Rosa Parks' Niece Speaks on Assaulted United Airlines Passenger Being Compared to Her Aunt
The nation seems to remain in shock after seeing footage of United Airlines passenger, Dr. David Dao, involuntarily dragged from his seat by airport security due to an overbooked flight and refusing to give up his seat.
The majority of viewers sided with Dao, dubbing him the clear victim in the situation, with some going as far as naming him the "Asian Rosa Parks." Giving her opinion on the controversial comparison is Parks' niece, Urana McCauley.
Speaking with TMZ, McCauley explained that though was happened to Dao was unjust, the comparison to her aunt, a civil rights pioneer, is flighty.
"Unfortunately, what happened to Dr. Dao is definitely wrong and it was definitely a mistreatment of him," she said. "But as someone who is her niece, and grew up with Rosa parks, and knowing her on a personal level, knowing all that she endured and knowing what Black people in this country endured at that time, I feel that you cannot compare the two."
Continuing along her explanation, she added one major point: "I think that what Dr. Dao is going to do is probably change the policy of United Airlines, but actually what my aunt did was change history."
Listen to her words in full, below:
Rosa Parks remains one of the leaders in the civil rights movement after she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955. Her powerful genture represented a major display of resistance against segregation in the south and led to a conversation about racism that remains relevant to this day.
Get the latest details on the United Airlines fiasco in the BET Breaks video, above.