The film Rustin has similarities with the film Malcolm X since both are about the civil rights movement during the 1960s. The movie Rustin is about how Bayard Rustin helped organize the 1963 March on Washington despite facing racism, homophobia, and being called a communist. Rustin was a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and was forced to take a background role due to his open homosexuality. Although Rustin had a less public role than Malcolm X, they both fought for the civil rights of African Americans. Rustin additionally faced discrimination because he was openly gay. He was registered as a sex offender and condemned by others because he was arrested for sexual activity with another man. Both films depict the characters’ personal lives, use flashbacks, and imagery of the plight of African Americans to spread their message.
Rustin starts off showing Ruby Bridges being escorted to school by federal marshals and Elizabeth Eckford going to school while being yelled at by an angry mob of white students. From this point, we are thrown into a discussion King is having about staging a protest. King states that he cannot conduct the protest, and Bayard Rustin is introduced by encouraging King, pointing out how powerful he is. After this introduction, Rustin resigns from the NAACP because they disagree with staging the protest, and Rustin is to blame. Afterward, the audience witnesses Rustin’s personal life and beliefs in nonviolence due to his upbringing as a Quaker. Rustin works for the War Resisters League while planning the March on Washington with members of various civil rights organizations. After pitching this idea to the NAACP and being rejected, he convinced the NAACP to support the protest with the help of King and A. Phillip Randolph. The final arc of the movie focuses on Rustin organizing the protest while being ridiculed by the media for being homosexual and accused of being a communist. Eventually, the protest happens, and the members of the NAACP acknowledge him and his accomplishment of organizing the protest.
Like the movie Rustin, Malcolm X uses the imagery of injustices that African Americans endured. Malcolm X shows Rodney King getting beaten by cops in the opening as Malcolm is giving a speech. This has the same effect that showing African American children going to school has in Rustin. Both depictions highlight the stark contrast between legislation and what is actually happening in the United States. Additionally, both films use flashbacks as a way to add depth to the main characters and show the hardships they had to endure. In Malcolm X, the audience is shown flashbacks to the KKK attacking his childhood home and the death of his father. This is similar to the scene in Rustin where Rustin gets a flashback to getting beaten for sitting at the front of the bus on his way to visit King. This technique is used effectively in both films to highlight the harsh reality of being African American in the US.
In addition to all these similarities, Malcolm X and Rustin’s approach to fighting for civil rights was one significant difference. Rustin introduced the idea of passive resistance to King, and King was further influenced by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi to use peaceful protest. Malcolm had a different self-defense approach, and he was less open to help from people of other races. Although Malcolm did become more open towards the end of the movie. Both movies did a great job depicting how the characters’ stances were shaped by their experiences and in the way they respond to blatant discrimination. We can see that Rustin is easy-going and tries to avoid direct confrontation, especially when he was being discriminated against by his boss, while Malcolm is a lot more serious as he grows up taking part in crime and experiences violent attempts on his life. Despite their approach, both were focused and dedicated to creating change.
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