Rustin (2023)

Colman Domingo: Bayard Rustin

Photos 

Quotes 

• Bayard Rustin : On the day that I was born black, I was also born a homosexual. They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.

• TN Bus Driver : [to Bayard, on a bus]  Get on back, now.

  Bayard Rustin : If I movie, this child will never know an injustice is taking place.

• Bayard Rustin : [seeing Tom smoke a joint]  The last time I checked, that's illegal.

  Tom : The last time I checked, so were we.

• Bayard Rustin : How can you speak about love when your flesh is disconnected from your heart?

• Jim Farmer : [watching footage of cops attacking Civil Rights marchers]  Shame on Reverend King - sending those poor children to march the streets of Birmingham!

  Bayard Rustin : A man in uniform unleashes attack dogs, turns a fire hose on the innocent, and the first words out of your goddamn mouth are 'Shame on Reverend King?'

  Jim Farmer : Bayard, I see no reason for you to...

  Bayard Rustin : You see this and think 'those poor Negroes down south,' incapable of understanding they are beyond powerful, because today they discovered a bravery they never knew they had, and a bravery you'll never know! You sit behind that desk, as you have sat for over thirty years, convincing yourself you are committed to saving the world, when the only thing you're committed to is your own safety and superiority.

  A.J. Muste : Bayard, enough! Raging against Jim because of the color of his skin...

  Bayard Rustin : I'm not raging against Jim for the color of his skin, I'm raging against him for being arrogant and ill-informed! The fact that he happens to be white while doing so, well that's between him and the Lord!

• Bayard Rustin : You're one of the smartest men I know, so explain to me why, after all that's left undone, am I yet again forced to justify my existence. Each of us are taught in ways both cunning and cruel that we inadequate, incomplete, and the easiest way to combat that feeling of not being enough is to find someone we consider less than. Less than because they are poorer than us or because they are darker than us or because they desire someone our churches and our laws say they should not desire. When we tell ourselves such lies, start to live and believe such lies, we do the work of our oppressors by oppressing ourselves. Storm Thurmond and Hoover don't give a shit about me. What they really want to destroy is all of us coming together and demanding this countruy change. Are they expecting my resignation?

  Martin Luther King, Jr. : Some are, yes.

  Bayard Rustin : Then they're going to have to fire me, because I will not resign. On the day that I was born black, I was also born a homosexual. They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.