Bayard Rustin (1910-1987)

[Studlover (imported)]

Bayard Rustin (1910-1987)

In 1937, at the age of 25, an openly gay man named Bayard Rustin started training at the American Friends Service Committee. By 1963 he was perhaps one of the most important figures in African-American and glbt history. Rustin fought social and politician causes behind the scenes and thus his name is rarely spoken. Yet few would imagine it was he, an openly gay man, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tapped to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington (Where King gave his famed "I Have A Dream" speech). Neither King nor Rustin did what they did for the glory. They saw an injustice in the country and the World and dedicated every ounce of themselves to making it right--one person at a time.

Did you know that Bayard Rustin, one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s colleagues and the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, was gay?

BAYARD RUSTIN, a political activist and organizer during the civil rights movement and close associate of Martin Luther King Jr., was born in 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His parents were unmarried at the time of his birth, and his father left his mother shortly thereafter. Rustin grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents; his mother lived with them, but posed as his sister. He attended Wilberforce in 1930-31, Cheney State Normal School (now Cheney State College) in 1931-33, and City College of New York in 1933-35. Rustin was a member of the Communist Party and an organizer with the Young Communist League from 1936 until 1941, when he left the party. He was cofounder and field secretary of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), cofounder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and a co-organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. He also was executive director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute in New York from 1964 to 1979. During the sixties he frequently challenged the Black Power activists, encouraging instead coalition politics. His writings include Down the Line: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin (1971) and Strategies for Freedom: The Changing Patterns o f Black Protest (1976). Rustin died in New York City in 1987.

Educated at Wilberforce University, Cheyney State College and City College of New York (never received B.A.), Rustin began his impressive political career at an early age. Not only was he an integral part of the African-American civil rights movement, but became one of the leading advocates and examples for gay equality.

Bayard Rustin's celebrated career captured the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who recruited Mr. Rustin as an assistant and colleague in 1956. See what affiliations and causes led up to his lead role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech:

1937 Rustin began activist career by training at the American Friends Service Committee.

1937 Became organizer for the Youth Communist League (later to become anti-Communist).

1941 Quit Youth Communist League. Colleague of A. Philip Randolph, President of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Race Relations Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR).

1942 Field Secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Colleague of Norman Thomas, a leader in the democratic socialist movement.

1947 Helped plan the Journey of Reconciliation "freedom ride" which paved way for the freedom rides in the early 1960's. After being arrested, Rustin's experiences on a chain gang were chronicled on The New York Post which initiated an investigation that eliminated chain gangs in North Carolina.

1940's Assisted in lobbying President Truman to eliminate segregation in the military.

1945 Organized the Free India Committee, fighting for India's independence from Britain.

1951 Organized the Committee to Support South African Resistance (American Committee on Africa).

1953 Joined the War Resisters League.

1956 Began assisting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1957 Organized the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.

1960's Helped form the Recruitment and Training Program (R-T-P). Vice Chairman of the International Rescue Committee.

1963 Deputy Director and chief organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. King presented the "I Have a Dream" speech.

1964 Helped found the A. Randolph Institute (APRI).

1980 Participated in the March for Survival on the Thai-Cambodian border.

1982 Helped found the National Emergency Coalition for Haitian Rights. Chairman of the Executive committee of Freedom House.

1983 Rustin's report South Africa: Is Peaceful Change Possible? led to the formation of Project South Africa.

Before his death, Rustin wrote several essays, recorded songs and received numerous honorary doctorates while continuing his involvement as an officer on numerous human rights committees until his death in 1987. He is survived by his partner of 10 years, Walter Naegle.

You can learn more about Bayard Rustin and his inspiring influence on today's African-American and gay civil rights movements in the documentary Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.

[tinydick (imported)]

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[Bagoas (imported)]

Yes, I remember Bayard Rustin as an outspoken Communist whose advocacy of Communish engendered deep distrust of both CORE and SCLC. His Communist associations did a disservice to the cause of black rights in this country.

His later disavowal of Communism was less than wholly convincing and left those two organizations and their leaders tainted with the suspicion of Communist sympathies.

[Studlover (imported)]

Yes, I remember Bayard Rustin as an outspoken Communist whose advocacy of Communish engendered deep distrust of both CORE and SCLC. His Communist associations did a disservice to the cause of black rights in this country.

His later disavowal of Communism was less than wholly convincing and left those two organizations and their leaders tainted with the suspicion of Communist sympathies.

It is my understanding the Martin Luther King, Jr. also had Communistic affliation.

