Starring: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, CCH Pounder, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Johnny Ramey, Michael Potts, Jeffrey Wright, Audra McDonald, Bill Irwin
OUR RATING: ★★★½
Story:
Netflix bio-drama directed by George C. Wolfe. Rustin (2023) centers on Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo), the architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington. He challenged authority, never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, and in turn, he was forgotten. Alongside giants like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen), Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Jeffrey Wright), and Ella Baker (Audra McDonald), he dared to imagine a different world, and inspired a movement in a march toward freedom.
Where to Watch:
Best Quotes
Bayard Rustin: [to Martin Luther King] When CL first heard you speak, he rang me and said, “Bayard, there’s magic going on down here.” You know what he saw? A star. And when that star starts to shine brighter than any other, including the most powerful N**** leaders that came before, they will do everything in their power to extinguish your light and put you in your place.
Bayard Rustin: [to Martin Luther King] Friend, one of my greatest joys is watching you rise.
Bayard Rustin: Do this, Martin. Own your power.
Bayard Rustin: I am pleased to announce that my friend, Dr. Martin Luther King, will be joining us in Los Angeles.
Roy Wilkins: The hell with Bayard Rustin. His attention-grabbing antics are the exact opposite of how policy is altered and laws are changed. And let’s not mention the unmentionable.
Bayard Rustin: Chief, you call it trouble. I call it an opportunity.
'The pacifist is opposed to using violence, but must be prepared to receive it.' - Bayard Rustin Share on X
Blyden: I hear when King said “git”, you tucked your tail between your legs and swished away. You’re irrelevant.
Bayard Rustin: It’s Friday night. I’ve been called worse.
Bayard Rustin: Muste and I have worked together off and on since I was in my twenties.
Tom: The man hates you because you possess everything that he does not, charm, passion, a goddamn pulse.
Bayard Rustin: Just because you’re smart about some things doesn’t mean you’re smart about everything.
Tom: Well, I’ve got the right to an opinion.
Bayard Rustin: And when it comes to my life, my past, especially as it relates to Martin, I have the right to say, “Enough!”
Bayard Rustin: [as Tom lights up some weed] Last time I checked, that was illegal.
Tom: Last time I checked, so were we.
'Just because you're smart about some things doesn't mean you're smart about everything.' - Bayard Rustin Share on X
Bayard Rustin: Thirty years ago, Gandhi walked to the sea, picked up a handful of salt, and inspired a movement that brought down an empire. The time has come for us to do the same.
Bayard Rustin: We are going to put together the largest peaceful protest in the history of this nation.
Bayard Rustin: A massive two-day demonstration with enough power to shut down the White House and Capitol Hill. Made up of angelic troublemakers such as yourselves, with ideas so bold, so inspiring, their execution will demand all groups draw tightly together and become one. So! Talk. Shout. Take command.
Bayard Rustin: Do not kill an impulse before it’s born.
Bayard Rustin: How many bodies does it take to surround the White House?
Rachelle: How many? Sorry. I thought that was a setup for a joke. You literally want me to find out?
Bayard Rustin: Yes!
Bayard Rustin: I can handle all the grunt work. Building a grassroots operation, rally the young. But when it comes to the old guard…
A. Philip Randolph: Roy.
Bayard Rustin: Especially Roy. I’m considered a pariah. I need you.
Bayard Rustin: “Attempt” is hardly the word I’d use to describe the actions of a man who is single-handedly responsible for integrating both the armed forces and the defense industry.
'When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity, his act of protest confers dignity on him.' - Elias Taylor (Rustin) Share on X
Bayard Rustin: [to Elias] Young man, your facts are correct. Your sense of history is not.
Bayard Rustin: Gandhi brought an empire down to its knees…
Roy Wilkins: Will someone please tell this man that this is not India?
Elias Taylor: “When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity, his act of protest confers dignity on him.”
Bayard Rustin: Why are you quoting me to me?
Elias Taylor: Well, you’re an inspiration.
Bayard Rustin: Inspiration untethered from action loses all value.
Elias Taylor: Who said that?
Bayard Rustin: I did, just now.
Elias Taylor: I was warned. Well, whatever you want to say, you just say it.
