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National Discussion & Debates Series The Future of Affirmative Action Over the past several years, race-based opportunity policies have been on the defensive. In 2006, 58% of Michigan voters approved a statewide referendum ending affirmative action in public education. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court forced public school administrators to use socioeconomic status, not race, to integrate segregated public schools. In 2008, Nebraska voters approved a statewide ballot initiative banning all racial preferences, while voters in Colorado rejected a similar measure; future referendums are being prepared in other states. President Barack Obama injected energy into the race-versus-class debate when...

A Barack Obama presidency may be historic, but it wouldn't end the country's contentious history of race relations, says Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP. "We know that Obama's electoral success, even if he should win the ultimate prize, won't signal an end to racial discrimination, but it does mark the high point of an interracial movement that dates back to the Underground Railroad," Bond said.

NAACP: Obama Win Won't Fix Race Problems CINCINNATI, July 14, 2005(AP) Racial disparity will remain an issue in America, regardless of whether Barack Obama is elected as the nation's first black president, the chairman of the NAACP told the organization's national convention Sunday night. Julian Bond, a veteran civil rights leader, said Obama's candidacy doesn't "herald a post-civil rights America, any more than his victory in November will mean that race as an issue has been vanquished in America." But he drew loud applause when he said the country, and "all of us here," are taking pride in the success...

Controversies Crop Up Around Commencement Speaker Selections by Jamal Watson May 5, 2008, 22:24 Earlier this year, NAACP chairman Julian Bond journeyed to the U.S. Supreme Court to interview Justice Clarence Thomas. The event was somewhat historic, in part because Bond — a staunch supporter of affirmative action and other social programs — has long been a critic of the policies and positions espoused by Thomas. But now, both of these historic figures in Black history are the subjects of much scrutiny as they prepare to deliver commencement speeches this month at two East Coast universities. A group of conservative...

Interesting development in the Democratic delegate fight -- one that pits civil rights leader against civil rights leader. As you know, the DNC stripped the Michigan and Florida Democratic parties of its delegates as punishment for moving up their primaries to earlier in the process than the national party wanted them to. With no candidate campaigning having taken place in those states, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, cruised to early victories in Michigan on January 15 -- where hers was the only name on the ballot -- and in Florida on January 29, and is now claiming those delegates. Needless to...

WASHINGTON | A prominent civil rights leader has told the Democratic National Committee that refusing to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan would disenfranchise both states' minority communities. In a Feb. 8 letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond expressed “great concern at the prospect that million of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted.” Refusing to seat the states' delegations could remind voters of the “sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries,” he said. The DNC penalized Michigan and Florida for moving their primaries to earlier dates in violation of party rules....

(SNIP) In a letter to party chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond is expressing "great concern" at what he says is the prospect that millions of voters in the two states could "have their votes completely discounted." And he says the refusal to seat the delegations could remind voters of "racially discriminatory primaries." (SNIP)

WASHINGTON — A prominent civil rights leader has told the Democratic National Committee that refusing to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan would disenfranchise both states' minority communities. In a Feb. 8 letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond expressed "great concern at the prospect that million of voters in Michigan and Florida could ultimately have their votes completely discounted." Refusing to seat the states' delegations could remind voters of the "sordid history of racially discriminatory primaries," he said. The DNC penalized Michigan and Florida for moving their primaries to earlier dates in violation of party rules....

The website The Black Commentator defined the loony left by calling for the end of the Thanksgiving holiday, since it's apparently an event for white supremacists. This is more about the Internet than the mainstream media, but remember that liberal blacks the news producers treat as sensible pundits -- like Julian Bond of the hallowed NAACP and Julianne Malveaux, the woman who hoped on PBS that Clarence Thomas would die young -- are on this website's board. Here's just a snippet of their anti-Thanksgiving rant: Nobody celebrates Thanksgiving quite like Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. It is reserved by history and the...

Any decent student of history knows that a central belief of those attempting to defend the evil of slavery was their continued refusal to admit that African-Americans were human beings worthy of respect, dignity and all the rights granted to others under the Constitution. In every sense of the word, slaves were treated like property to be used and discarded at the whim and convenience of their so-called owners. This is why many of these owners were so passionately against the abolition of slavery. Such anti-slavery efforts were a direct attack on their lifestyles and perceived rights of controlling what...

