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Portland Observer Black
£ 59K9
History Month
Page 5
Bayard Rustin: An Unsung Hero
his being gay and referred to his
longtime partner by euphemism
only. Even today, his name is not
nearly as well known as the other
greats of the Civil Rights move
ment.
This Black History Month, we
should not forget trailblazers like
Rustin.
Out of dedication to his life and
legacy, let us uplift the stories of
LGBT African-Americans who felt
and still feel the burdens of discrimi
nation — those whose very lives
illustrate the insistent fact that the
fight to treat all people equally is
both this country’s greatest accom
plishment and its greatest unfin
ished obligation.
Today, the NAACP, the nation's
oldest civil rights organization, and
the Human Rights Campaign, the
nation's largest LGBT civil rights
organization, are proud to work to
gether toward equality. And we're
proud that President Barack Obama
used his second inaugural address
to link the Civil Rights movement
and the LGBT Equality movement
just last month.
But long before a president like
Barack Obama was even possible,
Bayard Rustin was preaching an
equal future.
We shouldn't forget his sacrifice,
and the greatest tribute to his legacy
would be to finish his work.
Benjamin Todd Jealous is presi
dent and chief executive officer o f
the NAACP, and Chad Griffin is
president o f the Human Rights
Campaign.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
Bayard Rustin, a chief organizer o f the 1 9 6 3 March on Washing
ton and an aide to Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., attends a news
briefing on the civil rights march. As an openly gay man, Rustin
was attacked by everyone - Congressmen and activists, black
and white - simply for living openly.
Lifetime of Civil
Rights battles were
marginalized
by his sexuality
B enjamin T odd J ealous
and C had G riffin
by
for living openly. Yet, at a time when
few others would, Rustin proudly
A decade before Rosa Parks' ar wore that label.
rest for refusing to give up her seat
To Bayard Rustin, fighting for
on a Montgomery, Ala. bus, police his equality as a black man, while
dragged Bayard Rustin off a bus in leaving his identity as a gay man
Tennessee for the same act of pro unspoken, would have been an
test.
unthinkable betrayal.
When pressed about why he was
It was his firm belief that silence
resisting segregation, Rustin ges about either identity meant he ac
tured to a young white boy seated cepted the system of discrimination
at the front of the bus.
that allowed hatred about both to
"If I sit in the back," Rustin said, persist.
"I am depriving that child of the
Long before it was easy or safe,
knowledge that there is injustice Rustin was motivated to live openly.
here, which I believe is his right to He could have hidden the fact that
know."
he was gay.
Bayard Rustin, an often unsung
When confronted about it, he
hero of the civil rights movement, could have lied - that's what every
spent his entire life exposing injus one did in those days. But Bayard
tice in our nation. Even before he Rustin was exceptional.
served as lead organizer o f the 1963
He lived openly because to do
March on Washington where Dr. otherwise would be a missed oppor
Martin Luther King, Jr. declared his tunity in exposing the injustice and
dream, Rustin was labeled a Com intolerance he, along with other
munist and a radical by the govern members of the LGBT community,
ment.
experienced.
When he traveled to the segre
Despite a lifetime lived in service
gated South during the first-ever to justice and nonviolence, Rustin's
Freedom Rides, he experienced a legacy was marginalized by his sexu
barrage of racial slurs and violence. ality.
But in America, in the 1950s and
His 1987 New York Times obitu
60s, no label stuck to Bayard Rustin ary demonstrated the evasive lan
quite like "homosexual." As an guage about LGBT people that was
openly gay man, Rustin was attacked all too common in the media just a
by everyone — Congressmen and few short years ago.
activists, black and white -- simply
The obituary skirted the topic of
Get over it.
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Tuesday, A pril 2
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Providence Willamette
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519 15th St.
Oregon City
(Lunch provided)
your doctor about colon cancer screening.
Free community events
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness
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Friday. A pril 5
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Providence S t Vincent
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Souther Auditorium
9205 SW Barnes Road
Portland
(Lunch provided)
cancer prevention and treatm ent. Join us
a t one o f our free events. Space is lim ited,
and reservations are required.
For more information or to register, please
call Providence Resource Line at 503-574-6595
Cancer Talk Series:
Monday, March 11
or visit www.providence.org/coloncancer.
Free community events
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It's not just health care,
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6:30 to 8 p.m.
Providence Portland
Medical Center
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Amphitheater
4805 NE Glisan St.
Portland
(For people affected
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