By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-829534.mp3
Buffalo, NY – Long-time civil rights leader Julian Bond said the fight for civil rights did not end on election day. The chairman of the NAACP was the keynote speaker Thursday for Buffalo State College's Leadership Lecture series.
The long-time civil rights leader and educator lived through some of the bleakest moments of the civil rights movement. He experienced segregation in the south and fought against it as a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee.
So, it is not surprising that Bond was stunned when Barack Obama won the election. Bond said he thought Obama was a nice guy - and certainly well qualified. But Bond said he didn't think Obama stood a chance of being elected president.
"Then as we got closer and closer to election day, the possibility became real," said Bond. " I was like so many people, overjoyed and wondering how I'd had so little faith."
It was not lack of faith so much as hindsight. Bond knew first-hand the difficult road to elected public office. In 1965 he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. But it took a hard-fought battle before he was allowed to serve.
Bond said people need to realize that his struggle and the struggles of countless others are part of a continuing fight for equality. He said Obama's election is truly a victory. But Bond said there are still many to come.
Bond said understanding the history of the civil rights movement is essential to understanding what should come next - and how best to accomplish it.
Click the audio player above to hear Joyce Kryszak's full-length interview with Bond now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod.