By Eric George Tauber
CINCINATTI, Ohio — We all know these names:
Martin Luther King Jr.
Rosa Parks
Ruby Bridges
Malcolm X
These are the Civil Rights figures of the history books. Their images appear on murals and monuments. Their stories have been told in biographies, films, plays and operas. Likewise, we have all heard Dr. King’s famous I Have a Dream speech, or at least the last part of it. But who organized the famous March on Washington? Who arranged for the busses, sound system, sandwiches and commodes? Who trained the Black police officers in non-violent resistance? During the early planning stages of the march, just 10 weeks before it happened, one name was repeated as the only person for the job: Bayard Rustin.
Bayard Rustin was the man with the wit, tenacity and resourcefulness to pull it off. There was just one issue that even the civil rights leaders of the 1960s found problematic. Bayard Rustin was homosexual and none too coy about it. This is why, even decades later, Bayard Rustin’s name doesn’t ring many bells. However, thanks to Executive Producers Barack and Michelle Obama, Rustin now has his own bio-pic currently streaming on Netflix.
Colman Domingo takes the title role and plays it like a master violinist, with peppy joy and wails of sorrow. Domingo must also conduct his team like a maestro conducts an orchestra, keeping his eye on the score while listening to his musicians. Only the percussion section is a clatter of typewriters, and the brass is ringing telephones. His chamber is a low-rent office space with second-hand furniture and an alleyway for a conference room. In this humble setting, they all have great faith in what Judaism calls Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. Letting Jim Crow crush the ambitions of yet another generation is just not an option.
Tom, Rustin’s executive assistant and lover, is an interesting character that could have used more development. Flipping the common racial narrative, Tom graduated from Howard University, an HBCU, as a minority White student. As a gay man, Tom knew what it was to live on society’s margins. Gus Halper plays Tom with sensitivity and conviction as he chooses to keep the company of his compatriots over his own family. Likewise, John Ramey plays Elias Taylor, Rustin’s other lover, with deeply conflicted passions. A Baptist minister who is married to a woman and poised to take over his father-in-law’s pulpit, Taylor must choose between his ambitions and his deeper desires.
The name everybody knows, Martin Luther King Jr, is inhabited by Aml Ameen, who is handsome, dapper and charming, but refreshingly not larger-than-life. While King was the number one voice heard at the march, he was not the central focus of this story and did not steal the show. King and Rustin have an obvious admiration and brotherly affection for each other. However, business is business, and we all have to pick our battles.
Before Martin and Coretta King were married, Coretta wanted to be a concert singer. Carra Patterson expresses Coretta’s deferred dream in the kitchen as she beautifully belts out a verse from This Little Light of Mine.
Roy Wilkins, the Executive Secretary of the NAACP, was not initially on board with the March. While dedicated to the cause, Wilkins was more conservative, preferring the slow tortoise approach to racial equality. It was only when he realized that this event would happen with or without him that Wilkins lent his support. While I am all for actors expressing their full range, it was a bit strange to see such a brash comedian like Chris Rock take this role and not be funny.
My grateful thanks to the former President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama for producing this story. The name of Bayard Rustin deserves to be remembered alongside the others as a force in the Civil Rights Movement. Now, thanks to this movie, it will be.
Rustin is now streaming on Netflix.
And that’s Show-Biz!
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Now living in Cincinnati, Eric George Tauber was a San Diego-based freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com