Politician-activist

Byron Rushing

By CARA BAYLES

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Assistant Majority Whip Byron Rushing's political career stretches back further than his 26 years as state representative for the South End, Fenway and Lower Roxbury. In high school, he supported the 1958 Southern sit-ins with boycotts. He continued his civil rights work while at Harvard. Then he became a community organizer.

"While I was doing that, I was trying to answer larger systemic questions around race, especially power, and power for black people," Rushing says. "I was trying to figure out how a city that had been so active 100 years before with abolition had gotten to a place where black people were in such bad shape in Boston, politically."

He helped establish the Museum of African American History in 1972, and wound up being its director for a decade. "I call that my first midlife crisis," says Rushing, a youthful 66, despite his frothy white beard.

In 1982, Rep. Mel King gave up his seat to focus on his mayoral campaign. Rushing met with his South End neighbors to discuss King's successor. "I was sitting around in this meeting, talking about different people, and then someone suggested I run," he says. "And the whole room starts to change. All of a sudden, someone takes out his checkbook and starts writing a check for this committee that doesn't exist. Then I realized I was set up ... So I had my second midlife crisis and ran for office. But, for some reason, the next one hasn't come yet."

Rushing legislates human rights. "It's easy for us to define rights as free speech and religion, things that you can opt into," he says. "But it's not enough. We should also be talking about tangible things, like the rights to food and housing."

That's often an uphill battle. It took seven years to pass gay civil rights bill, and six years to convince the Legislature that ending homelessness was possible. He's tried to criminalize height and weight discrimination since 1991.

Rushing doesn't abandon his bills. "Every time that I've gotten so discouraged I give up on something, it's always been a mistake," he says.

As this session winds down, Rushing's determined to reform the criminal record system. Next session, he'll work to end health care disparities and re-file legislation to research the state's economic ties to the slave trade.

After that, who knows? Twenty-six more years? Rushing shrugs. He hasn't had his next midlife crisis yet.

[Room 481, Statehouse, Boston. 617.722.2881. mass.gov/legis/member/b_r1.htm]