NAACP laments lack of social justice

Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is still very much a dream. And the Bush administration is partly to blame. At least, that's what NAACP Chairman Julian Bond asserted during his Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture in Social Justice yesterday in Huntsman Hall. Although Bond, a world-renowned civil rights leader, spent some time discussing the accomplishments of civil rights activists during the 1950s and '60s, his primary focus during his lecture was on the challenges still facing people of color in America today. "That there are many, many more black millionaires today is a tribute to the movement [Martin Luther King Jr.] led," Bond said. "But that there are proportionately fewer black people working today is an indictment of our times and a reflection of our failure to keep the movement coming along." To illustrate his point, Bond cited examples of the lack of social justice in America today. He pointed to the disproportionately high numbers of blacks and Latinos in America's prisons and to the continued lack of opportunities for minorities in the American work force. He also spoke out against the Bush administration's opposition to affirmative action in university admissions. Reactions from the approximately 100 members of the audience were positive overall. College senior Seth Schreiberg not only came away satisfied, but also moved. As the chairman of the Undergraduate Assembly, Schreiberg said that Bond's talk inspired him to "take his message back and apply it" to student government. "A lot of times we lose focus of our role in promoting issues that extend beyond the campus," he added. Political Science Professor Rogers Smith also enjoyed the lecture, saying, "It was a terrific talk that combined his tremendous record of personal contributions to the Civil Rights Movement with a very good assessment of where we are now." Obvious to anyone in attendance, however, was the fact that the auditorium was only about one-third full. One student admitted to being disappointed by how few students attended. "It was a little bit embarrassing that not a lot of people showed up, and most of them were people from outside the community or members of the faculty," College senior Sofie Zaragocin said The lecture series was sponsored by Penn's Center for Africana Studies, under the leadership of Tukufu Zuberi. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.