Presidential Medal Of Honor Posthumously Awarded To Bayard Rustin

Trigger

I just (12/2/2013) read that the Harvard University announced an event at the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement titled “The Legacy of Bayard Rustin: Civil Rights Icon”. This is a talk by Executive Director Walter Naegle of the Bayard Rustin Fund.

PBS introduces this man in a 2003 documentary as “the life and work of a forgotten prophet of social change.”

Bayard Rustin certainly has a colorful and remarkable biography!

At the White House ceremony on November 20, 2013, President Obama presented Rustin's award to Walter Naegle, his partner of ten years.

Communism

I am not sure why a probably homosexual man would have anything to do with the Stalinist controlled communist party in the U.S. I don’t think that the Soviet communists loved homosexuals.This must have been a some kind of a delusion by any homosexual so inclined.

“Following directions from the Soviet Union, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and its members were active in the civil rights movement for African Americans. Following Stalin's "theory of nationalism", the CPUSA once favored the creation of a separate "nation" for negroes, to be located in the American Southeast. In 1941, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin ordered the CPUSA to abandon civil rights work and focus supporting U.S. entry into World War II.” (source).

I am not surprised that the KGB attempted to use the civil rights movements to subvert the political landscape in the U.S. I wish, one day we will learn more about it.

Bayard Rustin’s association with Socialism is probably his greatest blemish!

Speak Truth To Power

“Rustin served as an unidentified member of the American Friends Service Committee's task force to write "Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence," (Unfortunately, I did not have yet time to read it) published in 1955. This was one of the most influential and widely commented upon pacifist essays in the United States. Rustin had wanted to keep his participation quiet, as he believed that his known sexual orientation would be used by critics as an excuse to compromise the 71-page pamphlet when it was published. It analyzed the Cold War and the American response to it, and recommended non-violent solutions.”

Is this one of the reasons why this phrase is so famous in the U.S.?

He was raised by a Quaker grandmother and he was born in (William) Pennsylvania. Quakers are an amazing part of U.S. history!

As an aside: You will find following note in the linked document above:

“In September, 2010, the Board of Directors of the American Friends Service Committee approved a minute restoring the name of Bayard Rustin as one of the principal authors of Speak Truth to Power (see historical note at the end). AFSC regrets the failure to acknowledge Bayard Rustin's co-authorship of this pamphlet in 1955. Our records now include his name in the list of authors.”

Advised Martin Luther King On Non-Violence

“Rustin took leave from the War Resisters League in 1956 to advise Martin Luther King Jr. on Gandhian tactics. King was organizing the public transportation boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, known as the Montgomery Bus Boycott. According to Rustin, "I think it's fair to say that Dr. King's view of non-violent tactics was almost non-existent when the boycott began. In other words, Dr. King was permitting himself and his children and his home to be protected by guns." Rustin convinced King to abandon the armed protection, including a personal handgun.” (source).

If Mr. Rustin had this kind of influence, then this is very laudable!

Muslim World And Religious Fanaticism

One would wish there was a Bayard Rustin (or Mahatma Gandhi) among Muslims. Would he be have been able to teach non-violence to someone like Osama Bin Laden?