NAACP
chairman criticizes Proposition 54 in speech
By
Tom Desimone
Daily
Californian
Berkeley
(U-Wire)--National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People National Chairman Julian
Bond made an appearance in Berkeley Saturday,
railing against California's recall election,
condemning Proposition 54 and renewing a
1963 civil rights pledge.
In
front of about 40 people at Berkeley City
Hall on Milvia Street, Bond signed a pledge
first made verbally by those attending the
March on Washington in 1963. The pledge
emphasizes the need to carry on the fight
for social justice.
Bond
focused much of his speech on Proposition
54, which would prohibit public institutions
from collecting data on race and ethnicity.
Bond emphasized the threat it posed nationally
to the civil rights gains of the last four
decades and criticized the proposition's
author, University of California Regent
Ward Connerly, for trying to "export" anti-affirmative
action policies to states beyond California.
"He's
got to be stopped here, he's got to be stopped
now," Bond said of Connerly. "We've got
to send him a message that this is the end."
Connerly
could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Despite
the focus on Proposition 54, Berkeley City
Councilmember Kriss Worthington said the
reason for Saturday's event was to remember
and continue the fight for civil rights.
"It's
more than just Proposition 54," said Worthington.
"We need to have a continuing educational
campaign beyond any election."
Those
who listened to Bond's speech also saw the
struggle for civil rights as broader than
Proposition 54.
"I
try not to say everything is racial," said
Senai Legne, a UC Berkeley graduate. "But
there's really no way of getting around
that."
Bond
has been chair of the NAACP for five years.
In 1960, he was a founder of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the
Atlanta student sit-in and anti-segregation
organization.
Bond's
appearance in Berkeley was part of a statewide
tour to draw attention to Proposition 54.
He fears that the buzz around the recall
election is diluting the importance of Proposition
54.
During
the next three weeks leading up to the Oct.
7 election, 52 NAACP branch offices in California
will work to bring ethnic, religious and
labor groups together in a coalition to
get out the vote.
"What
happens here will happen next door," Bond
told the audience. "The future is in your
hands."
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