In this address, Bayard Rustin argues that the civil rights movement seeks integration into American society as it exists, yet is inherently revolutionary because fulfilling Black demands requires transforming institutions that cannot remain unchanged. He calls for a strategic shift from protest to broad coalition-based political action, insisting that only a unified movement for full employment and social investment can address systemic injustice without pitting Black and white workers against one another.
Integration or Separation: Bayard Rustin Debates Malcolm X at the Community Church of New York
In this electrifying 1962 debate, Rustin championed integration and coalition-based nonviolence, while Malcolm X advanced a vision of Black separation and self-determination outside a hypocritical white society. The encounter distilled two competing strategies for identity, power, and survival in America.