Studlover

[bobov (imported)]

Studlover, did you think you were defending Rustin in saying that about King? No one is beyond reproach.

King's status is unclear re communism. J. Edgar Hoover thought King was "pink," or at least he let it be known that he thought so. In fact, just before King's murder, the country was rife with rumors about King's leanings. This was at the height of the Cold War - a period difficult to reconstruct for those not old enough to remember it. Back then, anyone critical of established, conventional society was liable to be tarred as "pink." Kennedy and Nixon, during the 1960 presidential race, competed to see who was most anti-communist. There really was a Communist Party USA, and its few members dispersed themselves throughout the country to "bore from within" and undermine US institutions. Many affiliated themselves with protest movements of all kinds, including the Civil Rights Movement. This didn't mean that Freedom Marchers were "Reds." It meant that real reds sought to advance their cause by stealing the credentials of legitimate protesters, and using the protesters to destabilize society.

To see the true relationship of the left to gay people, compare the status of gays in countries where communism prevails (or did prevail) - the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, Cuba, etc. - to the status of gays in the US. Where communism ruled, gays were criminals and pariahs. In the Soviet Union, PRC, or Cuba, being gay bought you a one way ticket to a slave labor camp. In Fidel's Cuba, gays are still sent to the Isle of Pines concentration camp, from which few ever return. Government policy in all these countries is openly hostile to gays. Yet here in the US, the left professes solidarity with gays. What explains the difference?

The time-honored strategy of the left is to do everything it can to destabilize a society they're struggling to control. For that reason, they'll align themselves with any movement that challenges the establishment. That only lasts until they actually achieve power. As soon as the left runs things, they want unchallenged power, and they turn on the groups they once sponsored. Don't be fooled. If you're gay, "progressives" are not your friends. They're just using you.

[Studlover (imported)]

Studlover, did you think you were defending Rustin in saying that about King? No one is beyond reproach.

King's status is unclear re communism. J. Edgar Hoover thought King was "pink," or at least he let it be known that he thought so. In fact, just before King's murder, the country was rife with rumors about King's leanings. This was at the height of the Cold War - a period difficult to reconstruct for those not old enough to remember it. Back then, anyone critical of established, conventional society was liable to be tarred as "pink." Kennedy and Nixon, during the 1960 presidential race, competed to see who was most anti-communist. There really was a Communist Party USA, and its few members dispersed themselves throughout the country to "bore from within" and undermine US institutions. Many affiliated themselves with protest movements of all kinds, including the Civil Rights Movement. This didn't mean that Freedom Marchers were "Reds." It meant that real reds sought to advance their cause by stealing the credentials of legitimate protesters, and using the protesters to destabilize society.

To see the true relationship of the left to gay people, compare the status of gays in countries where communism prevails (or did prevail) - the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, Cuba, etc. - to the status of gays in the US. Where communism ruled, gays were criminals and pariahs. In the Soviet Union, PRC, or Cuba, being gay bought you a one way ticket to a slave labor camp. In Fidel's Cuba, gays are still sent to the Isle of Pines concentration camp, from which few ever return. Government policy in all these countries is openly hostile to gays. Yet here in the US, the left professes solidarity with gays. What explains the difference?

The time-honored strategy of the left is to do everything it can to destabilize a society they're struggling to control. For that reason, they'll align themselves with any movement that challenges the establishment. That only lasts until they actually achieve power. As soon as the left runs things, they want unchallenged power, and they turn on the groups they once sponsored. Don't be fooled. If you're gay, "progressives" are not your friends. They're just using you.

bobov, Point well taken. I said it my "understanding." Nothing ever has been proven about MLK being "pink." I posted my remark to see what others had to say.

Studlover

[Blaise (imported)]

Bayard Rustin (1910-1987)

In 1937, at the age of 25, an openly gay man named Bayard Rustin started training at the American Friends Service Committee. By 1963 he was perhaps one of the most important figures in African-American and glbt history. Rustin fought social and politician causes behind the scenes and thus his name is rarely spoken. Yet few would imagine it was he, an openly gay man, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tapped to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington (Where King gave his famed "I Have A Dream" speech). Neither King nor Rustin did what they did for the glory. They saw an injustice in the country and the World and dedicated every ounce of themselves to making it right--one person at a time.

Did you know that Bayard Rustin, one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s colleagues and the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, was gay?

BAYARD RUSTIN, a political activist and organizer during the civil rights movement and close associate of Martin Luther King Jr., was born in 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His parents were unmarried at the time of his birth, and his father left his mother shortly thereafter. Rustin grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents; his mother lived with them, but posed as his sister. He attended Wilberforce in 1930-31, Cheney State Normal School (now Cheney State College) in 1931-33, and City College of New York in 1933-35. Rustin was a member of the Communist Party and an organizer with the Young Communist League from 1936 until 1941, when he left the party. He was cofounder and field secretary of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), cofounder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and a co-organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. He also was executive director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute in New York from 1964 to 1979. During the sixties he frequently challenged the Black Power activists, encouraging instead coalition politics. His writings include Down the Line: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin (1971) and Strategies for Freedom: The Changing Patterns o f Black Protest (1976). Rustin died in New York City in 1987.

Educated at Wilberforce University, Cheyney State College and City College of New York (never received B.A.), Rustin began his impressive political career at an early age. Not only was he an integral part of the African-American civil rights movement, but became one of the leading advocates and examples for gay equality.

Bayard Rustin's celebrated career captured the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who recruited Mr. Rustin as an assistant and colleague in 1956. See what affiliations and causes led up to his lead role in organizing the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech:

1937 Rustin began activist career by training at the American Friends Service Committee.

1937 Became organizer for the Youth Communist League (later to become anti-Communist).

1941 Quit Youth Communist League. Colleague of A. Philip Randolph, President of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Race Relations Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR).

1942 Field Secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Colleague of Norman Thomas, a leader in the democratic socialist movement.

1947 Helped plan the Journey of Reconciliation "freedom ride" which paved way for the freedom rides in the early 1960's. After being arrested, Rustin's experiences on a chain gang were chronicled on The New York Post which initiated an investigation that eliminated chain gangs in North Carolina.

1940's Assisted in lobbying President Truman to eliminate segregation in the military.

1945 Organized the Free India Committee, fighting for India's independence from Britain.

1951 Organized the Committee to Support South African Resistance (American Committee on Africa).

1953 Joined the War Resisters League.

1956 Began assisting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1957 Organized the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.

1960's Helped form the Recruitment and Training Program (R-T-P). Vice Chairman of the International Rescue Committee.

1963 Deputy Director and chief organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. King presented the "I Have a Dream" speech.

1964 Helped found the A. Randolph Institute (APRI).

1980 Participated in the March for Survival on the Thai-Cambodian border.

1982 Helped found the National Emergency Coalition for Haitian Rights. Chairman of the Executive committee of Freedom House.

1983 Rustin's report South Africa: Is Peaceful Change Possible? led to the formation of Project South Africa.

Before his death, Rustin wrote several essays, recorded songs and received numerous honorary doctorates while continuing his involvement as an officer on numerous human rights committees until his death in 1987. He is survived by his partner of 10 years, Walter Naegle.

You can learn more about Bayard Rustin and his inspiring influence on today's African-American and gay civil rights movements in the documentary Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.

He was a g

reat and courageous man. Thank you for this fine post.

"Don't be fooled. If you're gay, "pr

ogressives" are not your friends. They're just using you."

Might well be true. Good warning. Your reference to Castro is case in point.

[Studlover (imported)]

He was a great and courageous man. Thank you for this fine post.

"

346300]
Don't be fooled. If you're gay, "progressives" are not your friends. They're just using you.

"

Might well be true. Goo
[/quote]
d warning. Your reference to Castro is case in point.

Blaise, thank you. I don't care if he was "pinko" or whatever. The fact is, like you said, he was a great and courageous man. We need more people like him particularly in today's world.

Studlover

[Beau Geste (imported)]

Actually, communists don't seem all that dangerous any more. Like most idealists, they ran into trouble when they tried to apply their theories to the messy real world. Even the Communist Party of the Republic of China seems to be almost innocuous any more.

As far as Ruskin and Dr. King are concerned, it seems likely that, once the generation (the baby boomers) who made the civil rights movement their main political cause in their youth, have expired, that movement will be perceived as much less important than it is considered now. Most of the civil rights laws had relatively little effect outside the South--where they did revolutionize politics--because similar legislation already existed in most states outside the South by the early 1960's. In reality, civil rights legislation directly affected only five percent or so of the population, at that time. I grew up in an area where there were few individuals from minority groups except for Native Americans, and people there tended to view the civil right movement as something that was overemphasized, even at the time.