One expects bombast from politicians. Politics is a world of exaggeration and innuendo; after all swaying the public is what it is all about. National political figures make outrageous statements as a matter of course. They have become part of the landscape, an annoying part of the political season that we usually tune out and disregard. The press does not often call them on their rhetoric, and no one seems concerned about how factual they are. It is almost miraculous that a system so fraught with exaggeration and falsehood nurtures our Democracy and prosperity. It is not pretty, it is...

One expects bombast from politicians. Politics is a world of exaggeration and innuendo; after all swaying the public is what it is all about. National political figures make outrageous statements as a matter of course. They have become part of the landscape, an annoying part of the political season that we usually tune out and disregard. The press does not often call them on their rhetoric, and no one seems concerned about how factual they are. It is almost miraculous that a system so fraught with exaggeration and falsehood nurtures our Democracy and prosperity. It is not pretty, it is...

<p>NAACP National Board Chairman Julian Bond says the possibility that New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward will never be rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina is comparable to a "lynching."</p> <p>Bond told the group's annual convention that President Bush has done little to help African Americans and said — "It can be said that Katrina, like lynching, not only destroyed the work of generations in a single day, but is resulting in a deliberate effort to dispossess black landholders."</p>

The NAACP is needed now more than ever because the Bush administration has done little to support blacks, the civil rights organization's national chairman said Sunday as its 98th annual convention opened. From the administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina to the war in Iraq and immigration issues, Bush has seen his presidency questioned, Julian Bond, board chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told an audience of about 3,000. The number of Americans living in poverty has increased by more than 5 million, to 37 million, during the Bush administration, Bond said. "And the gap...

WASHINGTON - Nearly two years after a controversial decision to investigate the NAACP for criticizing President Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign, the Internal Revenue Service has ruled that the remarks did not violate the group's tax-exempt status. In a letter released Thursday by the NAACP, the IRS said the group, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization, "continued to qualify" as tax-exempt. Federal law requires tax-exempt nonprofit organizations to be politically nonpartisan. "It was an enormous threat," NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said of the investigation. The opposite outcome, he said, "would have reduced our income remarkably." Bond reiterated...

The President spoke at the Annual Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He also met with First Vice President of the Government of National Unity of Sudan and President of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir The First lady attended a celebration of the National Endowment for the Arts 'The Big Read' civic program at the Library of Congress This evening Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting UN Secretary General Kofi Annan over dinner at the Waldorf Astoria. Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush is at the University of Edinburgh to speak at a Scotland-Florida Life...

WASHINGTON - Julian Bond has condemned the war in Iraq and administration policy on education and the economy, yet the NAACP’s chairman is urging President Bush to attend the civil rights group’s annual convention. “We are eminently hopeful that the president will come,” said Bond, whose speech Sunday evening helps kick off this week’s conference. Bush has avoided the conventions since taking office in 2001. His schedule for Wednesday lists an event with the notation “TBA,” or to be announced.

Honor roll for tonight's FReep include: Jimmy Valentine's Brother, Mr/Mrs Mason-Dixon, bstein80, Doctor Raoul, staytrue, kristinn, tgsltakoma, angelwood, billf, sauropod, exit148, DollyCali, Wheelbarrow, bert, albion wilde, christopher lincoln, bufordp; dinasour, hellinahandcart and gunsareok. Compared with other years, this year's WHCA FReep was no disappointment. The theme of our counterprotest this year was "Pulitzer Prizes for Treason" given that Dana Priest and others are receiving Pulitzer Prizes for reporting illegally leaked information. There were several signs that alluded to what is going on (only in America), including this brilliant one by BufordP: This point was further reinforced by our very own...

OK, I am going to give most of you the day off. The rest of you need to pay close attention. You have some work to do. A lot of you I know like a book. That comes from almost a decade of responding to your letters and emails on a variety of subjects. You've told me in no uncertain terms that you don't like watching cowboys kiss each other. In fact, watching the media gush over boys marrying boys and girls marrying girls makes you want to upchuck your biscuits and gravy. You don't have much tolerance for those...

The NAACP’s leader, Julian Bond, is no stranger to controversy and irresponsible rhetoric. In 2004, the NAACP Chairman compared the Republican Party to the Taliban regime. Bond told a raucous crowd that the GOP’s “idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side." He went on to say that Republicans “draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics. Now they want to write bigotry back into the Constitution." As a reward for his irresponsible and incendiary rhetoric, the House GOP leadership yesterday scheduled floor time to pass a resolution...

