Singer will talk and answer questions after a screening of his newest documentary, “Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin,” according to an IU press release.
The film is about Bayard Rustin, a player in the Civil Rights Movement, who was openly gay during a time when homosexuality was not widely accepted. Rustin was a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., but he wasn’t heard of often in history, according to rustin.org.
“As headline-grabbing stories of racial strife threaten to drown out the countless acts of goodwill among people of different backgrounds that occur quietly every day, it is perhaps more important than ever that we embrace Dr. King’s refusal to, quote, ‘accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality,’” President Michael A. McRobbie said in the ?release.
Rustin was also a chief organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, according to the University.
Singer is the former executive editor of Time Magazine’s education program. Singer has also worked on the documentary entitled “Electoral Dysfunction,” which is hosted by Mo Rocca, formerly of “The Daily Show.” The documentary took a nonpartisan look at voting in America, according to the Electoral Dysfunction website.
As part of MLK Day celebrations, there will also be a show entitled “Justice?: An Emergent Theater Project Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King” put on in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union at 4 p.m. Sunday. Students from Ivy Tech Community College will also participate in the project, according to the University.
Several films will be shown throughout the day Jan. 19, including “Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom” at 8:30 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union and “Freedom Riders” at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Library.
Kathrine Schulze
