Social Tsunami: Dr. Julian Bond on the Civil Rights Movement

The Inauguration ceremony of Barack Obama’s second term in the White House is of special significance this year; not only did it parallel with the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., this year commemorates 50 years since  ‘the March on Washington,’ the church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four black children, the murder of Medgar Wiley Evers,  the 100^th birthday anniversary of Rosa Parks and 150^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

All of these events were social tsunamis that changed our nation.  In 2013 they will serve as a powerful reminders of our strength, individually and collectively.

I had the honor of discussing these notable moments in history with Dr. Julian Bond, civil rights leader turned professor of civil rights history. I caught up with him before his keynote speech at a MLK Day celebration at the Reston Community Center in Fairfax, Va.  To say I was honored is an understatement.

For more than 50 years Julian Bond has been a human rights and civil rights leader. In 1960 he co-founded the SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Bond spent 20 years in the Georgia Legislature after first being denied a seat because of his outspoken views against the Vietnam War. For 11 years, until 2010, he was chairman of the NAACP.

Watch County Magazine in February on Cable Channel 16 and hear more of my conversation with Dr. Julian Bond.  County Magazine can also be seen via Video On Demand on the Fairfax County website.  www.fairfacounty.com