Bayard Rustin: Doesn’t everyone?
Elias Taylor: No. No, most people are modest, cautious, afraid.
Bayard Rustin: So say it, whatever’s on your mind this very second. No caution. No fear.
Elias Taylor: So Dr. King’s stance on nonviolence, he got from you?
Bayard Rustin: By way of Jesus Christ, Gandhi, Thoreau.
Elias Taylor: So he trusted you.
Bayard Rustin: I always told him what I knew to be true.
Elias Taylor: That’s drilled into you the day you’re born, huh? They think you’re less than, so you got to be better than.
Bayard Rustin: Yes.
Elias Taylor: So be charming, be perfect, be polite.
Bayard Rustin: The suffocating chains of N**** respectability.
'Inspiration untethered from action loses all value.' - Bayard Rustin Share on X
Bayard Rustin: When I told Ma Rustin I preferred dancing with boys instead of girls, she said, “What would you have me do with that?” And then she said, “I suppose that’s what you need to do.”
Bayard Rustin: When Martin speaks, he holds nothing back. That’s what people feel when they hear him. Truth.
Bayard Rustin: So tell me, Elias Taylor, how can you preach salvation and not want to save yourself? How can you speak of love when your heart is disconnected from your flesh?
Bayard Rustin: You sit behind that desk as you’ve sat for over thirty years, convincing yourself that you’re committed to saving the world, when the only thing you’re committed to is your own safety and superiority.
'If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence.' - Bayard Rustin Share on X
Bayard Rustin: I’m not railing against Jim because of the color of his skin. I’m railing at Jim for being arrogant and ill-informed. The fact that he happens to be white while doing so, well, that’s between him and the Lord.
A.J. Muste: Every day, we agree to surrender that which makes us different so that together we might forge a more humane world.
Bayard Rustin: I can’t surrender my differences. The world won’t let me. And even if I could, I wouldn’t want to. Not today. Not today.
Bayard Rustin: I am drawn to beauty, Black, white, indeterminate, so long as they’re passionate and smart. Why is everyone so obsessed with what I’m doing and with whom?
Ella Baker: [to Rustin] Now, I never believed for one second Powell’s lie, but I do believe that he saw the power that you and Martin had, and it threatened him. Threatens them all. But this country has failed us over and over again. And even so, each day, we forgive by fighting to make things right. And yet you can’t forgive Martin for failing you that one time?
Ella Baker: [to Rustin] This new generation is restless and angry. You want that anger to turn to blood? Our children’s blood? Or will you harness it with Martin for our freedom? You go. You go get your friend back.
Coretta Scott King: Oh, you must stay for dinner.
Bayard Rustin: Oh, you better ask the master of the house.
Coretta Scott King: Oh, hush. You can’t be a master without slaves, and in this house, there are neither.
'When we tell ourselves such lies, start to live and believe such lies, we do the work of our oppressors by oppressing ourselves.' - Bayard Rustin Share on X
Bayard Rustin: This was not an easy journey for me. But the promise of what this march could become, the monumental impact it could have, the lives it could radically alter. The dreams, the visions, and unfulfilled aspirations of our ancestors…
Martin Luther King Jr.: First time we met, I remember calling Corrie and saying that this Rustin fella’s a little crazy in the head. Only later did I fully comprehend that “a little” didn’t even come close.
Martin Luther King Jr.: What about things that are true about you?
Bayard Rustin: What you see, I cannot conceal. But I swear to you, there will be no incidents.
Bayard Rustin: [to Martin Luther King] You once said, “The time is always right to do right.”
Cleveland Robinson: You’d think they’ve never seen proud Black men before. “Glorious shall be the battle when the time comes to fight for our people and our race!”
Black gents, and Tom, shall we?
Roy Wilkins: [referring to Rustin] His mannerisms and reputation make him an easy target. And when the white press and the powers that be take aim, and they will, every person seated at this table will be in the line of fire because of him.
Bayard Rustin: You can call me trash collector for all I care.
Bayard Rustin: It is not a gathering. It is an act of civil disobedience, sanctioned by some of the most meaningful minds in the country. And it is going to take place over two days!
Bayard Rustin: I tell you, Martin, not since Tennessee, when those two policemen set out to reconfigure my face, have I experienced such an overt display of disregard.
