March: Book Two

These concluding pages introduce new, important figures and nuance the characterization of existing figures. These deepened characterizations often highlight the theme of The Nature of Media and Public Perception, as the leaders debate how to best present their movement to the wider American public and who should be a figurehead. One of these people is Bayard Rustin. Lewis calls him “a devout pacifist and brilliant organizer” (151). Rustin worked with A. Philip Randolph on the 1941 march and served as Dr. King’s mentor as he came up in the SCLC. Rustin’s sexuality and his political affiliations put him at odds with some of the “Big Six,” particularly Roy Wilkins from the NAACP. While Rustin is the obvious person to lead the March, Wilkins thinks that “people are going to use [Rustin] against them” due to his “link[s] to the Communist Party” and what Wilkins calls, “the ‘morals’ charge” (151). 

While Rustin was affiliated with the Communist Party of the United States before World War II, he later joined the Socialist Party of America alongside A. Philip Randolph. Randolph is the “safe” choice they eventually elect to lead the March, so it is implied that the real reason Wilkins and others object to Rustin is because he is a gay man. Wilkins uses the coded language about Rustin having dubious “morals.” In most states, the act of “sodomy” was considered illegal at this time and the American Psychiatric Association didn’t remove homosexuality from The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) until the 1970s.

Lewis thus says that Rustin’s sexuality “made him a strategic liability” (151) for the movement’s public image. McCarthyism, the period of time marked by investigations into supposed communist affiliations (which disproportionately affected the LGBTQ+ and Black communities) ended with McCarthy’s censure and then his death in 1957, six years before the March. However, the social stigma around these things remained. Due to Rustin’s position as a leftist who is highly criticized by people outside and inside the movement, he has a unique interaction with Lewis about his speech. Rustin says that “some people are very concerned about some of the things you’re going to say in your speech” (156), and he’s “sure there will be [criticisms], once the others have seen your speech” (157). At this point, Rustin doesn’t ask Lewis to change his words, or criticize his extreme language, or imply that he will hurt the movement by using the rhetoric he wants to.

Rustin’s neutral warning contrasts sharply with Randolph’s reaction. Randolph immediately criticizes Lewis for wanting to “be different” (162). Randolph uses an ad hominem logical fallacy, which attacks the bearer of a message rather than the message itself. He continues to use fallacies to try and persuade Lewis to change his speech. He says: “I have waited twenty-two years for this. I’ve waited all my life for this opportunity. Please don’t ruin it. John, we’ve come this far together. Let us stay together” (164). Randolph uses the appeal-to-emotion fallacy, appealing to Lewis’s emotions rather than stating a valid argument for why he should change his speech. Asking Lewis not to “ruin” the opportunity Randolph has waited so long for puts undue pressure on Lewis’s shoulders, supposing his actions alone could ruin the event, and he appeals to their relationship in a flattering manner to persuade Lewis to agree with him. Randolph is thus a complicated figure. While he insists that Rustin be allowed to organize the March behind the scenes, he also influences Lewis to censor his speech.

The criticism Randolph levels against Lewis’s speech is also indicative of The Diversity of Tactics Within the Civil Rights Movement. When the SNCC, which is younger and more progressive than the SCLC, hears about the March, they “thought the March would be a lame event staged by conservative Black leaders that was probably, in some way, controlled by the federal government” (145). In a way, the SNCC’s fears are confirmed by how the leaders of the March tone-police Lewis’s speech. Despite the changes to his speech, Lewis says that his “message was not compromised” (165). It is unclear why Lewis believes this as of the writing of the graphic novel, despite his great resistance to changing his speech in 1963.

There are many uncertainties at the end of the graphic novel. Lewis includes many pages dedicated to Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, including a full two-page spread on pages 172 and 173 of King with his hands outstretched at the podium, looking up to the sky as light shines around him, advocating for The Power of Collective Action and Community Organizing. However, the graphic novel does not end on this hopeful note. Across pages 178 and 179 are an amalgam of uneven panels made with diagonal lines, with the sounds of sirens in capital letters in the gutters, the space between panels. These visual features give the pages a confused and frantic look that mimics the action taking place, where buildings are engulfed in smoke. 

The final panel on the page contains barely discernible figures looking through the smoke, asking the question, “Denise? Addie?” (179). These pages depict the infamous 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, which killed four little girls. Leaving the graphic novel on this note of uncertainty rather than the victorious tone of the March shows the reader that the activists’ struggle is not over.