A starstruck Portland audience intently listened to NAACP Chairman and civil rights leader Julian Bond speak at Reed College on Friday, marking the first special event of Reed’s celebration of the 2007 Black History Month.
Addressing a packed Kaul Auditorium, Bond reflected on the legacy and wayforward of the civil rights movement and its implications for future generations. Many of the most influential leaders of Portland’s African-American community were present at the event.
Bond helped establish the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee while a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia during the early 1960s. He has been Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since 1998. He served in the Georgia legislature as both a Representative and as a Senator. He has been a lecturer at the University of Virginia since 1990, and a professor there since 1998. In 2002, he received the prestigious National Freedom Award. The holder of 25 honorary degrees, Bond is a Distinguished Professor at American University in Washington, DC, and a Professor in history at the University of Virginia.
Candidly sharing his perspective on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, affirmative action and inter-racial relations, Bond’s speech was interrupted by applause several times during his talk, which ran for more than an hour.
While success of the civil rights movement ensured that laws are in place to inhibit state-sanctioned racist and discriminatory practices, there is more work to be done, said Bond.
“Today, 37 million Americans live in poverty. They represent about 13 percent of the population – the highest population [of people living in poverty] in the developed world,” he admonished. “[Since 2001] the gap has grown between the haves, have-mores and the have-nots. The top 20 percent of earners take over half half the national income, while the bottom 20 percent of earned just get 3.4 percent. Black Americans are likely to be the bottom earners than the top: almost a quarter of Black Americans nationwide live below the poverty line, as compared to 8.6 percent of whites.”
Below are some excerpts transcribed from his speech:
“We are such a young nation so recently removed from slavery, that only my father’s generation stands between Julian Bond and Julian Bondage. Like many others, I am the grandson of a slave,” he said.
“Today’s apologists argue that discrimination against minorities aren’t a problem, society has to protect itself against the majority instead … They want to make any government consideration of race illegal, and therefore do away with our rights and much of the legacy of the civil rights movement, including affirmative action. They say they believe in a color-blind America where race doesn’t count.”
“Sadly, in America, equal opportunity is color-coded. What they really want is a color-free America, and they think they’ll get there by not counting race. But as long as race counts, we’ve got to count race.”
“By the year 2050, blacks and Hispanics together will be 40 percent of the nation’s population. Wherever there are others who share our conditions and concern, we intend to share our common cause with them. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People believe that ‘colored’ come in all colors – anybody who shares our values is more than welcome.”
“The growth of immigration and the emergence of new and vibrant populations of people of color hold great promise and great peril. The promise is that the coalition for justice has grown larger and stronger, as new allies join the fight. The peril comes from real fears that our common foes will find ways to separate and divide us.”
“Racial justice, economic equality, world peace – these are the things that occupied Dr. King’s life, and they ought to occupy ours today,” Bond appealed to the audience.
View an excerpt from Julian Bond’s speech:
Addressing a packed Kaul Auditorium, Bond reflected on the legacy and wayforward of the civil rights movement and its implications for future generations. Many of the most influential leaders of Portland’s African-American community were present at the event.Bond helped establish the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee while a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia during the early 1960s. He has been Chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since 1998. He served in the Georgia legislature as both a Representative and as a Senator. He has been a lecturer at the University of Virginia since 1990, and a professor there since 1998. In 2002, he received the prestigious National Freedom Award. The holder of 25 honorary degrees, Bond is a Distinguished Professor at American University in Washington, DC, and a Professor in history at the University of Virginia.
Candidly sharing his perspective on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, affirmative action and inter-racial relations, Bond’s speech was interrupted by applause several times during his talk, which ran for more than an hour.
While success of the civil rights movement ensured that laws are in place to inhibit state-sanctioned racist and discriminatory practices, there is more work to be done, said Bond.
“Today, 37 million Americans live in poverty. They represent about 13 percent of the population – the highest population [of people living in poverty] in the developed world,” he admonished. “[Since 2001] the gap has grown between the haves, have-mores and the have-nots. The top 20 percent of earners take over half half the national income, while the bottom 20 percent of earned just get 3.4 percent. Black Americans are likely to be the bottom earners than the top: almost a quarter of Black Americans nationwide live below the poverty line, as compared to 8.6 percent of whites.”
Below are some excerpts transcribed from his speech:
“We are such a young nation so recently removed from slavery, that only my father’s generation stands between Julian Bond and Julian Bondage. Like many others, I am the grandson of a slave,” he said.
“Today’s apologists argue that discrimination against minorities aren’t a problem, society has to protect itself against the majority instead … They want to make any government consideration of race illegal, and therefore do away with our rights and much of the legacy of the civil rights movement, including affirmative action. They say they believe in a color-blind America where race doesn’t count.”
“Sadly, in America, equal opportunity is color-coded. What they really want is a color-free America, and they think they’ll get there by not counting race. But as long as race counts, we’ve got to count race.”
“By the year 2050, blacks and Hispanics together will be 40 percent of the nation’s population. Wherever there are others who share our conditions and concern, we intend to share our common cause with them. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People believe that ‘colored’ come in all colors – anybody who shares our values is more than welcome.”
“The growth of immigration and the emergence of new and vibrant populations of people of color hold great promise and great peril. The promise is that the coalition for justice has grown larger and stronger, as new allies join the fight. The peril comes from real fears that our common foes will find ways to separate and divide us.”
“Racial justice, economic equality, world peace – these are the things that occupied Dr. King’s life, and they ought to occupy ours today,” Bond appealed to the audience.
View an excerpt from Julian Bond’s speech: