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Bayard Rustin - 22 days on a chain gang
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"When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him."
-Bayard Rustin
The election of Barack Obama is a transformational experience for many Americans. Young people in particular are experiencing for the first time the power they posses as activists and citizens. But if they don’t understand history, don’t appreciate the struggle that led to this day, it may be just a moment in time whose potential was left unmet, a dream unrealized. For it isn’t just a matter of good organization, a bad opponent, or even the tide of history. It took people standing up and refusing to accept the status quo.
Bayard Rustin was the chief strategist for the civil rights movement and the protégé of A. Philip Randolph the great labor and civil rights leader. Randolph led the March on Washington movement and with Rustin’s assistance organized the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his immortal “I Have a Dream” speech. But to get to that moment took more than just organization; it took integrity and a determination to move this nation forward.
A stirring example of Rustin’s faithfulness and integrity is found in his essay 22 Days on a Chain Gang, where he recounted the terrible price he paid for organizing and participating in the Freedom Rides of 1947. He served a 22 day sentence just for sitting next to a white man. Yet he did his time with dignity and his essay led to the elimination of chain gangs in North Carolina.
Just one moment in the struggle, just one man fortified only with his dignity and determination. Look how far we’ve come. But don’t pretend the struggle is over and the battle is won. Celebrate the inauguration of our new president, then get back to work for this transformational election will only transform the nation if we make it so. And never forget those who showed us the way.
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