EDITOR’S NOTE: Civil-rights giant Julian Bond passed away on Saturday, August 15. In 1991, he and Adolph Reed Jr. edited a special issue for The Nation titled “The Assault on Equality: Race, Rights and the New Orthodoxy.” Their introductory essay is available below. The full issue is available to subscribers in our archive.
Julian BondJulian Bond, a long-time civil rights movement leader, was a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, board chair of the NAACP, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and a Georgia state representative.
Adolph Reed Jr.Adolph Reed Jr. is a columnist for The Nation and most recently co-author with Walter Benn Michaels of No Politics but Class Politics (Eris Press, 2023). He appears on the Class Matters podcast.