The March On Washington | Organizers Reflect On Their Work with Bayard Rustin | Netflix - video Dailymotion

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Meet the activists: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Courtland Cox, Joyce Ladner and Rachelle Horowitz discuss their experiences planning the March on Washington with Bayard Rustin

Transcript

00:00 The March in Washington as an event itself was impressive.

00:05 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪

00:06 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪

00:08 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪

00:09 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪

00:11 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪

00:12 ♪ Woke up this morning with ♪

00:14 There had never been a number of people

00:16 that size in Washington.

00:18 We always talk about the numbers and so forth,

00:21 but I think it changed the narrative

00:23 and it changed the dynamic

00:25 about how America began to see the Civil Rights Movement.

00:29 And I think it's really important for that.

00:31 ♪ Ah ♪

00:34 I was on the staff of the March on Washington,

00:37 worked with Bayard Rustin.

00:39 Eleanor, you'll oversee all written documents.

00:42 Well, Bayard Rustin was really the only person in America

00:45 who could have organized that march.

00:48 There had never been a march that large.

00:50 How many bodies did it take to surround the White House?

00:53 How many?

00:54 This was a historical event happening

00:58 and Bayard sort of welcomed us in and said,

01:01 "Come, make history with me."

01:03 You literally want me to try now?

01:05 Yes!

01:06 I was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

01:09 and became amazed to see--

01:12 I still have that picture in my mind--

01:15 how so many people came

01:18 that you could not see the end of the people.

01:22 I helped groups charter buses and work on the regulations.

01:26 Rachelle, you'll be in charge of transportation.

01:29 It was amazing, it seems to me, that I did it.

01:33 For 100,000 people? I can't even drive.

01:36 I really felt that here was history in the making.

01:40 [crowd chanting]

01:42 Activism should not be dependent

01:44 on your reacting to something that happened.

01:47 You need to plan.

01:49 Bayard left nothing to chance on that march.

01:53 That is, there's nothing that happened that day

01:55 that he didn't try to organize.

01:58 Norm, how many first-aid stations have been secured?

02:01 22. Water?

02:02 There will be 6 water tanks, 1,500 gallons.

02:04 Lighten, who are the guardians?

02:06 A fraternal order of New York City's Black police.

02:08 And he was very clear to the Washington police

02:12 that their job was to guard the periphery of the march

02:17 to make sure that no Klan people or extremists invaded it.

02:22 And inside the march, and there is a scene in the movie about that,

02:26 we had Black volunteer policemen from New York

02:30 who were to monitor the march.

02:32 It is your responsibility to create an atmosphere of peace.

02:37 God bless you all.

02:39 I am from Mississippi, grew up there.

02:42 You'll travel from city to city, raising funds and spreading the word.

02:46 My job was to recruit people from the South to come to the march.

02:50 August 28th, the Helluva Jackson's gonna sing,

02:53 and freedom's gonna shout!

02:55 What I liked about Bayard was, number one, he was very charismatic.

02:59 Do this, Dr. King. Own your power.

03:03 [laughs]

03:04 The thing that I also loved about him was that

03:07 he treated my views with as much respect as he did Eleanor,

03:12 who was in law school at the time, or Rochelle.

03:15 Or Dr. King's.

03:16 Or Dr. King. He was a great listener.

03:18 Now that's collaboration! Write it on the wall.

03:21 My role in the march in Washington was to serve as the representative

03:28 of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

03:31 Angelic troublemakers such as yourselves,

03:34 with ideas so bold, so inspiring,

03:36 the execution will demand all groups draw tightly together and become one.

03:40 I think the two things that attracted me to Bayard

03:44 was his commitment and being there when we needed him politically,

03:49 and looking at him navigate big political situations and succeed.

03:55 Your facts are correct. Your sense of history is not.

03:58 He really believed in young people,

04:01 and he believed that young people would change the world,

04:04 and he took every young person, as Joyce said, seriously.

04:09 We're not done yet!

04:11 [laughter]

04:12 So you know.

04:13 He always moved us forward to the next demand,

04:16 and he didn't brood on what was bad.

04:19 [music]

04:21 I love the film. It exceeded my expectations,

04:24 and I had high expectations for it.

04:27 Coleman was extraordinary.

04:30 When I heard him speak, I thought I was hearing Bayard Rustin,

04:34 and that's one of the reasons the film is so good and so authentic.

04:38 I am also happy that this movie will be part of history.

04:43 He answered the question that America was asking,

04:47 what do you Negroes want?

04:49 You know, we want to be all the things that America says it should be about

04:55 in terms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

04:58 That whole discussion of what Bayard had to go through,

05:01 even within the Black community,

05:03 because he was in the LGBT community,

05:06 he had to know how to navigate situations that were highly delicate.

05:11 On the day that I was born Black, I was also born a homosexual.

05:15 They either believe in freedom and justice for all, or they do not.

05:20 The most sophisticated aspect of the movie was the last scene

05:24 where the leadership is walking in one direction, he's walking in another,

05:28 and they portray him as a man of the people,

05:31 even though he organized the march in Washington.

05:35 Hello, son, how are you? Would you mind?

05:38 Thank you.

05:41 [music]

05:47 [music]

05:49 [music]

05:52 [music]

05:55 [music]

05:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]

The March On Washington | Organizers Reflect On Their Work with Bayard Rustin | Netflix

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