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Lawyers

for civil rights activist Rosa Parks requested that an appeals

court reinstate her lawsuit against Outkast, whom she claims

misused her name in a their song "Rosa Parks."

Lawyers for

the 88 year old Parks claimed that she has the right to

sue to challenge the Outkast’s use of her name, which appeared

on the 2.5 million seller, Aquemini. She objects that the

group used her name in the song and the advertising for

it without her permission. She further claims that she was

offended by the racial slurs in the song.

“This lady

was deeply wounded by that,” Johnnie Cochran, a lawyer

for Parks, argued before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Rosa Parks is an icon in this country. She’s the mother

of the civil rights movement, … Because she stood up,

we can all stand up.”

Outkast’s lawyer,

Joseph Beck, is claiming that the song is protected by the

First Amendment and that the group doesn’t have to compensate

Parks at all. OutKast’s lawyer, Joseph Beck, argued that

the Grammy-nominated song is protected by the First Amendment

and that the rap group does not have to compensate Parks.

Cochran said

that the group could express themselves anyway they wished,

but they can be held accountable for the content that is

contained in their songs.

He urged the

appeals court to send the case back to Hackett in Detroit

for trial.

Appeals judges

Alan Norris, R. Guy Cole Jr. and John Holschuh took the

case under review and didn’t say when they will rule.

Beck said one

of OutKast’s lines in the disputed song, “move to the back

of the bus,” was derived from Parks’ experience. OutKast

intended the line as a message of displeasure to other rap

artists that OutKast doesn’t approve of, Beck told the judges.

“They are tying

themselves to her, metaphorically,” Beck said of OutKast.

Judge Holschuh

responded: “The fact is, counsel, that that’s the antithesis

of what Rosa Parks stood for. She refused to move to the

back of the bus.”