Julian Bond, The Great Recycler

Every year NAACP Chairman Julian Bond goes off the deep end with a recycled speech about evil white Republicans and their black counterparts.

According to Bond, Republicans are the American Taliban, black conservatives are “ventriloquist dummies” and Ward Connerly, the California man who championed Proposition 209, the 1996 voter-approved measure that ended sex- and race-based preferences in state hiring and college admissions, is a “con man” (check out my review of Connerly’s book).

In what’s become an annual ritual, Bond spewed venom about conservatives at some liberal gathering called “Take Back America.” This man is a college professor, but his vile remarks may lead you to believe he’s a mental patient living in a world other than this one. Bond ranted:

“Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side,” Bond told a cheering audience. “They’ve written a new constitution for Iraq and ignore the Constitution here at home. They draw their most rabid supporters from the Taliban wing of American politics. Now they want to write bigotry back into the Constitution….”

“By playing the race card in election after election, they’ve appealed to that dark underside of American culture, to that minority of Americans who reject democracy and equality. They preach racial neutrality and they practice racial division.”

Since Bond is so fond of recycling material, I decided to follow suit.

This is an excerpt from one of my early op-ed efforts from October 2002, “Practice What You Preach, Mr. Bond.”

“African Americans properly reject as racist allegations from others that we all think, look and act alike. Why should we impose these reactionary notions on one another?” — Julian Bond

Now that’s more like it, Mr. Bond. This is what we need to hear from prominent black people like yourself.

Julian Bond, leader of black liberals and chairman of the NAACP’s board, wrote these words in an op-ed to the Washington Post (9/1/02) in reaction to the depiction of Anthony Williams as not “black enough” to be mayor of Washington, D.C. Mr. Bond rightly denounces D.C.’s black liberals who hold this stereotype. He contends that deciding on a political candidate based on their degree of “blackness” is a “foolish and dangerous phenomenon.”

If he could only talk that way in real life.

Unfortunately, Mr. Bond’s eloquent words don’t jibe with his speech given at the NAACP’s recent 93rd annual national convention. In his “Freedom Under Fire” keynote address, his commentary on race relations in America fluctuated between leftist hate speech and hypocrisy.

This is the same man who, in his speech, called black conservatives “ventriloquist dummies…[who] speak in their puppet master’s voice…” because they hold views contrary to those of black liberals like himself.

Wait a minute, Mr. Bond, if it is racist for whites to imagine we all think, look and act alike, why do black liberals impose their “reactionary notions” on black conservatives by reducing the argument to name-calling?

This is the same man who, in his speech, called Ward Connerly of California a “fraud” because the man is against race-based preferences.

Mr. Bond says, “As a longtime and now nonpartisan observer of African American politics…”

Huh? Chairman of the Board of the NAACP, a nonpartisan observer?

This is the same man who, in his speech, said that a “right wing conspiracy” is operating in the White House and the executive branch.

This is the same man who, in his speech, said that black, independent thinkers are “black hustlers and hucksters” on the payrolls of those in this “conspiracy.”

He adds, “…My NAACP position requires nonpartisanship.”

What? Please.

Does he want us to believe the NAACP is nonpartisan, or just its leadership? Now I’m really confused.

The modern-day NAACP, which stands for racial division, grievance-shopping and anti-American posturing, nonpartisan? This once-grand organization stood between real racial oppression and bigotry like a shield. Racial justice and equal opportunity were the goals, even equal opportunity for diverse opinions. Today, the NAACP is an aging organization in need of fresh blood, fresh ideas, and fresh leadership.

I had fun writing that one. Read the rest here.