President Obama, Bayard Rustin and our collective debt to humanity

[ruggerson]

"The decade spanned by the 1954 Supreme Court decision on school desegregation and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 will undoubtedly be recorded as the period in which the legal foundations of racism in America were destroyed." - Down the Line, the collected writings of Bayard Rustin.

http://www.socialdemocrats.org/protopol.html

President-elect Barack Obama owes an historical debt to a courageous, gay, black man named Bayard Rustin, who, largely behind the scenes, helped pave the way for the modern civil rights movement of the 1950's and early 1960's.

"Arguably the high point of Bayard Rustin's political career was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which took place on August 28, 1963, the place of Dr. Martin Luther King's stirring "I Have a Dream" speech. Rustin was by all accounts the March's chief architect. To devise a march of at least one-quarter of a million participants and to coordinate the various sometimes fractious civil rights organizations that played a part in it was a herculean feat of mobilization.

...Although Bayard Rustin lived in the shadow of more charismatic civil rights leaders, he can lay real claim to have been an indispensable unsung force behind the movement toward equality for America's black citizens, and more largely for the rights of humans around the globe, in the twentieth century. Throughout his life, Rustin's Quakerism was a unifying force in his life and a strong plank in his personal philosophy, incorporating beliefs that were of central importance to him: that there is that of God in every person, that all are entitled to a decent life, and that a life of service to others is the way to happiness and true fulfillment."

http://www.quakerinfo.com/quak_br.shtml

"When Rustin and Randolph organized the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Senator Strom Thurmond railed against Rustin as a "Communist, draft-dodger, and homosexual" and produced an FBI photograph of Rustin talking to King while King was bathing, to imply that there was a same sex relationship between the two. Both men denied the allegation of an affair, but despite King's support, NAACP chairman Roy Wilkins did not allow Rustin to receive any public recognition for his role in planning the march."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin

---------------------------------------------------------------------

On a day when gay and lesbian American citizens are reeling from attempts by a coalition of groups to destroy their families, it is important to remember that we are all truly united in a common cause: the expansion of freedom and the endless pursuit of human dignity.

There are African American gay men and women who feel betrayed today by their own families. They are caught in the crossfire of blame, anger and ignorance.

We all owe a huge debt to Bayard Rustin.

Without him, we would not have the Civil Rights Act of 1963, the Voting Rights Act of 1964 or President-Elect Barack Obama in 2008.

On a day of both joy and grief for many of us, maybe we can look to Bayard Rustin, once again, to point the way.

"...A year before his death in 1987, Rustin said: "The barometer of where one is on human rights questions is no longer the black community, it's the gay community. Because it is the community which is most easily mistreated."

Let us all work together, in his memory, black and white and latino and asian, gay and straight, to ensure that the decade between 2008 and 2018 is the one wherein the legal foundations of homophobia in America are irrevocably destroyed.

[Zhade]

1. KICK

kick

[Chovexani]

2. K&R

:kick:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. kcik

[grantcart]

4. A well timed and beautiful post.

If you have an interest in the civil rights movment of the 60's you will find Bayard Rustin's fingerprints on all the major civil rights moves. But he is always in the shadows. Pacifist, Anti-war Activist, Gay, Socialist, he was a strong and proud independent thinker.

There is one media potrayal of him that is very touching. It is in the HBO movie Boycott where after providing MLK guidance on Ghandi and the strategy of activist non violence King has to ask him to leave because of his communist connections. It reminded me of the scene in Ghandi where Ghandi has to ask the Priest who has helped him so much to leave.

He is portrayed in that movie by Erik Dellums, the actor son of Ron Dellums.

Thanks for this reminder and tribute of courageous American. Bayard would have loved last night.

[Chovexani]

5. That was just a great movie period

I think I might Netflix it again. It should be especially poignant to watch now.

There's also a PBS documentary about him called Brother Outsider that you should check out. Logo shows it periodically, as does PBS obviously.

[grantcart]

10. kick

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Yes indeed!

Thanks for posting this! I thought Rustin had been dropped down the memory hole! I've been bringing him up all day and no one's heard of him. So thanks!

[ruggerson]

9. let's hope more hear of him now

[IndianaJones]

7. good post. nt.

[Chovexani]

8. Kick

[ruggerson]

11. ...

[grantcart]

12. he would have loved the march on the Mormon Temple happening in LA tonight

[ColbertWatcher]

13. k+r, n/t