When he woke up that morning, Julian Bond knew a fight was coming. Yet he never expected the white congressmen would do THIS.
He’d worked with MLK, Shirley Chisholm and John Lewis. He co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while attending Morehouse. What could they do to him?
But SNCC, and Bond’s “unpatriotic” stance on the Vietnam War, were the Congressmen’s “evidence” for their next move.
They voted unanimously to NOT give Bond his official seat in the Georgia State Congress, barring him from voting!
But he’d trained for their underhanded tactics – for nonviolent protest, for civic activism, and to meet and beat white oppressors where they stood – in their OWN house. He walked into the room anyway and sat down. Would they try to keep him from participating in the legislative process his entire term?
Soon he’d had enough! He’d been elected by the PEOPLE. After weeks of being locked out, Bond took the fight to them.
He sued them – and won! In 1966, a year after he was elected, the Supreme Court ordered the Georgia State Assembly to seat Bond, because he’d been denied his “freedom of speech.”
He ended up serving 20 influential years.
Julian Bond knew the power of the Black vote, and of Black politicians with a Black agenda. Like Bond, we can use the ballot as a political tool to empower us. Make sure you’re registered to VOTE!