It amazes me the people who stand up and fight for what is right when so many of us choose to live our lives looking the other way. Bayard Rustin is probably not a name very well-known, but those who were there believe that there would have never been the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963 had it not been for this person largely lost to history. Besides the short video, please click the following link for a much longer, in-depth exploration of this man’s life: Remembering Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the March on Washington by Throughline/PBS

Life is complicated, it shouldn’t be surprising that all of the icons of history are not one thing, specifically icons. They are all flawed human beings trying to do the right thing, with their good and not-so-good qualities all at play. But we choose how we remember them because that’s what humans do. There is no “golden past” where things were universally better and the only promise about tomorrow is that there will be a tomorrow. We have to choose how we will live in it. 

We seem to be at another inflection point where technology has taken minority voices and made them sound like the majority or just flat out drowned out the voices of others. And while things generally are better for more people than at various times, there are forces at work that would reduce the rights of some because of a misguided belief that that is the only way of assuring their own rights going forward. How do we deal with these things? How do you deal with these issues? Is it enough to just vote, or do you do more? Imagine if all the hidden Bayard Rustins in the world came out of the shadows and sang their song and spoke out against injustice in all of it forms… That would be amazing. What song are you holding inside that might help others overcome their challenges? What would Bayard do (WWBD)?

Sources: 

• Bayard Rustin – Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘Out and Proud’ Advisor by Untold History, https://youtu.be/hVDismB9NSs
• Remembering Bayard Rustin: The man Behind the March on Washington, Rund Abdelfatah/PBS-Throughline, Feb. 25, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/02/22/970292302/remembering-bayard-rustin-the-man-behind-the-march-on-washington