Bayard Rustin: “There is no need for me to fear.”

“A striking example of the power of non-violence in meeting a racial conflict situation was recently given on a bus in Tennessee by Bayard Rustin, a NegroYouth worker for the F.O.R. [Fellowship of Reconciliation] Getting on the bus at Louisville, Ky., he took a seat in the middle of the bus; the driver asked him to move to the very back, which he refused to do, and after a consultation with company officials, the driver dropped the point and the bus started out. …Here is the story of what happened in Bayard’s words:

About thirteen miles north of Nashville, I heard the racket of approaching police cars. In a few seconds the bus came to a sudden stop. A police car and two motorcycles drew up to us. Four police came thundering into the bus. They consulted shortly with the driver and then came back to me.

‘Get up! You God-d***** N*****.‘

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Get up; You black son-of-a-b****.‘

‘What have I done that I should move? Is it . . . ‘

That was the last word I could say. Three of these policemen began to beat me about the head and shoulders. Suddenly I found myself on the floor. They were dragging me out and kicking me. (Even yet I have a dark spot on my hip. Lucky it was not a few inches away). They threw me on the ground and continued (all four of them) to kick and beat me.

I jumped to my feet, held out my arms parallel to the ground and said, ‘There is no need to beat me. I am not resisting you.’ At this point three white men, obviously southerners from their speech, came out of the bus. They said, ‘Why do that to him? He has done nothing. Why not treat him like a human being? He is not resisting you.’ One little fellow grabbed the policeman’s club as he was about to strike me, saying, ‘Don’t you do that!‘

The police was about to strike him when I said to him, ‘Please don’t do that. There is no need, for I am protected well. There is no need to fight. I thank you just the same.‘

These three white friends began to collect my clothes and luggage which the bus driver had thrown out of the bus to the side of the road.

One elderly man asked the police where they were taking me. They said, ‘Nashville.’ He promised me that he would be there to see that I got justice.

During the thirteen-mile hectic ride to town they continuously called me every kind of name and said anything which might incite me to violence. I sat absolutely still, looking them straight in the eye whenever they dared to face me. The fact that they could not look at me gave me courage and hope, for I knew they were aware of injustice. This made them quite open for development.

When I reached Nashville, they went through my luggage and papers. They were most interested in the Christian Century and Fellowship.

Finally, the captain said, ‘Come here, N*****.‘

I walked directly to him.

‘What can I do for you?’ I said.

‘N*****,’ he said, ‘you’re supposed to be scared when you come in here.‘

‘I am fortified by truth, justice and Christ,” I said, “there is no need for me to fear.‘

He was flabbergasted. For a time he said nothing, Then he walked to another officer and said, in his frustration, ‘I believe the N*****’s crazy.‘

I waited there an hour and a half.

The next thing I knew [I] was taken for a long ride across town. At the Courthouse I was taken into the office of the Assistant District Attorney, a Mr. Ben West. As I entered the door I heard someone in the hallway say, ‘Say, you colored fellow, hey.’ I looked about and there was the white gentleman who said he would see that I got justice.

The District Attorney questioned me about my life, the Christian Century, the F.O.R., pacifism and the war for one half hour. He then asked the police to tell their side of the story. They told several lies. He then asked me to tell my side. This I did, calling upon the policemen to substantiate me at each point.

The District Attorney dismissed me. I waited an hour longer in a dark room all alone. Then he came in and said very kindly, ‘You may go, Mr. Rustin.‘

In amazement, I left the courthouse, being all the stronger a believer in the non-violent approach, for I am certain that I was called Mr., that I was assisted by the elderly gentleman, and assisted by the three men in the bus because I had, without fear, faced four policemen, saying, ‘There is no need to beat me. I offer you no resistance.‘

— Bayard Rustin, 1942
Quaker civil rights activist
“Non-Violence in Action,” Fellowship