PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A suburban Philadelphia school board has voted to name a new high school after Bayard Rustin, the late civil rights activist known both as an aide to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and for taking controversial political stances.

In a 6-3 vote Monday, the West Chester Area school board decided to name the school after Rustin, despite critics who objected to naming it after a man who was gay, briefly a member of a Communist youth group in the 1930s and who was a conscientious objector during World War II.

"If every one of the 16 million men and women of the armed forces refused to serve our country, we would be speaking German and Japanese," area resident Marvin Baughman said at the board meeting.

The school board voted last spring to name a new $63 million high school after Rustin, who graduated from the district in 1931. It reopened the discussion after some members said they were not fully aware of his past.

"As a committee, we have not seen, read, or heard anything that would give us reason to change our recommendation for the name of the new high school," the committee's report to the school board said.

As a committee, we have not seen, read, or heard anything that would ... change our recommendation for the name of the new high school.  

For a half-century, Rustin was a relentless solider in the civil rights movement, although much of his work was conducted behind the scenes out of fear that the public wouldn't accept an openly gay activist.

As a lifelong Quaker and a pacifist, Rustin wasn't obligated to serve in the military, but he drew a three-year jail term in 1943 [red]when he also refused to perform alternative service in a non-combat role.[/red]

After his release from prison following World War II, Rustin traveled south to agitate against segregation in what is credited as being the first Freedom Ride.

In 1955, he was one of King's key aides during the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott that became a landmark civil rights victory. He was the lead organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., at which King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, considered by many historians to be the pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle.

He also took his activism abroad, protesting for peace and civil rights in India, South Africa, Cambodia and Haiti. Supporters note that Rustin has been honored many times elsewhere, with no controversy.

Rustin died in 1987.

Quoted:
See, it ain't just California.

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Yeah, we're sending the New Yorkers back. [;)]

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This gets my nomination for "Thread Title of the Year"

Quoted:
This gets my nomination for "Thread Title of the Year"