Both Muhammad Ali (1966) and Rosa Parks (1955) made political stands in their life

Ali- Stripped of his world heavyweight boxing title and threatened with jail time for refusing to fight in Vietnam based on religious beliefs.

Parks- Her arrest after not giving up her seat to a white person led to a year long bus boycott where in the decision of Browder v. Gayle (Claudette Colvin), the local courts deemed bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama unconstitutional

Bayard Rustin Was Arrested For Both These Offenses Years Before

Rustins 1944 letter to draft board:

I cannot voluntarily submit to an order stemming from the Selective Service Act. WAR IS WRONG!...Following the will of God I must break the law of the state. I am prepared for whatever may follow. (27 months in prison) 1947: Arrested for sitting with a white man on a bus in South Carolina. He published his experiences in a chain gang is North Carolina the abolishment of that particular sort of punishment

In Pasadena, CA (1953) Rustin was arrested on a morals charge after being caught with a man. At the time, the charge was sexual perversion

It was used as blackmail against Dr. king. If King did not disassociate himself of Rustin it would have been suggested that they had an intimate relationship.

Both his Communist past and homosexuality were detrimental at the time towards his integrity and reliability.

JOINED

AJ MUSTE AND HIS FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION (FOR)

WORKED WITH A. PHILIP RANDOLPH

Bayard Rustin cultivated his non-violent beliefs from both AJ Muste and A. Philip Randolph.

We need in every community, a group of angelic trouble makers. Our power is in our ability to make things unworkable. Our best weapon is our bodies and we need to tuck them in places so wheels dont turn. He conveyed his thoughts to a 26 year old minister who had begun to organize a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
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Rustins Past Threatens Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement
Rustin was so successful at his tactics, his personal life was brought into question to discredit him. In 1938, Rustin became a member of the Communist Party in the United States, but renounced his membership in 1942. However, after WWII, anything Communist was seen as a threat to the American way of life.

DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE JOHN F. KENNEDY

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE BARRY GOLDWATER

BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF INTEREST IN CIVIL RIGHTS SHOWED BY BOTH PARTIES AT THE TIME, RUSTIN AND OTHERS DECIDED TO ORGANIZE A MARCH ON WASHINGTON.

IT WAS HERE THAT DR. KING MADE HIS FAMOUS I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH

Instead of marching on the courthouse or the restaurant or the theater, we now had to march to the ballot box.

In protest their must never be compromise, in politics there must always be compromise Rustins lack of protest against the Vietnam War made him an unpopular figure in the activist world

HUEY NEWTON AND BOBBY SEALE

STOKELY CARMICHAEL

Letter From Imamu Amiri Baraka to Bayard Rustin

Bayard, when you denounce us for teaching hate based on your white folks analysis, you are actually functioning as the big gun of white oppression Bayard, you are a slaveship profiteer, a paid pervert for the racist unions. I feel it necessary to expose you.
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