Declaring March 17, 2025, as "Bayard Rustin Day" in the City of Philadelphia.

Declaring March 17, 2025, as "Bayard Rustin Day" in the City of Philadelphia. WHEREAS, Born March 17, 1912, Bayard Rustin was one of 12 children raised by his grandparents in West Chester; and WHEREAS, It was at his family home in West Chester that Mr. Rustin's lifelong commitment to nonviolent activism began through both a Quaker upbringing and the influence of his grandmother's participation in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and WHEREAS, As a teenager, Mr. Rustin's activism included refusing to sit in the segregated section of a cinema, demonstrating his early stand against racial injustice; and WHEREAS, As a young adult, Mr. Rustin worked for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), advocating for peace, labor rights and social equality; and WHEREAS, His work included traveling to India to study the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence, further shaping his belief in peaceful resistance as a means for achieving social justice; and WHEREAS, In 1941, Mr. Rustin served as a principal leader in calling for a march on Washington to protest discrimination in the armed forces and the defense sector, prompting President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue an executive order ending segregation in defense industries; and WHEREAS, During this period, Mr. Rustin cofounded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and participated in the CORE Journey of Reconciliation, which tested Supreme Court rulings barring segregation in interstate travel and later served as a…