It may be helpful to consider Rustin’s challenge to today’s popular individual-focused antiracist approach, and his support for the more collectivist -focused reconstructionist approach that his followers continue to advocate.
Bayard Rustin was one of the most influential Quakers of the 20th century. He was one of the most influential African Americans of the 20th century. He is also a person that few people in America, including Quakers, have ever heard of.
As I have come to realize that we won’t rid ourselves of prejudice without ridding ourselves of privilege, I have also come to realize that privilege is not a blessing but an unnecessary curse that robs and blinds us.
At a recent Buffalo Friends Committee on Ministry and Council meeting, one of the members commented that the Quaker way of handling Meeting business was perhaps one of the most unique things about the Religious Society of Friends.