NAACP Julian Bond Chairman Calls Integration Unsuccessful

Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, expressed displeasure with what he saw as a continuing lack of racial integration in America's schools during a speech yesterday morning in Gaston Hall. Bond's speech was part of a full-day symposium to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court landmark case Brown v. Board of Education. "The promise of Brown is a fantasy-land," Bond said. "There is nothing wrong with the premise of Brown, but the promise of Brown has been broken." Bond labeled many past and present political leaders as anti-integration. Bond named Attorney General John Ashcroft and former President Richard Nixon as opponents of integration. He said Ashcroft, while serving in public office in the state of Missouri, opposed state court rulings in favor of integration. "Ashcroft attacked the courts of Missouri for supporting integration," Bond said. He said that Nixon's policies regarding student aid allowed money to be taken away from minority students. Bond added that the economic disparities fueling segregation have worsened under the Bush administration. "Bush has turned the war on poverty into the war on the poor," he said. [more