There is very little of tangible import which Martin Luther King did, that can be identified. His main contribution was to give speeches. A lot of the "donkey work" in the civil rights movement was done by Roy Wilkins, Ralph Abernathy, and others. So was King exceptionally important because he gave inspiring speeches? He did have an effect on public opinion because of his oratory. And Americans have a tendency to consider good public speakers or publicized writers to be more important than those who work in the background and are seldom heard. What did Daniel Webster do that was of real importance? How about Benjamin Franklin? Or Ronald W. Reagan? (Okay, Reagan's policies may have put pressure on the Soviet Union and contributed to its dissolution--but the Afghan mujaheddin probably were just as effective in weakening the USSR.) And, at the present, whatever popularity Barack Obama has attained, comes from his oratory and not from his accomplishments.

And should every generation be allowed to develop "myths of greatness" which are treated as valid even though they are largely made up of exaggerations? Personally, I can't forgive George Washington and Thomas Jefferson for owning slaves. Yet they were considered almost godlike in the nineteenth century. I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't be better off just accepting the fact that most historical figures happened to be in the right place at the right time, and would probably never have been considered exceptional otherwise.

Incidentally, some historians are already pointing out that the most significant long-term effect of the civil rights movement, may be the effect it has had, and will have, on women's rights. Females are, after all, more than half the population.

I might add that, while I once thought King was an exceptional historical figure, I became disillusioned with him when I heard the stories about his moral laxity. I'm not a strict moralist myself, but it appears that, when they find out that King had dozens or hundreds of sexual encounters with women other than his wife, younger African Americans get the idea that promiscuity is all right, and that attitude (whether or not it is associated with King) seems to have been one of the principal causes of the persistence of African American poverty and the endurance and even expansion of slums.

[bobov (imported)]

Dear Beau, one scarcely knows where to start. It would take a book to adequately respond to your last post. I'll do the briefest outline I can.

Communism killed over 100 million people, and ruined the lives of hundreds of millions more; it stunted and oppressed the economies and cultures of half the world, and drained the resources of the other half in a struggle to resist it. It was the greatest evil of the twentieth century. Some American communists may have been "idealists," because they really didn't know, but where communism prevailed, it was all about naked power, exercised for the benefit of those who had it. "Ideals" were for the suckers at the bottom, who could be persuaded that their misery and death was for a great cause. You're pissing on the graves of millions of innocents when you call communists "idealists."

The Communist Party of the People's Republic of China (the Republic of China is on Taiwan) operates a network of concentration camps with 20 million - 30 million slave laborers. Torture is standard in the camps. A common punishment is to tie someone naked across the face of a large board or wheel and leave them on the ground, out of doors, for as much as a month. Most of the workers in Chinese factories are de facto employees of the state, and are forced to live in dormitories and work 70-80 hour weeks for little more than subsistence wages. The communist party retains an iron grip on power. Despite the discovery that capitalism works, and the growth of an affluent elite in the big cities that the Western press loves to talk about ("see - they're just like us"), most Chinese live in dire poverty, which the communists do not plan to alleviate - peasants are forbidden to move to the cities; they get substandard medical care; they are allowed into colleges only in small quotas; the countryside is being used to dump toxic industrial waste, resulting in countless sicknesses and deaths. The communists remain the obstacle to prosperity for most Chinese. And by the way, they tested a satellite weapon just yesterday, and have been pouring resources into the development of military technology. You said that they "seem to be almost innocuous."

The Civil Rights Movement was the first step in the struggle to overcome racism. Racism is far from dead in the US, although it's no longer legal or respectable - a direct result of the Civil Rights Movement. Racism was once - within my lifetime - public, normal, and respected. Watch a movie or tv show from the 1960s or before, and you'll see contemptuous patronage of blacks that would be a scandal today. You don't realize how much attitudes have changed. My mother worked in Washington, D.C., in the 1940s, and she tells me it was required - in the nation's capitol, not the Mississippi Delta - that any black person step off the sidewalk into the street if a white person was passing. Black people had to fight for the right to be soldiers in WWII - it was assumed they were too cowardly and childlike to fight. When Jackie Robinson started with the Brooklyn Dodgers, most white players refused to talk to him. Lynchings were still common in the 1960s. That was the world then, and the Civil Rights Movement was what began the change. Race has been the great moral lesion festering at the heart of America. To say that the struggle for healing - a struggle which continues - is overblown by nostalgic boomers is ... uninformed. Civil rights legislation may have targeted the South, but its effects were felt everywhere. Racism may have been institutionalized in the South, but it was pervasive in the US - from the Draft Riots during the Civil War, when hundreds of blacks in New York City were murdered by rioters who blamed them for the War, until 2007, when people will stand for an hour in the aisle of a New York commuter train rather than sit next to a black businessman in a suit. Only 5%? I think not.

I'm tired now. I'll write again in response to the rest of your post.