I’ve written about Bayard Rustin a few times since I learned about him. He was an incredible friend to the Jewish people and an avid Zionist, even visiting Israel and meeting with then Prime Minister Golda Meir.  I decided to watch the new movie about his life, focusing on how he made the March on Washington occur.  It’s available on Netflix.

I was stunned as I watched the opening scenes of the movie which depict the end of segregation and the first time African Americans were attending the same schools at white students.  Not because of how awful and vile what happened at that time was.  Not because of the suffering those students went through to bravely fight for their right to equal opportunity.  I was stunned because it looked exactly like what Jewish students are facing on college campuses today.  People yelling in their face.  Calling them names.  Treating them like second class citizens.  It was horrible and unacceptable then.  It is horrible and unacceptable now.  Yet it’s happening every single day on college campuses across the country and in Canada. 

Bayard Rustin was the brains and genius behind the march of Washington, DC where Dr. King gave his “I have a dream speech”.  He talked about having the largest peaceful protest in history – 100,000 people on the National Mall (the actual number was 250,000).  After October 7^th, I was part of 300,000 people who gathered together peacefully in Washington, DC., in support of Israel and the Jewish people.  When it was announced, I knew I had to be there.  I knew that I wanted to be able to tell my future grandchildren that I was there.  I wanted to be a role model for my children, nephews, and nieces, that I went and was part of it.  It felt like a big hug, being there with signs supporting Israel and demanding the release of the hostages.  Singing Hatikvah with 300,000 people was something I will never forget.  History repeats itself – in 1963 it was the March on Washington for civil rights.  In 2023 it was the rally for Israel with 300,000 people gathering to not just support Israel and the Jewish people but support each other. 

There is a scene in the movie where Bayard tries to get the NAACP on board with the march.  The head of the NAACP, Roy Wilkins, was afraid of what might happen if they had 100,000 ‘Negroes’ coming to Washington to protest.  In the scene, they talk about other marches with far fewer people and highlight one, from 1932, done by WWI veterans.  President Hoover unleashed the military to break up the march.  Using tear gas and bayonets, the military chased away the veterans and those supporting them, burning their shanty towns in the process.  Wilkins asks in the movie, “what was their race?”   The answer, “they were white.”  His fear of what might happen led the NAACP to say no to the march.  We face the same thing today in the Jewish community.  We have many communal leaders, many Jewish stars in sports, entertainment, and politics, who are afraid to take a bold position after October 7^th, with the rise of antisemitism everywhere, out of fear of what might happen to them.  This fear paralyzes us and results in more damage occurring to Israel and the Jewish people everywhere.  It’s ok to be afraid, it’s not ok to let that fear paralyze us into inaction.  As Jews, we have thousands of years of history that shows us what happens when we live in fear, when we don’t act, when we just try to be a part of some other society and don’t stand up and fight for ourselves when threatened.  I made the decision after October 7^th to not be paralyzed by fear.  I made the decision to speak out against the evil of Hamas and of the Iranian leaders.  I made the decision to call out antisemitism whenever and wherever I see it.  It’s an ongoing conversation in my family as they are concerned about what some crazy, hate filled person might do.  How I may be targeted.  How my family may be targeted.  One thing I know from our Jewish history is that if we stay silent, we will all end up being targeted, we will all end up being harmed.  I’m not willing to repeat the mistakes of the past.  Bayard Rustin wasn’t willing to accept being paralyzed by the fear of what might happen at the march.  He knew that doing nothing would result in a far worse outcome.  I hope we, as Jews, can learn from his leadership and not be afraid to stand up for ourselves, to speak out, to call out those who hate us and wish to harm us. 

As they talk about what date to hold the march, the first suggestion is a Monday.  Bayard replies, “Mondays are hard for our Pastors.”  He then adds, “and Fridays are bad for our Jewish friends.”  It’s a great reminder that as Jews, we were active in the civil rights movement.  We played an important role and built a strong relationship with the African American community.  In the years since then, for whatever reason, that relationship has deteriorated.  We, as the Jewish community, don’t have the relationships we need with many other groups.  We do with the Evangelical Christian community because THEY have been active supporters of Israel.   We have neglected our relationships with other groups.  As a large community, we are absent on MLK Day and the celebrations.  As a group, we are not there during Pride month.  As a group, we are not joining our Muslim brothers for their community Iftars during Ramadan.  Because we have neglected these relationships, we see many of these groups not being there for us when we need them.  It’s our responsibility to be there for them before we need them to be there for us.  Bayard Rustin showed that when he was considerate of Shabbat and that if the march was on a Friday, the Jewish community couldn’t be there.  He knew we’d be there for them if he was thoughtful first.  I hope that we can learn to invest in these relationships outside the Jewish community.  We are so hyper-focused on what’s going on inside the Jewish community that we are not ensuring the relationships we need outside the Jewish community are strong. 

