Written by Daniel J. Mulligan, MA, and Erica D. Marshall Lee, Ph.D., on behalf of the Atlanta Behavioral Health Advocates

For most Americans, the defining moment of the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington. But did you know that pivotal 1963 event, which was actually called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,” was organized in large part by a gay Black Quaker socialist named Bayard Rustin?

It’s no surprise that Black History is often whitewashed and taught poorly in America. Sadly, we didn’t hear Bayard Rustin’s story until adulthood. Despite his many talents, Rustin was forced into the background because the heteronormative culture criminalized and pathologized his gay sexual orientation.

Thanks to a Netflix biopic released last November, a new generation is being introduced to Rustin’s story. We are moved that a wider audience can celebrate his intersecting identities thanks to the successes of the Civil Rights and Gay Liberation movements he helped organize. But, unlike the 2003 documentary, the 2023 film omits much of Rustin’s life and his values. These omissions are alarming indicators of what’s missing today in psychology and the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement.  

The film ends prior to Rustin's 1966 push for the "Freedom Budget," a proposal to achieve economic justice for Black people and poor people. For Rustin, ending legalized segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement was inadequate to complete the Black Freedom Struggle. The Freedom Budget called for guaranteed employment, job training, living wages, universal health care and housing, and investment in public works that would disproportionately benefit Black people. The objective was to fundamentally restructure American society.

In addition to these omissions, the film minimizes the labor movement’s role and excludes Rustin’s prescient warnings about white liberals replacing collective action with psychology, moralism, and slogans. He saw how an ethos of self-expression, self-improvement, and self-flagellation was becoming a way to avoid the difficult work of building collective power and championing programs for economic justice. Unfortunately, the Freedom Budget was never enacted.

Despite heroic efforts in the past 58 years, there remain unconscionable racialized disparities. It seems history proved Rustin right. To honor this prophetic figure and the vital contributions of countless Black Americans whose names have been erased from the history........

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