I have seen periods of progress followed by reaction. I have seen the hopes and aspirations of Negroes rise during World War II, only to be smashed during the Eisenhower years. I am seeing the victories of the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations destroyed by Richard Nixon.
Interpretation
Progress is often met with resistance, creating cyclical patterns of hope and disappointment.
This quote by Bayard Rustin reflects on the historical context of racial progress in the United States, highlighting how moments of advancement for African Americans, such as during World War II, are often followed by setbacks due to political changes and societal reactions. Rustin observes a pattern where victories achieved by leaders like Kennedy and Johnson during the civil rights movement are undermined by subsequent administrations, underscoring the fragility of progress in the face of changing political climates.
In practice
In a speech about social justice, one could say, 'As Bayard Rustin observed, progress often faces resistance, reminding us to stay vigilant.'
Twenty-five, 30 years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian.
God does not require us to achieve any of the good tasks that humanity must pursue. What God requires of us is that we not stop trying.
If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.
If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence. If we desire a society without discrimination, then we must not discriminate against anyone in the process of building this society. If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.
My activism did not spring from being black...The racial injustice that was present in this country during my youth was a challenge to my belief in the oneness of the human family.
I am an opponent of war and of war preparations and an opponent of universal military training and conscription; but entirely apart from that issue, I hold that segregation in any part of the body politic is an act of slavery and an act of war.
When we confront facts and fears, we achieve real power and unleash our capacity for change.
Dreams have consequences. There is no turning back. A revolution is not a painless march to the gates of freedom and justice. It is a struggle between rage and hope, between the temptation to destroy and the desire to build. Its temperament is desperate. It is a tormented response to the past, to all that has happened, the recalled and unrecalled injustices - for the memory of a revolution reaches much further back than the memory of its protagonists.
Although the connections are not always obvious, personal change is inseparable from social and political change.
Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our Nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow Americans, this is our time. Let us embrace it.
The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value.
What we need is a tough new kind of feminism with no illusions. Women do not change institutions simply by assimilating into them. We need a feminism that teaches a woman to say no - not just to the date rapist or overly insistent boyfriend but, when necessary, to the military or corporate hierarchy within which she finds herself. We need a kind of feminism that aims not just to assimilate into the institutions that men have created over the centuries, but to infiltrate and subvert them.
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