[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 10 (Thursday, January 18, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E58]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING BAYARD RUSTIN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 18, 2024

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the accomplishments of 
Mr. Bayard Rustin. His life was dedicated to civil rights advocacy, but 
because he was a gay man, his hard work and accomplishments were often 
shadowed.
  Mr. Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he was 
raised by his grandparents, Julia and Janifer Rustin. Julia was an 
active member of the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People (NAACP) and Bayard was introduced to the fight for civil 
rights when he campaigned against the discriminatory Jim Crow laws.
  In 1948, Rustin traveled to India to learn from leaders of the 
Gandhian movement on nonviolent civil resistance. He brought those 
skills back to his work in the United States, assisting in writing 
``Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to 
Violence.'' This was one of the most influential pacifist papers of its 
time, though Rustin remained an anonymous contributor due to fear that 
his known sexual orientation would compromise readers' respect for his 
contributions.
  Rustin was instrumental in organizing the March on Washington in 
1962. And yet, other prominent organizers did not want Rustin to 
receive any public credit for his hard work. His other accomplishments 
include organizing a group called ``In Friendship'' to provide legal 
assistance to people threatened with eviction and being named the first 
president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of 
Industrial Organization's A. Philip Randolph Institute, which works 
towards integration and unionization of African Americans into formerly 
all-white unions. Later in life, he went on many humanitarian missions 
to provide aid and care to refugees in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Haiti.
  Despite never receiving the recognition he deserved, he kept 
organizing and campaigning for what was right. Rustin worked for his 
own rights as a Black gay man and promoted values of nonviolence in 
civil resistance.
  His unwavering dedication and vision of a peaceful and equitable 
nation is a guiding light. Though he was never given the recognition he 
deserved in life, I ask us to honor him now.

                          ____________________