With the recent death of Julian Bond at the age of 75, African Americans have lost another leader from the civil rights era. As a young man in 1965, he was elected to the Georgia Legislature but was denied the right to take his seat. It took a U.S. Supreme Court decision for him to be admitted to the realms of power.
Two years later the U.S. Congress refused to seat Adam Clayton Powell, who had been serving in the House since 1945. However, when he gained a committee chairmanship under the seniority rules, Powell, who was always audacious, became too much of a threat.
Bond was accused of being unpatriotic because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. Powell was falsely accused of corruption. One would think that with such considerable effort by conservatives to vitiate black political power, spokesmen would vigorously oppose any unlawful effort to remove blacks from elective office.
Strangely enough there was dead silence in 2014 from community leaders when the state Legislature removed the properly-elected Carlos Henriquez from office for his conviction of a misdemeanor that had nothing to do with his official duties.
Unfortunately, there are lessons not yet learned.