Bayard Rustin: You try to get me fired. Now you want to see the march destroyed.
Roy Wilkins: Do you think I just woke up one day and said to myself, “Let’s stage the largest march ever and get former communist Quaker Bayard Rustin to pull it all together?” No, I did not. But once we signed on, we’re in it no matter what. If you would just accept the inevitable now, instead of later when economics force you to, it would give the appearance of strength and unity. It’s called being strategic.
Bayard Rustin: A two-day event will make it clear to whomever that we will not back down or back away.
Bayard Rustin: We are committed to the cause of altering the trajectory of this country towards freedom. That’s what’s on the line. Nothing less.
Bayard Rustin: Ma Rustin once told me that I should only associate with those who had as much to lose as I did.
Tom: When I was sixteen, I brought a N**** friend home for dinner. My father told me he was not going to allow “that boy” to sit at his table. And that was the end of that.
Elias Taylor: Your friend?
Tom: My family. I moved out, and I’ve been on my own ever since.
Elias Taylor: Where I come from, we hold on to our family, no matter what.
Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr.: What if, strictly hypothetical, there was someone attached to this fine organization you’ve created whose mere presence was dangerous and detrimental to the cause you love? Someone whose past affiliations, political and otherwise, combined with their quiddity and flair, could be used by those in power to inflict great harm, not just to the march, but the acts of vengeance from those in power could very easily derail the fight for racial justice in this country a good ten, fifteen years. Would you keep that person in their position, or would your sense of duty as a custodian of the cause compel you to send him/her, her/him on his/her way?
Bayard Rustin: Hypothetically speaking, I’d send them on their way. Unless the person in question happened to be me.
Bayard Rustin: All of which has been achieved in seven weeks. And that is why I would never send me on my way.
Claudia Taylor: [to Rustin] I want to thank you for the time, the inordinate amount of time that you’ve taken with Elias, but that is over. You believe in Elias’s possibilities. I know his limitations.
Bayard Rustin: And whoever has direct dealings with Mr. Hoover, let him know that on August 28th, Black, white, young, old, rich, working-class, poor will descend on Washington, DC, and there’s nothing he can do to stop it.
John Lewis: [from the pledge cards] “I do solemnly swear to commit myself to the civil rights struggle. And do pledge my heart, mind, and body, unequivocally and without regard to personal sacrifice, to the achievement of social peace through social justice. I pledge to carry the message of the march to my friends and neighbors back home, and to arouse them to an equal commitment and an equal effort. I will march, and I will write letters. I will demonstrate, and I will vote. I will work to make sure that my voice and those of my brothers ring clear and determined from every corner of this land.”
Bayard Rustin: Elias, you may think you’re killing off one aspect of yourself, but you’re not. You’re killing all of yourself.
Elias Taylor: I am a married man, about to be a father. And you, sir, are a sick man, and you need to stop following me.
Bayard Rustin: [to Martin Luther King] You are 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 are 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.
Bayard Rustin: What they really want to destroy is all of us coming together and demanding this country 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.
Bayard Rustin: Is that how you intend to dress for my execution?
Tom: My widow’s veil is at the cleaners.
Bayard Rustin: [to Tom] This entire time you’ve been waiting for me to offer you something I’m not ready to give. Maybe when I’m older, and most of the battles have been won, I’ll free myself to fall in love. But until then, I want you to know that you’re my family. No secrets, no shame, just love.
Martin Luther King Jr.: Mr. Rustin is one of the most moral, one of the most decent human beings I’ve ever known. He is as committed to American democracy as any current elected official, and would fight to protect the rights of all, including those who would use the power of their position to deny him his. I’m proud to call him friend. I can’t think of a finer person to lead us into Washington, DC.
Bayard Rustin: [on the day of the march] Lord, I hope and pray they come today.
Martin Luther King Jr.: When we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will all be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old N**** spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last.”
Bayard Rustin: A few weeks ago, I said that I’d happily act as trash collector if we pulled today off.
Roy Wilkins: Rustin, you are far more valuable to us than a trash collector.
Bayard Rustin: Roy, for shame. Ma Rustin taught me that no man is less valuable because he picks up trash to care for his own.