Rustin

“Rustin,” November 21, 2023, Netflix. Whenever I taught classes on movements, marches, the 60s, etc., I asked students what they knew about the great 1963 March on Washington.  All know MLK and his speech.  Unless they’re deep into the subject, almost none know it was a march for jobs and justice, called by A. Philip Randolph, President of the Brotherhood of Pullman Car Porters and the author of two threatened marches in 1941 and 1948 that changed US history by forcing the opening of war work to Black Americans and desegregating the armed forces.  Huge accomplishments both.

None know of the role unions, including the UAW, played in funding the event.  And none know anything about Bayard Rustin’s role in this and so many other important events of the era.

Rustin was a long-time activist and proponent of pacifism and non-violent civil disobedience.  He worked closely with King during the Montgomery bus boycott.  He served time in prison as a CO during WWII.  He was also a gay man who had been arrested for his sexual activities.  He was a driving force behind the March and was charged with coordinating its planning.  He was a dynamic and charismatic force who often took terrible abuse, including losing his job, from homophobes in the Civil Rights leadership.  He also faced police beatings and FBI intimidation and surveillance as an uncompromising civil rights activist, a former Communist, and a militant pacifist.  He was both charismatic and difficult.

This film, with Executive Producers Barack and Michelle Obama, seeks to enlighten and inform.  It’s a teaching tool, sometimes more than a little didactic in style, but mostly effective.  Coleman Domingo excels as Rustin, full of energy and cautious but very active sexuality, with excellent support from Aml Ameen as MLK, Gylnn Turman as A. Philip Randolph, CCH Pounder as Dr. Ana Hedgeman, Audra MacDonald as Ella Baker, and Jeffrey Wright as Adam Clayton Powell.  I was less moved by Chris Rock’s Roy Wilkins.  Jeffrey Ramey excelled as Elias Taylor, a Black minister struggling with his sexuality, while Gus Halper provided a white counterpart in Tom.   The establishment is suitably conservative and hidebound.  Watch it to renew your familiarity with these important activists and leaders; share it with someone who doesn’t know these stories and share yourself with them.

I wish it had included a bit about his post-march activism. That was more radical.  But then who is it produced by?