Life of Bayard Rustin - Essay Example

First Sur Number 11 September Life of Bayard Rustin Contemporary historical reports have accredited Bayard Rustin (Hon. Yale Ph.D 1984) with creating the pacifist stratagem of the (1954–1965) modern Civil Rights Movement (Carbado and Weise). Crediting of Bayard Rustin’s critical duty in the great African-American movement did in turn strengthened his reputation and fame internationally through international bodies associated with and committed to the protection of human rights. Apart from the organization of the great African American march on Washington (Carbado and Weise), Bayard Rustin introduced the well-known Martin Luther King junior to the ‘Gandhi-an’ Nonviolence. Bayard Rustin is greatly credited for he is regarded as the source of Martin Luther King’s inspiration in the decision to criticize the economic inequality and the racial discrimination that was rampant at the time (Carbado and Weise). His contributions and accomplishments may be less known by the American public but historian argue that concur to the decision that Rustin’s life history and accomplishments were kept obscure due to the fact that he was gay (Carbado and Weise). Majority of the Civil rights (Carbado and Weise ) movements that Rustin was registered to, concealed his membership due to his homosexuality as homosexuality rights were not supported at the time by the leadership although Rustin never hid his sexual orientation. Majority of the Civil Rights leaders greatly condemned homosexuality on moral, legal, personal, and religious grounds (Carbado and Weise ). Bayard Taylor Rustin Early Struggles Bayard Rustin Taylor, was born on March 17, 1912 in West Chester, Pa. Rustin had no relationship whatsoever with his father, and Florence, his mother (16-year-old), was young and he even thought of her as his sister. Bayard Taylor Rustin took his values “Quaker” which, in his own words (Carbado and Weise), “were majorly based on the notions, and beliefs of one single family that all family members are equal,” which is in accordance to Jervis Anderson in Bayard Rustin’s book titled “Troubles I’ve Seen” during his teenage life he wrote poems, played on his high school football team as the left tackle and generally acted as an impromptu (Carbado and Weise) sit-in at a racist restaurant that would only serve his white friends and teammates and excluding him according to lore (Demilio). It was at this time that Rustin opened up to his grandmother about his sexuality claiming that he generally loved the company of men compared to young women where his grandmother encouraged him to pursue his desire (Carbado and Weise). In the year 1937, Bayard Rustin decided to move to (Carbado and Weise) New York City after leaping between Cheney State Teachers College and Wilberforce University. When he enrolled (Carbado and Weise) at City College, he decided to devote himself to performing and singing in a musical together with the (Carbado and Weise) Josh White Quartet. At this time, Bayard Rustin also joined in the Young Communist League although he did not last long as a member as he was ordered to stop the protest he was raising concerning the segregation of African Americans in the United State’s armed forces as he was still under surveillance of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover (Carbado and Weise). Bayard Rustin was greatly disappointed by the calling off of the 1941 march which caused him to join Rev. A.J Muste in his Fellowship of Reconciliation crusade. Rustin travelled all over the country campaigning and taking about the crusade’s mission and aims as they had launched (Carbado and Weise) the Congress of Racial Equality in the year 1942. He was later arrested after two years for lacking to appear on his draft board and also due to the refusal of alternative services (Carbado and Weise). He was sentenced to three year in jail but he only served 24 months whereby he was later transferred to a higher security prison because he had angered and vexed the authorities through his open homosexuality and desegregation protests (Carbado and Weise). Once he was released, Bayard Rustin boarded on the Journey of Reconciliation by CORE 1947 (Carbado and Weise), which was an initial type of the famous Freedom Rides, he embarked on a mission to ruling done by the supreme court in Morgan Virginia in the year 1946 concerning racial segregation and the way the states that violated the Commerce clause through the forcing of racial segregation on buses would be affected (Carbado and Weise). In the year 1948, he traveled to India, to deepen his commitment to a non-violent protest, by attending the world pacifist conference. Earlier in the year, Mahatma Gandhi (Carbado and Weise) had been assassinated, however his teachings had touched Rustin greatly. He was arrested in the year 1953 after he had given his speech in Pasadena, California for allegedly being involved in a sexual act with two American in a car. Encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr In the year 1956, following the advice of the labor leader and passionate activist A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin journeyed to Alabama to offer support to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (Carbado and Weise), in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Although he remained out of sight of the public, Bayard Rustin performed a dire role in familiarizing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings as he continued to organize and write publicity materials. After he had helped in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in organizing the Southern Christian (Carbado and Weise) Leadership Conference in the years 1956-1957, Bayard Rustin resulted to demonstrate against the government of France as it launched it nuclear testing program in North African. Rustin was not very successful as he was threatened by Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. that is king would not drop him then he would not be involved in their affairs and that he would publish an article in the paper demonstrating that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rustin Bayard Taylor were sexual lovers (Carbado and Weise). March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs A. Philip Randolph presented the idea of the 1963 march as he had wondered whether younger activists were usually offering short shrifts to the economic issued as they struggled and pushed for the eradication of racial segregation in South America. In 1962, (Carbado and Weise) he recruited Rustin, and the two began making plans, this time to commemorate (Carbado and Weise) the centennial of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation (Carbado and Weise).According to John D’Emilio Birmingham changed everything. In 