Horace Julian Bond, a foot soldier, a civil rights leader, and a man who embodied the term #BlackLivesMatter. He was one of the youngest founding members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and he founded the Southern Poverty Law Center.  He was elected Board Chairman of the NAACP in 1998. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1965 to 1975, and in the Georgia Senate from 1975 to 1986. He was also the voice that narrated the PBS documentary that chronicled the history of the Civil Rights Movement, “Eyes on The Prize”. At his decease, Julian Bond was 75 years old.

America, we have lost a great leader!

In an April, 2015 interview at Brandeis University, Mr. Bond talked about voter suppression, his disdain for how Lyndon Johnson was depicted in the movie Selma and he talked about the Republican-led hostility against President Barack Obama.

“He is a black man. That’s the reason he’s engendered so much animus. That’s the reason people don’t like him, because he’s a black man. That’s the only reason.”

As Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, wrote on the organization’s website: “With Julian’s passing, the country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice. He advocated not just for African-Americans, but for every group, indeed every person subject to oppression and discrimination, because he recognized the common humanity in us all.”

Mr. Julian Bond will be buried at sea in a private ceremony. Rest in peace and power, Mr. Bond!