tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post3662718210940409810..comments2024-02-28T12:04:11.837-08:00Comments on Jesus in Love Blog: ML King memorial and the gay hero of the March on Washington: Bayard RustinKittredge Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-26240912392771990652011-09-11T21:39:47.821-07:002011-09-11T21:39:47.821-07:00I am so pleased to read that Bayard Rustin is at l...I am so pleased to read that Bayard Rustin is at last getting some well deserved recognition.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-16880093739304323762011-08-29T07:14:30.336-07:002011-08-29T07:14:30.336-07:00Dedication of the King memorial was postponed due ...Dedication of the King memorial was postponed due to Hurricane Irene. It won’t happen until September or October. So we will have another occasion to reflect on the contributions of the great civil rights leaders and those who worked behind the scenes to make it all possible.<br /><br />I’ve enjoyed hearing from some of the many people who admire Bayard Rusin, including the latest comments from CJ, Trudie and Sandi. <br /><br />Trudie, I’m glad to know that your father was so insightful and tuned in to the civil rights movement, in addition to being a wonderful artist. Sandi, I’d love to see that documentary on Rustin. I looked it up and it’s called “Brother Outsider.” <br /><br />CJ, that’s cool that Rustin is on your FB page. Rustin did even more than “the long slow drudge that lays the ground work for change.” He had the ideas that laid the groundwork too. I’m adding a new link to the main post to his website, Rustin.org. There Walter Naegle, Rustin’s lover until his death, writes about Rustin’s contributions, including this:<br /><br />“In February 1956, when Bayard Rustin arrived in Montgomery to assist with the nascent bus boycott, Martin Luther King, Jr. had not personally embraced nonviolence. In fact, there were guns inside King’s house, and armed guards posted at his doors. Rustin persuaded boycott leaders to adopt complete nonviolence, teaching them Gandhian nonviolent direct protest.”Kittredge Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-67924140046166362642011-08-25T09:46:49.135-07:002011-08-25T09:46:49.135-07:00Kitt, Thank you for this wonderful piece! A while ...Kitt, Thank you for this wonderful piece! A while back I saw a PBS documentary about Mr. Rustin, and I thought it was very well done. I had thought before that I knew something about him, but after watching this film, I realized I had known almost nothing! He is also a great inspiration to me, and I hope he will get the much wider recognition that he deserves.Sandinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-59471751467170668472011-08-25T04:58:09.570-07:002011-08-25T04:58:09.570-07:00I certainly add my enthusiastic "Amen" t...I certainly add my enthusiastic "Amen" to the comments of Turtle Woman and CJ. Somewhere in the back of my recollection, I believe I heard my dad Ted, who died in 1990, talking about Bayard Rustin in a very positive and admiring tone. After reading this excellent memorial, I understand why!Trudiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17866513608442388870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-64150848058653103112011-08-24T21:12:50.261-07:002011-08-24T21:12:50.261-07:00Rustin has been a personal hero of mine for many y...Rustin has been a personal hero of mine for many years (check out the "People Who Inspire You" section on my fb page) so I'm especially glad that you're remembering him today and this weekend. It takes people behind the scenes, doing the long slow drudge that lays the ground work for change, to make it possible for the stars of any movement to shine. MLK inspired millions, and that's no small thing, of course, but living openly in a way that would raise the ire of millions if they knew, while simultaneously producing the strategies that eventually win out isn't exactly chopped liver either. Rustin certainly deserves to be much better known and more widely honored and than he is- especially by the lgbt community. Thanks for doing it here.CJ Barkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-7156468949344635112011-08-24T20:44:44.085-07:002011-08-24T20:44:44.085-07:00You’re right that there are other unsung heroes be...You’re right that there are other unsung heroes behind MLK, Turtle Woman. So far I only know that niches will be devoted to Medgar Evers and the four girls murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. I imagine Rosa Parks may have a place there. I **hope** that Bayard is already included, but we shall see… and we shall overcome.Kittredge Cherryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02617858676733169316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29680163.post-76369961142563971062011-08-24T20:25:15.051-07:002011-08-24T20:25:15.051-07:00This is the time to lobby for Mr. Rustin to be inc...This is the time to lobby for Mr. Rustin to be included in one of those "niches" within the Martin Luthter King memorial in Washington, D.C. A genius of the civil rights movement, he is a true hero to us all!!<br /><br />And also, I'd like to add the black women of Montgomery, Alabama who organized the bus boycotte. No men don't organize car pooling for hundreds, women do this!!! MLK gets the credit but black women and gay black men need to be honored as the backbone and the originators.Turtle Womannoreply@blogger.com