1963, the United States was in a state of shock as the police under Commissioner Connor Bull attacked children using dogs and fire-hoses. This action forced Kennedy to start on the civil rights bill which was a great advantage to the activists (Carbado and Weise ). Bayard Rustin went to the state of Alabama to meet up with Dr. Martin Luther and expand on the focus of the march to freedom and jobs. From the headquarters of the march based in new york (Carbado and Weise 1133), Rustin had great plans as he planned for the coalition of the six biggest rights organizations: SCLC, SNCC, the National Urban League, CORE, Randolph’s Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and NAACP thy were termed as the ‘Big Six’ (Carbado and Weise). NAACP’s Roy Wilkins denied Rustin the chance to act as the front man due to his homosexual past claiming that since the march was so vital they should not place an individual and his liabilities at the front thereby Randolph was to serve as the director of the march and Rustin acted as his deputy (Carbado and Weise). This challenges were diverse and ranged from uniting feuding civil rights group leaders, fending off the opposition from the south American segregationists who greatly opposed the civil rights act, fending off the opposition from Northern Liberals that advocated for a cautious approach and figuring out the logistics of the demonstration. During this whole time, Rustin was in fear of interference by the Washington police and also from the FBI; the feud had arisen from the senate floor about three weeks into the march during when Strom Thurmond attached Bayard Rustin personally. This happened even though Thurmond had had a daughter with an African American woman who acted as the main in his house the main reason that Rustin feared was because he was an ex-communist and also gay. And yet, for all its connections with earlier demonstrations, the 1963 March purported a turning spur in Rustins relation to black activism; also as the campaign fascinated an increasingly (Carbado and Weise) broad alliance of advocates, Rustin grew increasingly indoctrinated of the necessity to progress beyond requests for civil liberties. By 1963, he held that, the "judicial ... pillars of segregation in America" had "essentially collapsed." Civil liberties triumphs, however, could not however discourse on crucial features of black subjugation (Carbado and Weise). With finances reestablishing race as the usual crucial determinant of African Americans lives, black lay-off and de facto discrimination in northern societies were developing, and living contingencies of the "vast volumes of African Americans in the north" were turning out to be worse. Despite the fact that the March on Washington fell short to highlight state politics, Rustin resided persuaded that a liberal coalition could be established upon black requests for full embodiment in the American labor and lifes requirements for economic equity. The African American liberation effort, he contemplated, "may have resulted to a more democratized life for the whites other than for the blacks.... It was not until Negroes violated de facto school discrimination in metropolitan towns that the problem of quality education and learning for all children whether black or white stirred into action." Furthermore, in their own care, associations would acknowledge that "industry is too powerful for labor only." (Carbado and Weise) Systematized labor could never "hold its individual in a conservative society without including the concerns of the opposition groups." Later, the ‘Big Six’ forerunners met with the current President, Kennedy, in the White House (Carbado and Weise). Bayard Rustin continued to stay out of sight, although he and Philip Randolph were not lucky in making it to the cover of Life 6th September. Four girls met their deaths in a church during the Birmingham bombing that occurred eight days later; in November, the current President, Kennedy, was assassinated, leaving President Johnson to pilot the Civil Rights Act through the Congress, signing it in the year 1964, which was the same time that Dr. Martin King was receiving the Nobel Prize. A Changing Movement During the launch of the A. Philip Randolph institute in the year 1964, Bayard Rustin caught himself entangled in democratic politics during the 1964 convention that was held in Atlantic City (Carbado and Weise). He warned the delegates concerned with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that they should back down after President Johnson signed a deal to base the state’s conventional wing. As the memories of the great Washington march faded, Bayard Rustin was comfortable with the Democratic Party Power structure which angered a lot of supporters of black power. He also denied any involvement with the antiwar activists after he failed in calling for the withdrawal of troops that were deployed in Vietnam (Carbado and Weise). International Activism and Gay Rights Despite the tensions that were experienced by the other black activists, Bayard Rustin remained engrossed in the fight for justice. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was murdered in Memphis, Tenn. (Carbado and Weise), Bayard Rustin contributed in the commemorative march and stipulated economic justice for the sanitation laborers. During this time he was involved and was focused on international causes, which included supporting Israel, providing and promoting free and fair elections in Africa and in Central America and assisting refugees as he had been elected as the vice chairman to the International Rescue Committee (Carbado and Weise). In the 1980s, Bayard Rustin also spoke out publicly concerning his sexuality that he had been involved in until the 1950s (Carbado and Weise). In an interview conducted by the Village Voice (1987), Rustin said that he thought that the gay community had a moral obligation in fighting for their rights and protecting the public against HIV/AIDS (Carbado and Weise). Death and Legacy Bayard Taylor Rustin died on 24 August 1987, which was only four days to the 24th anniversary of the great march. Since his death, he has been used as the focus of various biographies by authors such as Carbado, Devon W and Donald Weise. Works cited Demilio, John. "Homophobia and the Trajectory of Postwar American Radicalism: The Career of Bayard Rustin." Radical History Review, 1995. 62 (1995): 81--103. Print. Carbado, Devon W and Donald Weise. "Civil Rights Identity of Bayard Rustin, The." Tex. L. Rev., 82. (2003): 1133. Print. Anderson, Jervis. "Bayard Rustin: troubles Ive seen: a biography." University of California Press, (1998). D’emilio (journal) pages used 81, 82,85,90,94,113. Anderson jervis (journal) not paged (online journal) Carbado (article) pages used 1132-1141 Read More