Rosa Parks: Get well, soon

The AP via Yahoo News reports that the civil rights activist is suffering from dementia. Read the full article here:

Civil rights figure Rosa Parks has had dementia since at least 2002, according to medical records released as part of a legal fight over a hip-hop song titled with her name.

Parks' relatives claim she never would have agreed to the lawsuit if she had understood it. The lawsuit filed by lawyers on her behalf says the OutKast song "Rosa Parks" defamed her and used her name without permission.

The medical records, which a judge ordered released Monday, show a doctor's note indicated that Parks, 91, suffered from "progressive dementia," or severe mental impairment. The notes were shared with another doctor in October 2002, but the records don't show when they were written or when she was diagnosed, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.

Parks' guardian, former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, opposed releasing the medical records, saying they were private. The judge appointed Archer since Parks' family was questioning her well-being and understanding of the lawsuit.

"I'm not a doctor, but I know, dementia or not, my auntie would never, ever go to this length to hurt some young artists trying to make it in the world," said Rhea McCauley, Parks' niece. "As a family, our fear is that during her last days Auntie Rosa will be surrounded by strangers trying to make money off of her name."

Parks gained a place in history for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated city bus in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955. Her arrest triggered a 381-day bus boycott by blacks organized by a then little-known Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The song, though titled "Rosa Parks," is about the entertainment industry. Its chorus goes, "Ah, ha, hush that fuss, everybody move to the back of the bus."

Parks' lawyer first sued OutKast and record company BMG in 1999. A judge dropped OutKast as a defendant, and Parks' lawyers in August sued several record and distribution companies and stores that sold the song.

Defense attorneys for the record companies had requested that Parks testify in the case. However, Parks' lawyer said she could not because of her physical and mental state.

This is not good news at all and I can't do any comedy bits on this. It would not be right at all.