Bayard Rustin

Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
“The man who believes in nonviolence is prepared to be crushed, but will not crush others” (Bayard Rustin). Bayard Rustin was one of American’s first freedom writers. He was involved in the March on Washington, Civil Rights, Montgomery Bus Boycott, peace movements, and other things such as the Freedom House where he would travel to different countries to help out people in need. Rustin lived his life as an out gay person, his homosexuality had a huge impact on the way people viewed him. Many people do not know of Bayard Rustin because he is hardly mentioned. Bayard Rustin was a Quaker, which means that he is non-violent. He wanted the US to work together as a family and stop discrimination. His grandmother had taught in to stand up for what he believed in, but to not use violence to get his point across. Rustin wanted the people to understand that they are all one family and to stick together and look after each other. Bayard Rustin changed the lives of many people, and in return, he only wanted one thing: equality among people.
The Life of Bayard Rustin has many highlights. One of those highlights is that Bayard Rustin was involved in 60 years of activism. If it wasn’t for Rustin, the Civil Rights would not have won half of the victories they won. Rustin was responsible for the creation of the March on Washington, the discontinuing of the chain gang when he had to spend 22 days there and many other things. Another highlight is that Bayard was the energy that kept Randolph’s ideas going. He would risk his own life so he could help others in times of need. February 12, 1943, Rustin urged men to come on a stage and burn their draft cards, he also refused to register for a draft card, so he was arrested and sentenced to three years in federal prison for not accepting the fact of killing men. Rustin test the racial discrimination laws, which then resulted in his many arrests and how he got in trouble all the time. Rustin organized a memorial march for martin Luther King Jr. when he was shot and killed while in Memphis, Tennessee. Rustin was no longer invisible when Johnson became president. Johnson was the first president that felt deeply about people of African descent, and wanted equality for them.
This documentary also had many lowlights. One of these lowlights would be all the times that Rustin got arrested for very pointless things. Bayard for arrested for sitting with a white man on a public bus in Chapped Hill. He worked 10 hours a day for 22 days on the Chain Gang. Once Rustin’s 22 days were over, he wrote about his experience with the Chain Gang and they were then “discontinued” in North Carolina. He also got arrested by the French for trying to stop an atomic bomb in Labara. While Bayard was on a bus, he sat toward the front, the bus driver asked him to move and he refused. The bus driver called the police and Bayard was drug off the bus; while he was being drug of the bus, he pointed at a white girl and said that she should see what is really happening in the world. Bayard was not allowed to go eat in restaurants or go and see movies. He also was not allowed to hang out or be seen with his white friends. Bayard was very disappointed when Martin Luther King Jr. turned his back on him with Powell on November 13 of 1963 when Powell accused Bayard of being a sexual partner to King. Bayard was not upset with King because he did not want to ruin King’s reputation. “When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him” (Bayard Rustin). Bayard Rustin was a Quaker, Civil Rights Leader, public organizer and intellectual, and many other things. He changed the life of so many people; some of those people do not even know it was Bayard because he is not well mentioned. From the organization of the March on Washington to the organization of Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial march, Rustin was a very good organizer. He was like and respected by the people of African descent, and highly looked down upon by the white people. Whether it was testing the discrimination laws or going to prison multiple times, Bayard Rustin kept fighting until he took his last breath of life. This review finds this movie to be both moving and shocking. The way people were treated back in the 50’s and evens till today absolutely shocks me. This reviewer can somewhat relate to the feeling of discrimination. Not being able to go over to a friend’s house or being able to have a friend stay over or hang out because my mother is a lesbian. People are too judgmental to see who a person truly is, regardless of sex, race, color, orientation, etc. This reviewer finds it very remarkable that Bayard Rustin still kept going even though he was put through all those tough times. Bayard Rustin is someone who everyone should look up to. More schools need to teach about Bayard Rustin because this is the first time this reviewer has ever heard about Bayard Rustin.