In more uplifting news…
The California LGBTQ and Black Caucuses of the state legislature have just sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom requesting a posthumous pardon for Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin.
Rustin towers over American history as one of the most important leaders of the Civil Rights movement, having worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to help plan King’s March on Washington and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Scandal forced Rustin to part company with King in 1963, as King feared that Rustin’s sexuality could harm the fledgling movement. Rustin had been arrested for sex with a man in a parked car in 1953.
That arrest, and the subsequent tarnish it left on Rustin’s career prompted the LGBTQ and Black Caucuses to take action.
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Related: Bayard Rustin: The Gay Dreamer Behind Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech
Gay state Senator Scott Wiener and African American Assemblywoman Shirley Weber penned the letter in hopes of expunging Rutin’s record. “Mr. Rustin lived during a period of time in our nation’s history where his identity was under constant assault,” the pair write. “Racial tensions were at a heightened state, segregation was in full effect, and Jim Crow laws were being enforced in various states throughout the country. This was also a time when homosexuality was criminalized, and LGBTQ people across the country were under a constant threat of violence and targeting.”
“Mr. Rustin’s conviction and registered sex offender status haunted him for the rest of his life,” the letter states, “and it continues to tarnish his name, despite his death 33 years ago. Indeed, California’s treatment of Mr. Rustin tarnishes our entire state.”
Should Newsom take action, he will not be the first government official to embrace Rustin’s memory. President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2013 for his contribution to American equality.
Jim
Looooooong Overdue
ericcutspaper
This ‘mark’ upon Bayard Rustin’s history is an important part of who he was to the larger arc of civil rights history. That, amongst other experiences, marked and made the man. The time to have had this ‘pardon’ happen was while the man, not the icon, breathed and was amongst us. The guilt of the bigoted times towards black people and queer people needs to be fully remembered. We will forgive at some point, yet we need to remember what is being forgiven lest it be repeated. For context, Mr. Rustin aligned with pacifism and communism in his early civil disobedience days then his pendulum swung towards a war-hawk stance regarding Israel rooted in being an early proponent of Neo-conservatism so much so another ‘former’ California Governor, as POTUS then(Reagan), praised Mr. Rustin for his political positioning and rallying the Neo-conservative agenda. Shall we pardon him for those ‘sins’ while we’re at it?
Jared MacBride
Where in this article is there any indication Newsom is considering this, as the headline claims? He should, and he should issue a pardon, but this article only says some people sent him letter.
Thad
Rustin’s hometown, West Chester, PA, has honored him by naming a district high school for him. A posthumous pardon sends a message. I hope Gov. Newsom follows through.
Kangol2
There are schools named after Bayard Rustin in several states, including one in New York City. If Gavin Newsom is considering this, he should just do it without any further delay. Rustin was a hero and pathblazer many times over, and an arrest for public sex during one of the most homophobic periods in US history is a knock on a terrible law and history itself, as opposed to Rustin.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
A Democrat Gov in a solid blue state. Why the fuuck is there even a discussion or hesitation regarding this waaaaay overdue gesture???