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Julian Bond Was a Leader With Strength and Character

Published

11 years ago

August 18, 2015

The news this weekend that Julian Bond passed away at 75 saddened me deeply. America has lost a true and still vital champion for justice.

President Barack Obama, hailing Bond as a hero and a friend, noted that “Julian Bond helped change this country for the better. And what better way to be remembered than that.”

At a very young age, Bond helped forge the emerging civil rights movement, and was in many ways, a founding father of the New South that we now see still in formation. In 1957, as a student at Morehouse, son of a college president, varsity swimmer, head of the literary magazine, intern for Time Magazine, he was on the path to success.

But the success he chose was to make history, not money. He was arrested after organizing some of the first student demonstrations to desegregate Atlanta’s lunch counters, parks and theaters.

Realizing that young people could take risks too costly for adults with families, at 20, he helped found SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He became its secretary and head of its communications in part because he was seen as organized, levelheaded and eloquent.

Julian was ahead of most in the movement for understanding the big picture. He realized that civil rights could not be achieved without economic rights, and that economic rights would not advance if America kept throwing resources and lives into war abroad. He became an early and outspoken critic of the Vietnam War.

After the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, Julian led voter registration drives. At the remarkable age of 25, he was elected to the Georgia State House. The sitting legislators demanded that he repudiate his opposition to the Vietnam War.

When he refused, they refused to seat him. Three times his constituents re-elected him, three times the House denied him his seat. Finally the Supreme Court ruled their actions unconstitutional. In January 1967, Bond took his seat, and served in the House and Senate for the next two decades.

By that time he was a national hero for having stood on principle even at the cost of his political career. In the embittered 1968 Chicago Democratic Presidential Convention, Bond led an insurgent Georgia delegation and was called upon to second the nomination of Eugene McCarthy for president.

With the convention floor in bedlam and demonstrations raging outside the hall, Bond was nominated as vice president, a symbolic nomination (he was only 27 and the constitutionally required age is 35) “about the wave of the future.”

Bond served as legislator, scholar, teacher and leader. He was a founder and early president of the Southern Poverty Law Center. He taught at the University of Virginia and lectured widely, receiving over 30 honorary degrees. He chaired the NAACP for 12 years until 2010.

He had experienced first-hand the slight and shackles of segregation — and organized to end them. He knew first-hand the suppression of the right to vote and helped build a movement to challenge that.

To his final years, his intelligence, clarity and passion continued to instruct. He understood that, as he put it, “America is race,” from the founders to the Civil War to the civil rights movement to Treyvon Martin, Michael Brown and Sandra Bland.

He knew that Barack Obama’s election and re-election was a measure of the progress that had been made but “didn’t herald a post-civil rights America. … It couldn’t eliminate structural inequity or racist attitudes,” he said, even suggesting Obama’s election fomented such attitudes: “Obama,” he said, “is to the tea party as the moon is to werewolves.”

To his final days, he urged people into motion, knowing that only when people mobilized and acted could anything change. “We look back and see giant leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King,” he taught, but the civil rights movement was “a people’s movement.

It produced leaders of its own; but it relied not on the noted but the nameless, not on the famous but the faceless. It didn’t wait for commands from afar to begin a campaign against injustice. It saw wrong and acted against it; it saw evil and brought it down.”

Julian Bond was a leader of exceptional clarity. He had the strong mind and courage needed to break strong chains. He made a dramatic contribution with his life. And he will be deeply missed.

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New Protections for Ticket Buyers: Gov. Newsom Signs Assemblymember Isaac Bryan’s Bill

OAKLAND POST — Assembly Bill 1349 expands state regulation of original ticket sellers, resellers and online resale marketplaces. The law targets deceptive sales practices, ticket-buying software and speculative listings — tickets advertised for sale by sellers who do not possess them or have authorization to sell them.

Published

4 days ago

October 4, 2026

Post News Group

Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights). File photo.

By California Black Media Staff

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Sept. 27 authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights) that strengthens consumer protections for Californians purchasing tickets to concerts, sporting events and other live entertainment.

Assembly Bill 1349 expands state regulation of original ticket sellers, resellers and online resale marketplaces. The law targets deceptive sales practices, ticket-buying software and speculative listings — tickets advertised for sale by sellers who do not possess them or have authorization to sell them.

“Buying a ticket shouldn’t come with hidden risks or unfair practices,” Newsom wrote on social media after signing the measure.

Under AB 1349, ticket sellers are prohibited from listing tickets before they have been officially released unless they have authorization or a legally enforceable right to receive them. Online marketplaces must also take reasonable steps to prevent speculative ticket sales on their platforms.

