Bayard Rustin - New South…Old Politics, 1956

This episode features Bayard Rustins essay, New South…Old Politics, 1956, as read by Bill McKinney. You may know Mr. Rustin as a leader in the Labor Movement, or as the person who served as the primary advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King in regards to the concept of non-violent protest, or as the primary organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. You also may not know who he is because as an openly Gay Black Man he was often pushed to the background of the movement out of fear that his sexuality would damage the cause. The reality is though that one cannot be free until all are free. In a movement for Equal Rights it was a hypocritical stance and the continued lack of full inclusion of the LGBQT community continues to be a shortcoming in the current movement for Racial Justice.

The essays and speeches shared in this series share concepts that will often resonate with our current situation. While some ideas have been proven to be right and others wrong they are all worth considering as points of reflection and discussion. Throughout these episodes you will hear someone who is committed to Non-Violence as well as to Labor as a uniting force in gaining Equality and Justice. 

New South…Old Politics, 1956 – Explores the era when party allegiances of Blacks flipped from Republican to Democrat (also correcting the current myths pushed by Right-Wing supremacists); the connection of Blacks to individual parties and the need for a third party that is more representative of the needs of both Blacks and of Labor.