Memory  /  Video

The Gay, Black Civil Rights Hero Opposed to Affirmative Action

How would Bayard Rustin be judged today?

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Bayard Rustin was a chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington and thought reparations, and even separate African-American studies departments, were a bad idea. Many of his beliefs would be antithetical to today’s social justice advocates. In the video above, Coleman Hughes argues that by cherry-picking our heroes, and focusing on small parts of their legacy, we are merely paying lip service to their mission.