Despite last night’s rain and chill, more than 150 people gathered at Arrillaga Alumni Center to enjoy stylish desserts and soothing jazz music — and to listen to one of America’s most celebrated civil rights activists, Julian Bond.

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John Shen

Activist and author Julian Bond spoke about his life-long involvement in civil rights last night. The NAACP chairman also criticized the Bush administration for its education and economic policies.

“I recognize the greatness and the history that is going to walk into this building in a minute,” said Jan Barker-Alexander, assistant dean of students and director of the Black Community Services Center, as Julian Bond entered to a standing ovation for the event titled “A Conversation with Julian Bond.”

Bond, who is a poet, author, student leader and the current Chairman of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), described a childhood in which he was surrounded by intellectual giants.

Both of Bond’s parents were college graduates, and, at a time when it was extremely difficult for black Americans to attain an education, Bond’s grandfather, James Bond, graduated from Berea College in 1892. As a child, he interacted with some of the world’s best minds, even meeting with figures like Albert Einstein.

“It’s great to live on a college campus,” he said. Asked if he was perfect growing up, he responded, “Pretty much so,” drawing warm laughter from the crowd.

Although playful at times, Bond was not afraid to express his distaste for the American government. When asked about President Bush, he said “his education policies are wrong, his economic policies are wrong.”

“People like [Bush] will go to any length to silence dissent,” Bond said.

Bond is no stranger to controversy. In the 1960s, he was one of the most vocal opponents of the Vietnam War, which led to his unseating from the Georgia House of Representatives in 1966. As late as 2001, he was accused of “racial McCarthyism” by then-House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) for saying that Attorney General John Ashcroft and Interior Secretary Gail Norton’s “devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine in its uncritical affection.”

Yet despite his controversial comments, the crowd applauded several times during his talk. Besides criticizing the current administration, Bond rallied the crowd by addressing economic inequality.

“You can’t have racial equality unless you have economic equality,” he said. “We need to have an education system that makes us competitive in the modern world [... We need] a system of public works for people who cannot work in the market system.”

As the event ended, Bond answered questions from both the audience and users on YouTube.com.

Recalling why he chose to be an English major at Morehouse College, Bond said, “If you can read and write, and understand, and express yourself in your native tongue, you can do anything.”