Julian Bond to step down as NAACP board chair

After 10 years as chairman of the board of the NAACP, Julian Bond announced Tuesday that he would not seek reelection when his term ends in February 2009.
 
"This is the time for renewal," said Bond. "We have dynamic new leadership. The country has a new president in Barack Obama; the organization has a new CEO in Benjamin Jealous, and we'll soon have a new Chairman of the NAACP Board. The NAACP and the country are in good hands," he said.
 
In a letter to Board members, Bond, 68, wrote that he would not run for reelection as chairman of the national board but would remain on the board and run for reelection to the board when his three-year term ends.
 
"It has always been my plan to serve until the Centennial which will be underway in February when my term ends," said Bond. "I'm not resigning, I'm just not running for reelection," he added.

"We appreciate Chairman Bond's commitment and look forward to his continued active involvement on the Board," said CEO Ben Jealous, who is part of the new leadership of the 99-year-old organization.
 
NAACP Board members and officers are elected to volunteer positions, according to a news release put out by the organization. The chairman serves a one-year term and board members serve a three-year term.  
 
After nearly 50 years in the civil rights movement, Bond said his decision was part of a life change. "Being Chairman has been a wonderful honor, however, it has been more time demanding than anything I've ever done. I'm ready to let a new generation of leaders lead," he said.

Bond was a founder of the Atlanta student sit-in and anti-segregation organization and of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while still a student at Morehouse College in 1960. He was elected in 1965 to the Georgia House of Representatives, but was prevented from taking his seat by members who objected to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was re-elected to his own vacant seat and un-seated again, and seated only after a third election and a unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. 
 
He is the recipient of 25 honorary degrees and currently teaches at American University in Washington, DC, and at the University of Virginia.