what would have happened had he been caught by the wrong crowd. Once paroled, he should look for a new town to live in...Miss Rosa Parks may have forgiven him, but I doubt the folks in Detroit will.

Ann Arbor

[unda cova brutha]

14. too little, too late

may he burn in hell.

[lisby]

17. Damn.

I sure hope you never get to play Judge of Souls.

Lisby

[Zensea]

15. I came back to look at this thread and what do I see?

Well I didn't say this before, but I thought it and it may get me in trouble with the moderators (I'm not sure how things are these days on this board since I'm not around here much anymore) but my initial response was the same as it is now & it consisted of what I wrote and of something I didn't write.
The polite way of saying the thing I didn't write is that the attitudes I see here aren't part of the Democratic party I know, the less polite way of saying it would be that I don't see much difference from the type of responses I see here and what a "Republican" would say. Republican is in quotes to indicate that I mean what people think of as Republicans when they attack them. And of course the rude way of writing what I'm thinking would have gotten this post deleted in the old days so I'll just leave it unsaid.

[JI7]

16. I didn't even know this happened and it was in 1994 ?

and he beat her ? ugh. i'm glad he feels bad and is sorry for it and hopefully has changed. from what i know Rosa Parks didn't make a big deal out of it. but considering what she faced in life, it probably wasn't so big.