Obama Awards Bayard Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom
This happened August 16, 2013 but I wanted to bring this to Light again in the BOG. 
Civil rights leader Bayard Rustin is shown in his Park Avenue South office in New York City, in April 1969. (AP Photo/A. Camerano)
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"On Thursday, the White House announced that Bayard Rustin, the trailblazing civil rights activist, will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.
The timing couldn’t be better. Rustin was a key advisor to Martin Luther King and the primary organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom — a job he seemed to have prepared for all his life. Many Americans will be celebrating that event’s 50th anniversary on August 28, and insisting that the country complete the march’s unfinished business of economic justice, full employment, voting rights, and equal opportunity.
Honoring Rustin with the Medal of Freedom tells us something about how far America has come as a nation in the past 50 years. After all, he had four strikes against him. He was a pacifist, a radical, black and gay. Controversy surrounded him all his life.
From the 1940s through the 1960s, Rustin marshaled his considerable talents — as an organizer, strategist, speaker and writer — to challenge the economic and racial status quo. Always an outsider, he helped catalyze the civil-rights movement with courageous acts of resistance. Rustin was a brilliant thinker and strategist, but given his political liabilities as a gay, black, radical pacifist, he also relied on his incredible charm to win converts to the causes of peace and civil rights. A remarkable tenor, he frequently sang gospel and blues songs for his audiences. Had he not become an organizer, he could have become a popular entertainer."
There's more.. and it's facinating..
http://billmoyers.com/2013/08/10/obama-awards-bayard-rustin-the-presidential-medal-of-freedom/
"Bayard Rustin: PA Native, Unsung Hero of the 1963 March on Washington, Lifelong Activist"
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In his own day, Bayard Rustin was a minority within a minority who tirelessly agitated for change, spending nights in jail opposing U.S. policy at home and abroad. He was an African American fighting against segregation, a gay man fighting against homophobia, and a pacifist fighting against endless warfare. Rustin was a key adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King and introduced him to Gandhi’s teachings on nonviolence. He helped Dr. King start the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Six years later, Bayard Rustin was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, rallying hundreds of thousands of people for economic justice, full employment, voting rights and equal opportunity. … In later years, Bayard Rustin spoke publicly about the importance of equal rights for gay men and lesbians, suggesting it was the new frontier of the civil rights movement. On August 24, 1987, Bayard Rustin died of a perforated appendix. He was survived by Walter Naegle, his partner of 10 years.
There's more..
http://www.keystonepolitics.com/2013/08/bayard-rustin-pa-native-unsung-hero-of-the-1963-march-on-washington-lifelong-activist/
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It’s nice to be living in an era when a person who is black, gay, and pacifist with a life like Bayard Rustin’s can receive such an award. More than anyone else I can think of, Bayard Rustin fits the description of a Pennsylvania progressive hero. Perhaps like many of you, when I encounter people that think political participation doesn’t matter, one of the easiest examples I jump to to disprove that belief is the 1960′s civil rights movement and the real-life impact it had on our society. Bayard Rustin is an unsung hero of that movement, but much, much more. He was a lifelong activist that tried to push FDR to the left and was openly gay decades before he mentored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He died a year before I was born, so I send you a belated RIP from the realm of the as-yet-living, Mr. Rustin, and I hope that reading your story will inspire others to keep up the fight as much as it has inspired me. Special thanks to Amy Goodman and everyone else at Democracy Now! for recognizing the story of Bayard Rustin as the major story it is and enlightening me – and hopefully you – with it.
http://www.keystonepolitics.com/2013/08/bayard-rustin-pa-native-unsung-hero-of-the-1963-march-on-washington-lifelong-activist/
Thanks for sharing it here Cha!
BOG
And, I thank President Barack Obama for honoring Bayard Rustin with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award!
'Obama to honor Bayard Rustin, Oprah with Medal of Freedom"
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"Clinton and Oprah Winfrey will be among 16 people that President Barack Obama will venerate later this year with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House announced Thursday. They’ll join other prominent people to be honored this year, including musicians, scientists, activists — even an astronaut.
Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy created the medal — the highest honor the U.S. bestows on civilians — with the stroke of a pen to an executive order. In the five decades since, more than 500 people have been recognized for contributions to society of all stripes.
“This year’s honorees have been blessed with extraordinary talent, but what sets them apart is their gift for sharing that talent with the world,” Obama said in a statement."
There's more..
http://thegrio.com/2013/08/08/obama-to-honor-bill-clinton-oprah-with-medal-of-freedom/
BOG
Finding out about another true American hero or heroine is always inspiring.
Know your Hawai'ian language, do ya? 
I haven't seen you in awhile. I have even peeked into the Lounge, haven't seen you there either. Have you been working around the clock? Or better yet, I hope you have been taking some well deserved R&R.
Good to see you~
I've been around.
Had a rough week at work last week, capped off with a great clinical day on Friday to make up for it. You can read about it in my journal if you want.
I've missed you, too. 
I'm happy to see you...
to the memory of Bayard Rustin~ Activist and human being Extraordinaire 
To the memory of Bayard Rustin! 
I'm finding out more about the first March on Washington with Bayard Ruskin as the guy behind the scenes than ever and it is "fascinating"!
thanks for reporting on the Special! Bless, John Lewis' heart~
