Affirms MLK legacy

Bond speaks at a luncheon for Southern Christian Leadership Conference luncheon on his 74th birthday, on the theme of the MLK Day celebration, “The Legacy Continues.”

It has been only a short 50 years since legal segregation was ended nationwide…Paradoxically. Barack Obama’s victory convinced many that all racial barriers and restrictions had been vanquished and we had entered racial nirvana across the land…The greatest impediment to achieving racial equality is the narcotic belief that we already have. For most of my adult life, I have been engaged in what once was called race work — fighting to make justice and fairness a reality for everyone,” said Bond, who in 1960 helped organize lunch counter sit-ins, voter registration rallies and the freedom rides that forced federal transportation integration laws.The racial picture in America has improved remarkably in my lifetime. Forward in the struggle. Inspired by the achievements of the past, sustained by a faith that knows no faltering, forward in the struggle.