Florida Courier - August 30, 2013

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PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID DAYTONA BEACH, FL PERMIT #189

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VOLUME 21 NO. 35

Page B1

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AUGUST 30 - SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

THE MENTOR Bayard T. Rustin had a profound influence on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil rights career from beginning to end. Rustin was Black and gay when it was dangerous to be either.

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WASHINGTON – On Aug. 28, 1963, moments after his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and nine other civil rights leaders hurried off to the White House to confer with President John F. Kennedy. Left behind at the podium to wrap things up was Bayard Taylor Rustin, the organizer of the march. Rustin often was left behind

in histories of the march and of the civil rights movement, too. Now, 26 years after his death, historians give Rustin – who was an openly gay Black man – credit for, among other things, schooling King in the virtues of nonviolence and civil disobedience. Rustin also pulled together the broad national coalition of Black churches, White liberals, Jews, Roman Catholics and elements of organized labor that formed the backbone of the civil

rights movement and provided its marchers.

High honor The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization launched the Bayard Rustin 2013 Commemoration Project to honor Rustin’s life and legacy, with a focus on the role he played in the march’s organization and execution. After years of effort by

WILLIAM J. SCOTT JR/KRT

The 1963 March on Washington’s organizer, Bayard T. Rustin (in glasses), was See THE MENTOR, Page A2 selected to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom 26 years after his death.

Obama honors MLK

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most iconic moment of the civil rights movement. Obama, the first AfricanAmerican president, spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where King BY KATHLEEN HENNESSEY described his dream of raTRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU cial equality as many Black (MCT) Americans still struggled to WASHINGTON – Presi- vote. dent Barack Obama tried to reassemble a “coalition of Series of events conscience” to take up his Obama’s remarks capped economic agenda for the several days of events in middle class on Wednesday Washington observing the as he honored Martin Lu- anniversary. ther King Jr. and the marchThousands marched Saters who fought for civil urday on the National Mall rights 50 years ago. to call attention to current “In the face of impossi- civil rights causes: gay and ble odds, people who love lesbian rights, voting rights their country can change it,” and gun laws. Obama said. The commemoration The president spoke at a Wednesday was more solceremony commemoratemn. Speakers including the anniversary of the ed former Presidents Bill March on Washington for Clinton and Jimmy CartJobs and Freedom, the 1963 See OBAMA, Page A2 protest that became the

George Zimmerman’s wife gets probation in plea deal BY RENE STUTZMAN ORLANDO SENTINEL (MCT)

MARGOT JORDAN PHOTO

First Lady Michelle Obama speaks to kids attending Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day festivities in New York as Floridians Serena Williams, left, and Sloane Stephens, third from left, look on. Serena and Sloane may battle each other as the tournament progresses.

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SANFORD – Shellie Zimmerman, the wife of acquitted murder suspect George Zimmerman, admitted Wednesday that she had committed perjury to help her husband get out of jail and agreed to a plea deal that requires her to serve a year of probation. Shellie Zimmerman had been charged with felony perjury, which carried a possible sentence of five years in prison. Instead, she negotiated a deal to plead guilty to a less serious crime, misdemeanor perjury.

No in-court apology She did not apologize in court to Circuit Judge Marlene Alva, but in a letter to Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr., the judge to whom she was untruthful, she wrote, “By lying under oath, I let my God down, I let your Honor and the court down, I let my family and my friends down, and most of all, I let myself down. In the

GARY W. GREEN/ ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

Shellie Zimmerman, wife of George Zimmerman, smiles with her attorney Kelly Sims, left, while reviewing paperwork for her guilty plea. future, no matter what the consequences, I will tell the truth because in the end all you have is your integrity.” Notably absent from the courtroom was her husband, George Zimmerman, the former Neighborhood Watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford. A six-member Seminole County jury acquitted him of second-degree murder last month. See ZIMMERMAN, Page A2


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