From Protest to Politics

August 28, 2013 10:40 AM

From Protest to Politics by Bayard Rustin, the civil rights leader almost erased from history. "From Protest to Politics" talks about the difficulty of moving beyond symbolic victories into lasting justice for the Civil Rights Movement.
posted by klangklangston (13 comments total)

Glad to see Bayard getting some notice. A couple of links from my facebook feed:

MOW "Master Strategist" Bayard Rustin Finally Recognized

We Need a Bayard Rustin Today

Thanks for this post.
posted by natteringnabob at 10:47 AM on August 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

Printed in what is now a conservative publication.

Dear cons: more readable prose, please.
posted by ocschwar at 10:59 AM on August 28, 2013

I would highly recommend the documentary Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, which goes into more depth about being gay and in the public eye in that era. It's streamable in netflix. An inspiring individual.
posted by VikingSword at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

Printed in what is now a conservative publication.

Commentary's editorial line shifted. It's weird, but I don't think there's any significance beyond that.
posted by hoyland at 11:02 AM on August 28, 2013

Commentary's editorial line shifted. It's weird, but I don't think there's any significance beyond that.

There isn't. Well, no significance other than suggesting the possibility of one day conservative publications offering something constructive to say about current events and debates.
posted by ocschwar at 11:05 AM on August 28, 2013

Lots of good stuff in there, but this stood out:

"It may be premature to predict a Southern Democratic party of Negroes and white moderates and a Republican Party of refugee racists and economic conservatives, but there certainly is a strong tendency toward such a realignment; and an additional 3.6 million Negroes of voting age in the eleven Southern states are still to be heard from."
posted by natteringnabob at 11:15 AM on August 28, 2013 [5 favorites]

The Brother Outsider documentary mentioned by VikingSword can be viewed online for free for the next couple of days.

The doc is followed by an interview with one of the film makers.
posted by praiseb at 2:02 PM on August 28, 2013

As someone who had a front-row seat to a bunch of Occupy Oakland, ain't much changed; liberals & their evil compromises are the enemy, radicals are the only "True" movement, and glorious, ideologically pure gestures & street-tantrums that change nothing (but FEEL so radical & give the kiddies a chance to square off with/count coup against the pigs) are the order of the day.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 3:27 PM on August 28, 2013 [5 favorites]

Buzzfeed (!) has a good interview with Walter Naegle, Rustin's partner. Rustin legally adopted Naegle since it was the only way to get legal inheritance rights.
posted by cushie at 4:25 PM on August 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

DemocracyNow has had a lot of stories regarding Byron over the past few weeks.
posted by danep at 4:49 PM on August 28, 2013

I love Lord Byron as much as the next guy, but I think your phone autocorrected that wrong.
posted by klangklangston at 5:42 PM on August 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

Rustin's "Twenty-Two Days on a Chain Gang" is a wonderful read, and available for free in a number of places online.
posted by 4ster at 6:51 PM on August 28, 2013

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post for work about it: SELF LINK.
posted by klangklangston at 10:13 AM on August 29, 2013