Remembering Bayard Rustin

[theHandpuppet]

Thanks to dbackjon for remembering Bayard on the LGBT forum. I hadn't seen this article posted but if it's a dupe, I think it's worth posting again.

On Martin Luther King Day, remembering his largely forgotten mentor
By Hector Tobar
January 20, 2014
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-on-martin-luther-king-mentor-bayard-rustin-20140120,0,7588986.story#ixzz2rMBt4IbX

... (excerpts)
But King was inspired by an existing tradition of nonviolent resistance to injustice. One of the men who helped shape King’s ideas -- he’s often been called a leading mentor to King -- was Bayard Rustin.

Rustin’s contributions to the civil rights movement are not nearly as well-known as King’s. A recent event at Yale University celebrating his life called him "the most important civil rights leader you've never heard of."...

...“Rustin was a charismatic leader, a lifelong pacifist, an imprisoned conscientious objector during World War II, a leading American teacher of Gandhian nonviolence, perhaps the prime mentor to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the major planner and organizer of black America's triumphal March on Washington in 1963,” Wicker wrote. “But Rustin also was gay, decades before the Supreme Court legitimated private sexual activity, and that cost him the backing of even some radicals, black as well as white, for whom he had been an eloquent and courageous leader for nearly 40 years.”

Rustin died in 1987 at the age of 75. Last year, not long after the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, President Obama posthumously granted Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[frazzled]

1. There was an excellent POV documentary about him

from 2003, that aired on PBS: "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin." It had incredible footage, including debates with Malcom X. Watch for it to be re-aired, hopefully, again.

Long before Martin Luther King, Jr. became a national figure, Bayard Rustin routinely put his body — and his life — on the line as a crusader for racial justice. Rustin's commitment to pacifism and his visionary advocacy of Gandhian nonviolence made him a pioneer in the 1940s, and captured King's imagination in the 1950s. In 1963, with more than 20 years of organizing experience behind him, Rustin brought his unique skills to the crowning glory of his civil rights career: his work organizing the historic March on Washington, the biggest protest America had ever witnessed.

But Rustin was also seen as a political liability. He was openly gay during the fiercely homophobic era of the 40s and 50s; as a result, he was frequently shunned by the very civil rights movement he helped create. The compelling new film Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin chronicles Rustin's complex life story, a tale of race, prejudice, and idealism at the heart of 20th century America. Though he had to overcome the stereotypes associated with being an illegitimate son, an African American, a gay man and a one-time member of the Communist Party, Rustin — the ultimate outsider — eventually became a public figure and respected political insider. He not only shaped civil rights movement strategy as a longtime advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr., but was known and respected by numerous U.S. Presidents and foreign leaders.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/brotheroutsider/film_description.php

[theHandpuppet]

2. I'll have to see if PBS has it available for sale

If so, I'll watch it and then donate my copy to the local public library. Thanks for the heads up.