Longtime NAACP Leader Dies

The passing of iconic civil rights advocate and former NAACP chairman, Julian Bond, has struck a chord on so many levels, with so many people across the political, humanitarian and civil rights landscape. Bond was an impassioned advocate for non-violence throughout his career, and his voice never wavered in his life-long fight for justice.

Bond was elected to the Georgia legislature in 1965, but white members refused to seat him, claiming it was due to his opposition to the Vietnam War.

President Obama: “Julian Bond was a hero and, I’m privileged to say, a friend”.

Our lives, this nation and this world are so much better because Julian Bond passed through and left a modelfor those of us who believe in liberty and justice for all to complete the unfinished business. “And what better way to be remembered than that”.

Mr. Bond was known for his intellect and his even keel, even in the most emotional situations, former ambassador Andrew Young said.

Julian Bond’s great-grandmother Jane Bond was the enslaved black mistress of a white Kentucky farmer. “For us, just as a family and as a friend”, he said. “It demonstrated that ordinary women and men, young and old, could perform extraordinary tasks”, Bond said of his work with the organization.

“The fact that we were able to do this at all and do it successfully and win victories I think is a great triumph that all of us who had anything to do with this are immensely proud of today”, he told NPR.

When the Supreme Court struck down a major section of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Bond took to the Comedy Central news program to remind Americans that the fight for civil rights didn’t end back in 1965.

In 1974, when Calvin Smyre first won a seat in the Georgia House of Representatives, Julian Bond was among the very first people to congratulate him. His father was the first black president of Lincoln University, a historically black university in Pennsylvania. “It’s time to add concrete protections for LGBT people to existing civil rights law, ensuring that sexual orientation and gender identity enjoy similar treatment as religion, national origin, and race; and guaranteeing nondiscrimination protections in employment, housing, public spaces and services, education, federal funding, and other areas”. He also served as president of the SPLC from its founding in 1971 to 1979 and was later on its board of directors.

Dean of Students Allen Groves tweeted, “Sad to hear of the passing of civil rights legend Julian Bond”. Bond also led protests and sit-ins against Jim Crow segregation policies and led campaigns to register black voters, and was involved in the 1963 March on Washington. “Michelle and I have benefited from his example, his counsel, and his friendship – and we offer our prayers and sympathies to his wife, Pamela, and his children”.

This report includes material from Reuters and the Associated Press.