The movie has 2 scenes in which Senator Strom Thurmond plays a key role.  In the first, he makes allegations against Dr. King about being a communist because Bayard Rustin, one of his close friends, was involved with the communist party earlier in his life.  This false allegation was designed to stop the march and to create problems for Dr. King.  The second is when he goes on the radio to ‘out’ Bayard Rustin as a ‘pervert’ due to his conviction for engaging in homosexual sex to attempt to stop the march from happening.  It’s very similar to the false allegations against Israel being made by Representatives Rashida Talib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Jamal Bowman, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and many others today.  Senator Thurmond was a known racist.  The Representatives I mentioned above are known antisemites.  Bayard fought against Senator Thurmond and wouldn’t allow him to win.  Today, we must do the same against these antisemites in our own government.  We can’t allow them to win.  We can’t excuse their statements or their behavior. 

There are two very powerful lines in the movie that apply to our Jewish community today.  The first is when Bayard Rustin says to Dr. King, “when we tell ourselves such lies, start to live and believe such lies, we do the work of our oppressor by oppressing ourselves.”  We have far too many people in our Jewish community who tell themselves lies about Israel and Zionism, who live and believe these lies, and not only do the work of antisemites but do it better than they do.  It is our obligation to confront these lies in our own community.  It is responsibility to make sure that members of our Jewish community are educated with the facts, not with the lies that Jew haters tell.  Bayard Rustin knew that about his community.  I hope we learn that lesson for ours.

The second line I am referring to also comes from Bayard Rustin speaking to Dr. King in the scene when he says, “on the day I was born black, I was also born homosexual.  They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.”  The same holds true today.  Countries either have a right to defend themselves or they do not.  Countries either have a right to make peace with their enemies through direct negotiations or they do not.  Countries either get to have their democratic election processes or they do not.  Israel cannot be held to a different standard than every other country in the world.  When they do that, just like Bayard Rustin knew about freedom for all people, they are being antisemitic and going against the values they say they believe in.  We cannot let them get away with it.  Bayard stood up and spoke out and got the support from those he needed to speak out as well.  We need to do the same.  We cannot allow the double standard to continue to exist.  We must demand our leaders, both political and those with large followings, do the same and speak out.  We must condemn those who use the double standard to hide their antisemitism.  It is not up to others to do this.  It is up to us. 

Near the end of the movie, the 10 heads of the committee for the March on Washington are invited to the White House to meet with President Kennedy.  Somebody says that Bayard should be with him.  Bayard already won – the March happened and was a huge success.  He declines and says he is going to pick up trash.   The rest leave to meet the President and he takes a bag and begins to pick up trash.  The young people who follow him are shown with admiration in their eyes.  They get it.  It is about the work.  It is about making things happen and driving change.  Who gets the credit isn’t important to those who really want change.  The same holds true for the Jewish community.  You see this more in Israel than in the United States.  In Israel they are all heroes because they do what is necessary.  Civilians volunteering in the fields to pick produce.  IDF soldiers risking everything for their country and the Jewish people.  People moving all over the country to help those displaced with educational needs, healthcare needs, mental health needs, and whatever needs they have.  In the United States we tend to focus more on who gets the credit.  Who is the public face.  We need to learn this lesson from Bayard Rustin.  It’s the same lesson Ronald Reagan spoke about.  In the words of President Harry S. Truman, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”  We have a lot of work ahead of us to fight antisemitism, to advocate for Israel, to educate both the Jewish and non-Jewish community, and for our survival.  We can’t worry about who gets the credit, we have to be willing to pick up a bag and collect trash. 

The song at the end of the movie, Road to Freedom, is by Lenny Kravitz.  Lenny is African American and Jewish.  How fitting for the blog post.  The lessons of Bayard Rustin applied to 2024 antisemitism through the song written and sung by an African American Jew.

I watched the movie Rustin to learn more about a man I recently learned about and have been fascinated with.  How did such an important figure in the civil rights movement get basically erased from our history?  How many others like him are there?   I seem to learn about more of them all the time.  Yet while watching the movie to learn about him, there were so many lessons that apply to our lives today.  To the world we live in today.  The fight for civil rights is not over.  So many communities are still fighting it today.  In the Jewish community, we fooled ourselves into thinking we were not one of them.  October 7^th and the aftermath showed us we are.  While we still have many who don’t think this is true, who ‘do the work of the oppressor by oppressing ourselves,’ the rise in antisemitism in the United States and around the world shows us that that it is true.  We have much to learn from the life of Bayard Rustin, an avid Zionist and friend to the Jewish people.  I could write an entire post just about his connection to the Jewish people and the State of Israel.  Let’s take a moment to thank him and honor his memory by learning the lessons he taught us and apply them today.  From what I have learned about him, I think he’d really like that.