The "Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors" is an organization which "supports and promotes individual and collective resistance to war and preparations for war", according to its website. Among the resources available on the website are How-to guides on being AWOL, various reasons for getting out of the military, as well as a list of reasons one should not join the US military. The following picture on its website illustrates the goal of the organization: This organization lists among its sponsors former Democratic congressman Ronald Dellums of California. Dellums was an anti-war, anti-military radical who created a stir during the Vietnam...

Civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond delivered a blistering partisan speech at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina last night, equating the Republican Party with the Nazi Party and characterizing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as "tokens." "The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side," he charged. The talk so infuriated at least one black family in attendance that they got up in walked out in protest.

Top Ten Racists/Race Baiters (No, Bill Bennett Is Not Listed) Keep That Money Makin' Racist Machine Runnin'I Will Soon List The Top Ten White Racist Race Baiters (No, Bill Bennett Will Not Be Listed)I Am Not Sure Who To List,Yet, But I Am Thinking They Will All Be Democrats. Please, post suggestions. Here is a condensed version of those who dread any peace between races in America, as any sort of peace between Blacks and Whites would put their careers to an immediate end. Excerpted from various internet sources. [Even if the below citations were 90% inaccurate, they would...

"What the American people have seen in this incredible disparity in which those people who had cars and money got out, and those people who were impoverished died." The above comment about Hurricane Katrina comes to us from Ted Kennedy, who went on to say that the question for Chief Justice-designate John Roberts is whether he stands for "a fairer, more just nation" or will use "narrow, stingy interpretations of the law to frustrate progress." But why stop there? Sen. Kennedy is onto something and, indeed, the question isn't only for Judge Roberts.... That debate has so far largely focused...

WASHINGTON - NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond says the nation's oldest civil rights group will be working to make sure the person who succeeds retiring United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner is not hostile to civil rights. "There can be no issue of greater or more immediate importance than the upcoming confirmation battle, and we intend to be in the thick of the fight," Bond announced Sunday night at the opening session in Milwaukee. "One vote, for example, upheld affirmative action in higher education - and that vote belonged to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. It is imperative that...

RNC Chief's Planned Speech to NAACP Called a 'Mistake' By Monisha Bansal CNSNews.com Correspondent July 13, 2005 (CNSNews.com) - The decision by Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman to address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Milwaukee, Wis., Thursday, is a "mistake," according to a conservative black activist who added that the NAACP is sure to use whatever statements Mehlman makes against him. "It's a waste of time because the NAACP for the last 40 to 50 years has proven to be part of the elite, white, racist Democratic Party," said Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson,...

IT'S THE apology, stupid. NAACP board Chairman Julian Bond took to the podium Sunday to address the organization's 96th convention in Milwaukee. Once again, Bond pretended to bemoan President George W. Bush's decision not to address the convention. ... Bond proceeded to bash Bush, saying "the president likes to talk the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk" on civil rights. That's because Bond's definition of "civil rights" flies in the face of the very language of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law calls for things to be done without regard to race, color or creed. So do...

MIDI - THAT'S LIFE You're white, me and all my people will say You were a racist in April Still are in May And I know I'll never change my tune Reparations, yes...reparations in June I said you're white...you're to blame for everything And oh so much misery....to my race you bring But forever you ain't gonna keep us down Make us angry and...we'll burn your town I've been a puppet, a parrot, a poverty pimp, and a...professor, too If you don't give us the things that we want, we will boycott you I've learned from Jesse well...how shakedowns...

MILWAUKEE - (KRT) - NAACP Chairman Julian Bond bashed President Bush and other conservatives Sunday, warning they have tried to seduce black clergy, created ``fraudulent'' civil rights organizations and backed federal judicial nominees who come from a ``dim and gloomy legal netherworld where few Americans wish to dwell.'' Officially kicking off the NAACP's 96th annual convention, its first in Milwaukee, a fiery Bond told delegates they have won great accomplishments but must continue to fight widespread discrimination

MILWAUKEE - Appearing unfazed by a pending IRS audit spurred by his stinging criticism of the Bush administration, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond continued to assault the president's policies in a speech last night opening the civil rights organization's 96th annual convention. Calling the Bush administration's approach to civil rights "deceptive," Bond suggested that the White House has "tried an aggressive campaign to seduce black clergy" to support the administration through its faith-based grant campaign. "The president likes to talk the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk," Bond told a crowd of about 3,000 gathered at Milwaukee's Midwest Airlines Center...

