Julian Bond: Principled Pragmatist

A nice remembrance of Julian Bond by Todd Gitlin, sent on by Marshall Ganz, both of whom worked with Bond.

“He was a pragmatist man of principle, no oxymoron intended. The principle was nonviolence, which, as one of his last public statements bears out—I shall quote it below—was his principle to the end. A pragmatist is not a trimmer. A pragmatist looks for results and changes his or her modus operandi—and theory—accordingly. Thus, at first, he and others in SNCC thought they were “still operating on the theory that there was a problem, you expose it to the world, the world says ‘How horrible!’ and moves to correct it.”

A Great Life that Matters

Bond, in one of his last known letters, supported the Iran nuclear deal worked out by the Obama administration.

“Today we have before us an issue that should unite all Americans, supporting the nuclear agreement with Iran. This historic diplomatic accord will not only help prevent the proliferation of mankind’s most heinous weapon, it will help avoid yet another disastrous war in the Middle East.'”

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