Since 1986 we’ve celebrated Martin Luther King Day as a federal holiday. Now in 2026 it’s a bit bittersweet as America becomes more unrecognizable with each passing day. With the unrest in our cities as the midterm elections approach we still haven’t been able to pass the Freedom to Vote Act & the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. How this will all play out will be written in the history books which is all so fragile as truth seems to be under the scrutiny of misguided interpreters. On this day let’s also remember pioneer civil rights activist Bayard Rustin who taught Martin Luther King Jr. strategies of nonviolence during the Montgomery Bus Boycott & reached international notoriety in 1963 as the organizer of the March on Washington. As the racial unrest continues in this country & it feels like everything we have worked for keeps sliding in reverse let’s keep the memory strong of Martin Luther King Jr. & Bayard Rustin. In 2013 President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor posthumously to Bayard Rustin. Walter Naegle who was Rustin's partner for the last decade of who died in 1987 stated, “Being black, being homosexual, being a political radical, that’s a combination that’s pretty volatile & it comes along like Halley’s Comet. Bayard’s life was complex, but at the same time I think it makes it a lot more interesting." I talked to Naegle in 2015 about what Bayard was really like, how they met & the importance of Rustin’s work especially in these challenging times. LISTEN
No comments:
Post a Comment