Bayard Rustin: The Power Of Peace

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Bayard Rustin: The Power of Peace
In this paper I will address Bayard Rustin’s activism for social justice issues, specifically focusing on his work on behalf of the LGBT+ and African American communities. It is my position that through an exploration of his contributions to these groups, one will see that he not only contributed to the advancement of peace for LGBT+ and African American communities in his time, but that he attained social justice through peaceful means that transformed American legislation and that successfully made for a more peaceful society for generations to come.
Bayard Rustin: A Brief Description
Rustin’s strives towards peace originated from his religious convictions. Rustin was Quaker and as such was an active …show more content…
Protesters in the civil rights movement that participated in such actions like sit-ins were met with fierce white resistance to the movement. In response to being assaulted, having police officers use tear gas and fire hoses, and having property bombed to deter them and their allies from protesting, they remained peaceful and continued on their path to freedom (D'Emilio 291). This exemplifies the commendable faith and the unwavering peacefulness of the protesters during the Civil Rights …show more content…
In response to the disenfranchisement and segregation laws of the time labelled “Jim Crow Laws” that called for African American and Caucasian communities to use separate educational institutions, methods of transportation, washrooms, water fountains etc, Rustin wrote a song entitled, “You Don’t Have to Ride Jim Crow”(“You Don't Have to Ride Jim Crow”). The lyrics proclaimed, “you don’t have to ride Jim Crow, On June the Third the high court said, When you ride interstate, Jim Crow is dead... Get on the bus, sit anyplace,‘Cause Irene Morgan won her case, You don’t have to ride Jim Crow” (“You Don't Have to Ride Jim Crow”). Some would contend that the treatment of African Americans under the law was “separate but equal” but I will argue that in application of this notion this was not the case. In my opinion, isolating a certain group of people from the rest of society, despite being deemed “equal” will ultimately make them be viewed as inferior and this incites violence and ill treatment of the “inferior” group. Despite this law being in place, the Supreme Court eventually acknowledged that this was in fact not the case as they recognized that the institutions that the African Americans were using were far less well kept. Those African Americans that chose to violate these laws and use facilities that we labelled “whites
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