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| Poster thanking President Obama for posthumously awarding Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom |
I have said this often, and I have a great occasion to say it again: I love my hometown, Montgomery County.
On April 12, 2018, the Montgomery County Board of Education voted to name the new elementary school in the Richard Montgomery Cluster after openly gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin. The Board made that decision after hearing an outpouring of support for the Rustin name from people all over Montgomery County, not just on April 12, but over the last several weeks. See here.
Earlier in the year, the Board passed along four names, including Rustin's, to a 13-member advisory committee made up of residents of the area that the new school will serve. The local advisory committee recommended a different name, Lillian Brown, a late teacher and principal in the school system who grew up in then-segregated Montgomery County. But, as Board member Patricia O'Neill noted at the April 12 meeting, the Board heard virtually no support for Brown from other people in the County (including in the Richard Montgomery Cluster) -- in contrast to the enormous support for Rustin.
Perhaps the most persuasive Public Comments testimony for Rustin came from Jamie Griffith, a student at Montgomery Blair High School, which may be heard here. Other students and graduates, as well as parents, spoke movingly of the importance of recognition of LGBTQ leaders among those after whom schools are named. Symbols matter. The written testimony of seven of these speakers may be found here. Their, and others', expressions of support clearly moved members of the Board. Member O'Neill, who has been, for the last decade and a half, the leader on the Board advancing LGBTQ inclusion and embrace, supported the arguments by Rustin proponents that choosing that name would send an important signal to students. Members Jill Ortman-Fouse and Rebecca Smondrowski clearly displayed great emotion in expressing their well-reasoned support. Student Board Member Matt Post -- who was so eloquent as one of the speakers at the March 24 March for Our Lives on Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown DC -- was equally eloquent in speaking of classmates who felt that they had be ashamed and closeted because, even in progressive Montgomery County, they did not feel that they would be accepted for who they are. Also voting in favor of Rustin were Members Shebra Evans and Judy Docca.
As Maryland Advocacy Chair for the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG, I want to thank and congratulate the entire Board, which had a thoughtful and insightful discussion leading up to the vote. This is true of everyone on the Board, including Michael Durso and Jeanette Dixon, who would have preferred a different name (but also expressed their admiration for Bayard Rustin). I want to note that both Mr. Durso and Ms. Dixon have been strong supporters of LGBTQ inclusion. Supporters of the cause do not have to agree on everything.
We have made wise choices over the years in electing the current members of the Board. The video of the April 12 discussion is now up on the Board's website (Items 5 (Public Comments), 6 (Board member comments on many issues) and 7 (Board discussion and vote on the naming of the new school). I suggest that it should be viewed by anyone interested in seeing how civil discourse should proceed (in contrast to what we see from federal officials these days). The Public Comments testimony and the Board's discussion should make us proud to be Montgomery Countians. (I am glad that I had the opportunity to tell that to President Durso shortly after the vote on April 12.)
Finally, I want to commend Mark Eckstein Bernardo, a parent whose children will attend the new Bayard Rustin Elementary School this autumn, for his excellent work in educating people about Bayard Rustin and encouraging the submission of expressions of support. Mark is the newly-minted Metro DC PFLAG Maryland Advocacy Vice-Chair.
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April 8, 2018
Michael A. Durso, President
Montgomery County Board of Education
850 Hungerford Drive, Room 123
Rockville, MD 20850
via e-mail: boe@mcpsmd.org
RE: Naming of Richard Montgomery Cluster Elementary School No. 5
Dear President Durso:
As we reflect on the half-century since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the opportunity to name the new Richard Montgomery Cluster elementary school after one of his chief mentors and supporters, Bayard Rustin, is a blessing.
While the other proposed names are, indeed, worthy, it is important to note that only Bayard Rustin is major figure in the contemporary struggle for human rights, including his mentorship of Dr. King at the beginning of Dr. King's career. As noted on the Stanford University King Institute website ( https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/rustin-bayard ), Rustin, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, was the American who introduced Dr. King to the depth of Gandhi's philosophy of creative non-violence, and was instrumental in helping Dr. King implement it.
As the King Institute biography teaches us:
"Rustin provided King with a deep understanding of nonviolent ideas and tactics at a time when King had only an academic familiarity with Gandhi. Rustin later recalled: 'The glorious thing is that he came to a profoundly deep understanding of nonviolence through the struggle itself, and through reading and discussions which he had in the process of carrying on the protest." King recognized the advantages of Rustin’s knowledge, contacts, and organizational abilities, and invited him to serve as his advisor, well aware that Rustin’s background would be controversial to other civil rights leaders. As King’s special assistant, Rustin assumed a variety of roles, including proofreader, ghostwriter, philosophy teacher, and nonviolence strategist.
"Rustin was also instrumental in the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), proposing to King in December 1956 that he create a group that would unite black leaders in the South who possess 'ties to masses of people so that their action projects are backed by broad participation of people.' Rustin developed the guidelines for discussion for the founding meeting of SCLC in January 1957."
"[a]lthough Rustin helped draft much of King’s [1958] memoir, Stride Toward Freedom, Rustin would not allow his name to be credited in the book, telling an associate: 'I did not feel that he should bear this kind of burden.'”
As important as Bayard Rustin's contributions were in the 1950s, perhaps even more significant was his brilliant stage managing of the 1963 March on Washington, which gave Dr. King the platform for his "I Have a Dream" Speech which galvanized the nation. Again, from the King Institute:
"In 1963 [the elderly Civil Rights Leader A. Phillip] Randolph began organizing the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Despite the concerns of many civil rights leaders, Rustin was appointed deputy director of the march. In less than two months Rustin guided the organization of an event that would bring over 200,000 participants to the nation’s capital."
This is why the Life Magazine cover following the March on Washington pictured Randolph and Rustin.
As Maryland Advocacy Chair for the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG, I agree with so many of my fellow Montgomery Countians that selecting the name of Bayard Rustin would sent an important signal that this community honors a great American who happened to be openly gay at a time when it was dangerous to be open.
As a VISTA Volunteer in Memphis (1969-70), Co-President of the Rosemary Hills Magnet Primary School (1984-86), a member of the Montgomery County's Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Committee (1986-92), and a member of the Richard Montgomery High School PTSA Executive Committee (1996-99), I relate in this letter the history of his principal accomplishments to show that, in my opinion, even were Rustin not gay, honoring his memory by naming the new Richard Montgomery Cluster elementary school after him would be the best choice.
Sincerely,
David S. Fishback, Maryland Advocacy Chair
Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG
Olney MD
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