Rustin (2023)

Aml Ameen: Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Quotes 

• 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.