The law prohibits sellers from using bots, multiple accounts, email addresses or internet protocol addresses to circumvent ticket limits, presale restrictions, electronic queues and other controls. It also bans websites and advertisements designed to mislead buyers into believing they are purchasing tickets from an authorized seller, venue or event organizer.

Sellers who violate certain provisions and fail to provide a promised ticket may be held liable for twice the ticket’s contracted price. Buyers may also recover nonrefundable expenses incurred while attempting to attend an event, along with reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs.

Pastor Tecoy Porter Sr., president of the National Action Network’s Sacramento chapter, said the law establishes needed accountability.

“Buying a ticket to a concert or show shouldn’t mean entering a marketplace where the rules are stacked against you. This year, we worked with a coalition of consumers, civil rights advocates, community groups, and businesses to make AB 1349 stronger. Consumers deserve enforceable rules that protect them. We thank Assemblymember Bryan for his leadership, and we will keep working to make ticketing fair for every Californian.”

Jose L. Barrera, national vice president for the Far West Region of the League of United Latin American Citizens, also praised the measure.

“Californian families deserve certain protections when they buy tickets. Assemblymember Bryan listened to communities across California and delivered a bill that puts fans first. We thank him and Governor Newsom for making it law.”

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Zakiya Jendayi Arrested, Locked Out of Home by Sheriff’s Deputies

OALAND POST — On Tuesday, deputies followed Jendayi as she left her residence of 13 years to file documents in her case at the Appellate Court. Deputies arrested her upon arrival and transported her to Santa Rita Jail.

Published

4 days ago

October 4, 2026

Post News Group

By Tanya Dennis

Yesterday, more than 10 Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies arrived to take possession of Zakiya Jendayi’s home on behalf of a court-appointed administrator. Jendayi was arrested at the courthouse and transported to Santa Rita Jail around the same time.

Jendayi, who has been embroiled in a probate court battle to retain the inheritance bestowed on her by a longtime friend and colleague who passed away in 2013, had received a notice of eviction last month.

With help from neighbors, friends and clergy, she was able to fend off the eviction from 3614 Randolph Ave. in Oakland and even obtained a reprieve when her bid to file bankruptcy was approved by a county court.

But Philip Campbell, the court-appointed administrator, had already placed Jendayi’s home in his name in October 2025.

On Tuesday, deputies followed Jendayi when she left her residence of 13 years to go to the Appellate Court to file documents in her case. Deputies arrested her upon arrival and transported her to Santa Rita jail.

Undersheriff April Luckett-Fahini said Jendayi was arrested for “safety reasons.” At this time, it is unknown what charges were used for the arrest.

In Jendayi’s absence, Campbell came to her residence accompanied by deputies, had the property taped off with yellow crime tape, and had the locks changed.

Afterward, Campbell requested a police escort to his car amid several angry neighbors who had been advocating that officials pause the eviction pending Jendayi’s appeal.

“Zakiya Jendayi is a respected Black elder in our community,” said Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas, who has been working with Jendayi to prevent her eviction. “It’s outrageous that she was arrested. There needs to be more justice and equity in our probate system.”

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Ask California: Golden State Releases New AI Chatbot

Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced the prototype as part of the state’s broader effort to use artificial intelligence to make government services easier to access. The launch follows his March 2026 executive order directing state agencies to responsibly implement generative AI while protecting privacy, security and civil liberties.

Published

2 weeks ago

September 22, 2026

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California has launched AskCA, a new artificial intelligence-powered chatbot designed to help residents find and navigate state and local government services through a single online platform.

Developed by the state’s Office of Data and Innovation, AskCA is designed around major life events rather than individual government agencies. Californians can use the tool to find information about finding a job, starting a business, accessing family services and recovering from disasters.

“When a Californian needs help, they shouldn’t have to become an expert in government to find it,” said Newsom. “We’re using the best technology California has to offer to make the government more efficient, effective, and more engaged.”

The state is now seeking Californians age 18 and older to participate in the pilot and help test and refine AskCA’s responses. Officials said subject matter experts across state governments are helping inform the chatbot’s answers, which are designed to draw from verified government sources and provide actionable information.

The prototype grew out of California’s response to the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Early testing included more than 140 fire recovery leaders and Altadena wildfire survivors, a dozen job seekers and more than 100 general users.

Jeffery Marino, director of the Office of Data and Innovation, said the tool is intended to remove the need for residents to understand how government agencies are organized before they can get help.

“Californians should not have to understand how the government is organized just to get basic help,” Marino said.

AskCA’s technology will also be used in a new job-skills matching feature that the California Department of Human Resources plans to launch Sept. 30 on CalCareers. Job seekers will be able to upload a resume and receive potential matches to state job classifications.

The state said the CalCareers pilot will not store personal information or require users to have a CalCareers account. California plans to continue testing AskCA as officials evaluate its accuracy, performance and usefulness before expanding the system.