Renewing his attack on conservatives and the Bush administration Sunday, NAACP chairman Julian Bond accused national leaders of rolling back past civil rights gains, crippling efforts to battle racism and undermining democracy. "The President likes to talk to the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk," Bond told members at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. President Bush has turned down five invitations to attend NAACP gatherings, including this year's, and Bond on Sunday invited Bush to the next one, in Washington. "Mr. President, we're extending the invitation a year in advance," Bond...

Activists on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate were anticipating a heated discussion on the topic during the upcoming NAACP National Conference in July. Well it looks like that debate will not be taking place after all. Read More... Craig DeLuzVisit The Home of Uncommon Sense… www.craigdeluz.com

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black leaders on Monday accused President Bush of "playing the race card" in his pitch to sell his proposed Social Security overhaul.NAACP leaders Julian Bond and Dennis Courtland Hayes said Bush should focus on addressing the underlying health care reasons why blacks have a shorter life expectancy instead of citing it as a reason they should support his idea of private accounts.Under Bush's proposal, money diverted by Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts could be passed along as an inheritance. Under the current system, relatives of people who die before retiring sometimes do not receive Social...

LANHAM -- When Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr. meets with evangelical Christians to plot a strategy to "protect American family values," he is typically the only black face in the room. Like white Christian conservatives, he argues that gay marriage is a threat to society, abortion is sinful and public policy requires a foundation of faith. Those beliefs, he says, can cure social problems within the black community far better than the programs or ideas of liberal thinkers. With such views, Jackson and a small group of other pastors have sparked a debate on the future of the influential black...

Denouncing President Bush's plan for Social Security reform as one that would disproportionately hurt blacks, NAACP leaders asked to meet with the president to discuss the issue, the NAACP chairman announced Saturday. Julian Bond, speaking at a news conference during the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's annual meeting here, also said he expects to name the Baltimore-based organization's new president by July. "I want someone with the fund-raising ability of Bill Gates, with the oratorical ability of Martin Luther King and the managerial ability of someone who's managed big, big things successfully and done well," said Bond,...

Posted on Tue, Jan. 18, 2005 Bond slams Bush, celebrates King By Terry Bitman Inquirer Staff Writer One of the legendary lions of the civil-rights movement roared onto the Rowan University campus yesterday and pounced on the record of the Bush administration. NAACP chairman Julian Bond, speaking to about 400 people at the Glassboro school's 19th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Breakfast, accused the administration of appealing to the "dark underside of American society" and tampering with the basic freedoms granted by the Constitution. He said that while the administration was busy "writing a new constitution for Iraq, it...

The abrupt resignation of Kweisi Mfume as president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People begs the question: is the organization still relevant? Mfume says he stepped down in order to spend more time with his family. Insiders claim he was fired. Black commentator Armstrong Williams wrote that Mfume and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond had been feuding for quite a while. Williams claims that Bond opposed Mfume's efforts to mainstream the group. Bond preferred to keep the organization firmly planted on the far left. Under Mfume's nine-year tenure, the NAACP rebounded from debt, questionable accounting and a...

Kweisi Mfume recently announced his departure as NAACP President, and not a moment too soon. His tenure has been a disaster for the storied civil rights organization, driving it deeper into liberal irrelevance. But that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be defended against the current IRS probe of its tax-exempt status. Back in October the NAACP was informed that it may have violated a law that prohibits charities, churches and other nonprofits from engaging in partisan activities. Under Mr. Mfume and chairman Julian Bond, the group has accused President Bush of being at war with black America; compared Republicans to...

NAACP Head Mfume Didn't Retire, He Was Booted Out by Armstrong Williams Posted Dec 6, 2004 Don’t believe the well scripted press conference where former President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Kweisi Mfume, announced his resignation. Mfume did not resign from the nation’s oldest and most prestigious civil rights organization. He was kicked out, following a long simmering feuded with NAACP Chairman Julian Bond. The two began feuding after Mfume nominated National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice for his 2003 NAACP Image Award. Furious that Mfume was reaching out to the Bush...

The disciples of the Left have abandoned some of their more enthusiastic calls to action in recent years (“workers of the world unite” just isn’t turning out the big crowds anymore). But whenever they need an excuse to assault American society, both then and now, there is still a handy phrase that always helps advance their goals: “social justice.” Take Julian Bond, for example. Two years ago, the Chairman of the NAACP roused the organization’s membership by stating: “We are a force to be reckoned with: well-educated, well-informed and strongly committed to social justice. And we vote.” That’s fine, but...

