40 Best Bayard Rustin Quotes as an American Strategist

Bayard Rustin Quotes: Bayard Rustin was an American civil rights leader and strategist. He was a pivotal figure in the American civil rights movement, and helped to organize and lead protests and civil rights marches.

Rustin was born on December 4, 1913, in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He grew up in a poverty-ridden family, and struggled with his racial identity. Despite this, he was a highly intelligent and talented individual.

Rustin began his civil rights work in early 1940s. He was a key member of the National Committee for Civil Rights, and helped to organize protests and marches. He was also a strategist and organizer.

Bayard Rustin Quotes

“To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true.” – Bayard Rustin.

“What we need is a group of angelic troublemakers in every community.” – Bayard Rustin.

“I was aiding and abetting the prejudice that was part of the effort to destroy me.” – Bayard Rustin.

“The only weapon we have is our bodies, and we need to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn.” – Bayard Rustin.

“An increasingly militant group now has it in mind to demand, with violence if necessary, the rights it has long been denied.” – Bayard Rustin.

“They have reared two or three generations of white children. And they are skilled with love and affection for children.”

“Surely, I must at all times attempt to obey the law of the state. But when the will of God and the will of the state conflict, I am compelled to follow the will of God.”  Quotes!

“God does not require us to achieve any of the good tasks that humanity must pursue. What God requires of us is that we not stop trying.”

Related:Quotes on Democracy By Legends

Bayard Rustin Quotes Injustice

“Both morally and practically, segregation is to me a basic injustice. Since I believe it to be so, I must attempt to remove it.” – Bayard Rustin.

“Let us be enraged about injustice, but let us not be destroyed by it.”

“It evokes contempt not because the values of brotherhood are wrong–they are more important than ever–but because it just does not correspond to the reality we see around us.” – Bayard Rustin.

“We demand that segregation be ended in every school district in the year 1963! We demand that we have effective civil rights legislation – no compromise, no filibuster – and that include public accommodations, decent housing, integrated education, FEPC and the right to vote.” – Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin Quotes on Sexuality

“Martin Luther King, with whom I worked very closely, became very distressed when a number of the ministers working for him wanted him to dismiss me from his staff because of my homosexuality.” – Bayard Rustin.

“It occurred to me shortly after that that it was an absolute necessity for me to declare homosexuality because if I didn’t I was a part of the prejudice.” – Bayard Rustin.

“The barometer for judging the character of people, in regard to human rights, is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian.” – Bayard Rustin.

“I know now that for me sex must be sublimated if I am to live with myself and in this world longer.”

“And we will win the rights for gays, or blacks, or Hispanics, or women within the context of whether we are fighting for them all.” – Bayard Rustin.

“My activism did not spring from me being gay, or, for that matter, from my being black. Rather, it is rooted fundamentally in my Quaker upbringing and the values that were instilled in me by my grandparents who reared me.” – Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin Quotes on Racial Identity

“We are indeed a house divided. But the division between race and race, class and class, will not be dissolved by massive infusions of brotherly sentiment.” – Bayard Rustin.

“Blacks are in every segment of society and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination.”

“It wasn’t the greats from Hollywood that made the march. What made the march was that black people voted that day with their feet.” – Bayard Rustin.

“Well, I am here to say that some of the most skillful people in the world are unemployed [black people]. Because they have reared their own children.” – Bayard Rustin.

“The real radical is that person who has a vision of equality and is willing to do those things that will bring reality closer to that vision.” – Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin Quotes on Democracy and Freedom

“You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people.”

“If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.” – Bayard Rustin.

“If we must die abroad for democracy we can’t have,’ I heard a friend of mine say, ‘then we might as well die right here, fighting for our rights.” – Bayard Rustin.

“If we desire a society in which men are brothers, then we must act towards one another with brotherhood. If we can build such a society, then we would have achieved the ultimate goal of human freedom.” – Bayard Rustin.

“People will never fight for your freedom if you have not given evidence that you are prepared to fight for it yourself.” – Bayard Rustin.

“Since Israel is a democratic state surrounded by essentially undemocratic states which have sworn her destruction, those interested in democracy everywhere must support Israel’s existence.” – Bayard Rustin.

“There is a strong moralistic strain in the civil rights movement that would remind us that power corrupts, forgetting that the absence of power also corrupts.” – Bayard Rustin.

“Every indifference to prejudice is suicide because, if I don’t fight all bigotry, bigotry itself will be strengthened and, sooner or later, it will return on me.” – Bayard Rustin.

“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.

“If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence. If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society.” – Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin Quotes about Capitalism

“We are all one and if we don’t know, we will learn it the hard way.” – Bayard Rustin.

“I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble.”

“When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. But when you’re right, you’re wrong anyhow.” – Bayard Rustin.

“The organizers and perpetrators of segregation are as much the enemy of America as any foreign invader.” – Bayard Rustin.

“If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society.” – Bayard Rustin.

“The judgment as to whether you can trust the future, the social advancement – depending on people – will be judged on where they come out on that question.” – Bayard Rustin.

Bayard Rustin was an American civil rights activist and organizer. He is best known for his work with the Civil Rights Movement, in which he was a key strategist and organizer.

Among his most notable achievements were his work with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), his role in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and his work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Rustin was also known for his activism on behalf of LGBT rights. He was openly gay and helped found a gay rights organization, the Gay Liberation Front.

Bayard Rustin was an African-American civil rights activist and advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. Rustin worked closely with King throughout the civil rights movement, and his guidance helped the civil rights leader to develop his strategies and tactics.

Rustin was born in 1912 in Orange County, Virginia. He graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1934 with a degree in political science. He worked as a teacher and a civil rights activist in the 1930s. In 1941, he founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter in Los Angeles.

In early 1960s, Rustin became a key advisor to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was formed to organize peaceful protests against segregation and discrimination. The group worked to promote civil rights and equality for African Americans, and became known for its peaceful protests and community activism.

Rustin helped organize numerous protests, and was a vocal advocate for social justice. He was also a key figure in the development of the African American Civil Rights Movement, and helped to shape the course of history. Rustin’s work contributed to the eventual end of segregation and discrimination in the United States, and he is considered an important