Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke Tuesday on the anniversary of Rosa Parks' Dec. 1, 1955 arrest for refusing to give her bus seat to a white passenger.
The event sparked the boycott of Montgomery buses by black Americans to protest segregated seating. But Clinton, the current frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, also marked the occasion with a special logo on her social media accounts.
It did not go over well on Twitter, where users suggested that Parks is seemingly seated at the back of an H-shaped bus.
.@HillaryClinton's design team honored Rosa Parks today by moving her to the back of the bus. pic.twitter.com/eIYnVQ9uPa— George Scoville (@stackiii) December 1, 2015
You could've at least let Rosa sit at the front of the logo @HillaryClinton. pic.twitter.com/cTGorXG5c3— the other one (@imfromraleigh) December 1, 2015
Hillary Clinton has (what appears to be) Rosa Parks in her logo. I’m disgusted.— Ebenigga Scrooge (@PhillyTheBoss) December 1, 2015
In Alabama, Clinton spoke movingly about Parks's legacy in the civil rights movement.
"It’s always struck me how, depending on the way you look at it, Rosa Parks either did something tremendous or something rather humble," she said, noting that history is often made with an ordinary act "by seemingly ordinary people doing something extraordinary."
Speaking at the majority-black Dexter Avenue King Baptist Church, Clinton also said the United States must forcefully address issues like mass incarceration, gun violence and attempts to erode voting rights.
"We must be honest about the larger and deeper inequalities that continue to exist across our country," Clinton said.
But much of that seemed to be lost on Clinton's critics on Twitter, some of whom accused Clinton of being culturally tone deaf with her use of the logo.
Hillary Clinton's PR team needs to be stopped. That Rosa Parks-ish logo is an obscenity of cultural incompetence.— Kristen Mc Hugh (@kristenmchugh22) December 1, 2015
So now @HillaryClinton is basically pimping Rosa Parks' legacy in her logo for black votes? Nah. Just nah.— Lester Asamoah (@LesterAS1) December 1, 2015
Hillary gotta fire whoever threw Rosa Parks on the logo. Gotta do it tonight.— Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) December 1, 2015
Did those Black ladies in that PR firm think putting Rosa Parks in a Hillary Clinton logo was a good idea? If so, they suck at their jobs.— #IamSandraBland (@RavenRobin) December 1, 2015
Rosa and her legacy are both above this. Nah. I'm not feeling it for *any* candidate. pic.twitter.com/F4CoLEMzVV— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) December 1, 2015
Clinton's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.