BALTIMORE (AP) -- NAACP President Kweisi Mfume is stepping down as the head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group, a spokesman said Tuesday. Mfume plans to make the formal announcement at a news conference later Tuesday, communications director John White said. The organization's legal counsel, Dennis Hayes, will serve as interim president while a national search is conducted, he said. Advertisement White would not say why Mfume was stepping down and said Mfume would not comment until the midday news conference. Mfume, 56, has been president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since...

BALTIMORE (AP) — The president of the NAACP is stepping down as head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group, according to newspaper reports. Kweisi Mfume, who has been president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since 1996, planned to make the announcement Tuesday, The (Baltimore) Sun, citing an anonymous source, reported in Tuesday editions. The resignation was also reported Tuesday in a USA Today opinions column by weekly contributor DeWayne Wickham. [flip]Last month, the NCAAP announced that the Internal Revenue Service was reviewing the organization's federal tax-exempt status. NAACP chairman Julian Bond said...

MAYBE SOME enterprising soul with an appreciation of irony should post a sign outside the NAACP national headquarters on Mount Hope Drive: "Chickens come home to roost here." And come home to roost they have. Start building the chicken coops. In July, NAACP board Chairman Julian Bond -- whose mouth should have been retired when his old organization, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, drifted into irrelevance back in the late '60s -- served up one of his patented anti-President Bush, anti-Republican salvos. He reiterated his comparison of Republicans to the Taliban and, for good measure, hinted that Bush really wanted...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 - The Internal Revenue Service has begun reviewing the tax-exempt status of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, citing concerns over a speech given by its chairman, Julian Bond, at its annual convention last July in Philadelphia. In a letter dated Oct. 8 and released Thursday, the I.R.S. told the association it had received information that Mr. Bond conveyed "statements in opposition of George W. Bush for the office of presidency" and specifically that he had "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush in education, the economy and the war in Iraq." The...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Internal Revenue Service has begun reviewing the NAACP's tax-exempt status, citing concerns over a speech given by its chairman at its annual convention last July in Philadelphia. In a letter dated Oct. 8 and released Thursday, the IRS told the NAACP it had received information that chairman Julian Bond conveyed "statements in opposition of George W. Bush for the office of presidency" and specifically "condemned the administration policies of George W. Bush in education, the economy and the war in Iraq."

I'm wretching on "America's Black forum". Julian Bond is puking his bile, Armstrong Williams is holding his own; truth is always the victim....

(CNSNews.com) - Liberal efforts to paint Republicans as racists are moving into high gear as the Republican National Convention approaches. MoveOn.org's Political Action Committee -- in conjunction with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other African-American leaders -- accuses the Republican Party and the Bush-Cheney campaign of "suppressing" the black vote. In a press release issued Thursday, MoveOn PAC said it is joining the Rev. Jackson, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, and other African-American elected officials in launching an on-line petition -- "demanding an end to Republican efforts to suppress the votes of minority and specifically African-American voters." The online petition --...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The old methods of U.S. discrimination at the polls have been replaced by "subtler and more creative tactics," according to a report released on Wednesday. Julian Bond, the board chairman of the civil rights group NAACP, voiced special concerns about attempts to turn away minority voters. "Minority voters bear the brunt of every form of disenfranchisement, including pernicious efforts to keep them away from the polls," Bond said in a statement. The statement said the report, by the NAACP and People for the American Way Foundation, found that the kinds of voter intimidation found in the past...

“We’ve got a president that’s prepared to take us back to the days of Jim Crow segregation and dominance,” says NAACP president Kweisi Mfume. Republicans’ “idea of equal rights is the American flag and Confederate swastika flying side by side,” says NAACP chairman Julian Bond. And the leaders of this supposedly nonpartisan organization are surprised President Bush declined to attend their convention last week? Instead, tomorrow the president will address the National Urban League, a black organization whose mainstream leadership is focused on ideas for improving life in inner cities rather than on politics and racial demagoguery. The president will...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has had an admirable and impressive history, but the organization's future seems to be growing bleaker as the days pass. That's because the two men in charge of the association, Chairman Kweisi Mfume and President Julian Bond, are far more concerned with their own political motivations and personal benefit than with the true advancement of the black community. The NAACP recently held its annual convention in Philadelphia, and it was big news that President Bush declined an invitation to speak. After initially suggesting that the problem was merely...