Bayard Rustin --Joelle Avelino NPR
I've read a fair amount about the American Civil Rights Movement through the years and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom which took place in the summer of 1963. The goal was to bring together 100,000 people for a mass rally at the Lincoln Memorial. The estimate is that a quarter of a million came from across the United States, with at least 75% being Black.
Most of us know about the "I Have a Dream Speech" delivered by the Rev. Dr, Martin Luther King Jr. I've seen the photos of Civil Rights leaders alongside Hollywood stars such as Harry Belafonte and Charlton Heston. I had never heard of one of the principle organizers by the name of Bayard Rustin who is now the subject of a Netflix biopic. Rustin, a Black man, was a Quaker in a sea of Baptists and openly gay as well. His orientation was not accepted in society nor by many of the Black leaders including King. Even though they were friends for many years, Rustin's homosexuality was seen as a significant liability when so many were looking to discredit what they were working to achieve. Yet at times he was figuratively and literally the man behind MLK.
According to an NPR piece:
Rustin's belief in nonviolence began when he was a child growing up with his grandmother, a Quaker, in Pennsylvania in the 1920s. It solidified in adulthood after he discovered the work of Indian revolutionary, Mahatma Gandhi. For most of his life, Rustin was the person behind-the-scenes, dreaming up transformative moments like the March On Washington. He wanted others, including Dr. King, to be the face of that dream.
I would say that Rustin follows the conventions of many "success against all odds" film stories and the music swells at all the predictable places. Still, Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin is exceptional. And this is a compelling aspect of the Civil Rights story I'm glad I now know something about. Ya live and ya learn!
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