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Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The Scene

Twitter loses it over 'historical flex' after Detroit native posts throwback photo with Rosa Parks

Posted By Jerilyn Jordan on Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 5:09 PM

click to enlarge

Rosa Parks with young Cosey. - COURTESY OF CHANDLER COSEY

Courtesy of Chandler Cosey
Rosa Parks with young Cosey.

Well, it's time to add “historical flex” to your vocab arsenal because one West Side Detroit native just broke the internet with a single tweet.

Twitter erupted Tuesday after model and artist Chandler Cosey posted what appeared to be a super casual, totally unassuming throwback photo of himself as a baby, next to a recent photo of the 24-year-old, who now lives in Philadelphia.

“Lil Chan vs Big Chan” the caption reads. It didn't take long for Twitter to recognize the real star of the throwback photo, none other than literal Civil Rights icon Rosa friggin' Parks, who is seen in the yellowed photograph smiling and holding a wiggly and disinterested plaid suspender-wearing Lil Chan.

Lil Chan vs Big Chan pic.twitter.com/P0BltGh8l6
— Chan Cozy (@lovechvn) November 19, 2019

Twitter, naturally, was not going to let Cosey get away with such flexing.

Nigga just dropped a never before seen picture of Rosa Parks like it’s nun https://t.co/O6p6JmUxKs
— KEEP IT 99 CAUSE I LIE (@GIs_Keeper) November 19, 2019

This gotta be one of the rarest photos in history.
— Kal_El Ra 💎💫 (@KALELthagod) November 19, 2019

So you just going to pretend like Rosa Parks ain’t holding you? https://t.co/lADtkNFx0v
— September12th💋 (@MykeshiaFairley) November 19, 2019

He just flexed on all of us like it was nothing https://t.co/QW6CawcJqY
— Malanii 👱🏼‍♀️🥀 (@Malanii_M) November 19, 2019

casually posted up w/ ms rosa parks. what a HISTORICAL flex https://t.co/thaZx6VDca
— baby spice (@jxdior) November 19, 2019

Others point out that the photo highlights the fact that the Civil Rights Movement was not as long ago as we seem to remember.

That’s really rosa parks holding him. The civil rights era really wasn’t that long ago https://t.co/2G9fOmOvya
— Nia 🌼 (@HeyitsNia) November 19, 2019

Any day Rosa Parks is trending outside of Black History Month is a good day! ✊🏾 https://t.co/RUePv6aRBq
— BlackWomenViews (@blackwomenviews) November 19, 2019

Of course, the post brought out some low-key conspiracy theorists: Is it Photoshop or Chan's gran?

There’s always the possibility that it’s photo shopped, but who honestly has the desire to randomly photoshop Mama parks for clout lmaoo https://t.co/Bqvu9lvcyi
— WahidaApplebomb iGottaPutYouOn (@wahidizm) November 19, 2019

Some Twitter-users may want to peep Rosa's Wikipedia page before having a heart attack. (She died in 2005.)

Me checking to see if rosa parks is okay after seeing her trending #RosaParks pic.twitter.com/YQNKZh8V1Q
— Jamie (@Corithio) November 19, 2019

Cosey says he is in awe at the response to his post, which has accumulated more than 6,000 reshares and 40,000 likes.

“The photo was taken in August 1996 I was around one and a half years old,” Cosey shares with Metro Times via text. “The event was a civil rights activist dinner I believe and it was taken by Monica Morgan a photographer from Detroit.”

In 1955, Parks famously refused her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott and nationwide activism to end segregation. She later settled in Detroit with her husband and died at the age of 92 of natural causes. The restored Montgomery bus is housed at the Henry Ford Museum and Parks is buried in Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery.

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Tags: Rosa Parks, Image