I lived in the neighborhood and I walked by it often. The Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities on West 18th Street in the Chelsea section of New York City. I would wonder if the school kids in attendance knew the story of Mr. Rustin. I wondered if they were aware of his significant role in modern American history. I wondered if they knew that he lived about 10 blocks away, also in Chelsea.
Back in 2013, I started blogging that Hollywood needed to give us a biopic about this iron-willed, outspoken, vital Black intellectual. We see Bayard Rustin standing on the podium right behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during Dr. King's now iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. Rustin, a college-educated Quaker from Pennsylvania who recorded albums and once sang on Broadway in a show starring Paul Robeson, was Dr. King's top advisor. He was called "the Architect of the March on Washington." He spoke at the historic 1963 March on Washington. He helped bring about the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
And he was openly gay. A few weeks before the March on Washington, Senator Strom Thurmond denounced him as a "Communist, draft dodger and homosexual." Thurmond was a proud pro-segregationist. Watch this.
When Steven Spielberg recently walked onstage to accept a Golden Globes award, he warmly hugged presenter Colman Domingo. The actor had an important role in the first 15 minutes of Spielberg's Oscar-winning biopic, LINCOLN.
Now Colman Domingo will star in a biopic. He will play Dr. King's controversial top advisor in RUSTIN.
Watch this.
An openly gay Black actor will portray the openly gay civil rights activist. That is some LGBTQ history. I am thrilled that this upcoming Netflix feature is in production. Bravo, Colman Domingo!
On the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's March on Washington, President Obama conferred a Presidential Medal of Freedom on the late humanitarian who was the "architect" of that civil rights march.
"To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true." ~ Bayard Rustin
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