Julian Bond 1940-2015

In an age of easy cynicism, Julian Bond remained an inspiration to those who who seek to make America a better place through their involvement in public service.

Bond was a prominent civil rights activist from his college days to the time of his death this weekend at age 75.

He was one of the founding members in 1960 of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC sought to get students directly involved in the struggle for civil rights.

In 1971 he co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC is best known for its work in monitoring hate groups. Bond also served as head of the NAACP from 1998 to 2010.

Julian Bond understood that direct involvement in the political process was essential for progress. He was an active member of Georgia’s state legislature from 1966 to 1986.

In his later years, Bond became an outspoken supporter of LGBT rights.

People make the time for things which they consider important. Julian Bond devoted decades to improving the lives of his fellow Americans.

The PBS NewsHour on Sunday spoke with several people who had worked closely with Julian Bond.

Grants to increase voter engagement and information

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is a non-profit organization which since 1950 has provided over $1.3 billion in grants to promote quality journalism, community development, innovation in media, and education.

The foundation may be best known for its support of StoryCorps and public media in general.

This month as part of the Knight News Challenge the foundation has announced that it is awarding $3.2 million to groups whose efforts boost voter engagement and provide reliable news and information to voters about candidates and issues. Twelve grants of $35,000 each are going to “prototype” projects in earlier stages of development. The remaining $2.78 million will be distributed to ten groups whose projects are in a more advanced stage of development.

The projects of those ten groups are summarized in this video.

Additional details about the ten projects:

2016 Political Ad Tracker
The California Civic Data Coalition
Campaign Hound
Inside the 990 Treasure Trove
Civic Engagement Toolkit for Local Election Officials
Informed Voting From Start to Finish
Revive My Vote
Sharp Insight
The Next Generation Beyond Exit Polls
Vote-by-Smartphone

Stats on State Governors

“States” is the middle name of the United States of America. Yet the amount of attention given to state government is disproportionately small.

The states have the power to pass and enforce laws and regulations for matters not directly under the purview of the federal government. Among other things, each state has its own criminal code and justice system, election regulations, tax structures, road and traffic laws, and procedures for licensing professionals. States charter units of local government within their boundaries.

From time to time we will shine a light on state governments and those who run them. Today we’re presenting stats on the current chief executives of the 50 states.

These come from the Center on the American Governor – Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University.

ETHNIC BACKGROUND

GENDER

OFFSPRING

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE OF CURRENT GOVERNORS (pdf)

 

And from the National Governors Association.

BIOS OF ALL 50 GOVERNORS

CURRENT ROSTER OF GOVERNORS WITH INFORMATION ON TERMS AND PARTY AFFILIATION (pdf)

The Longest Post-Presidency

Recently on NPR I heard it mentioned that Jimmy Carter has had the longest post-presidency of any of our nation’s chief executives. So I decided to look into this.

President Carter left the White House on 20 January 1981. So as of 15 July 2015 he has been out of office for 12,594 days or 34 years, 5 months, 25 days.

I examined the amount of time spent in post-presidency by all presidents who lived to be a patriotic 76 or older. There are 15 of them. It soon became clear that Carter had zoomed past his nearest competitor more than a thousand days ago.

After Carter, here are the five presidents who have had the longest post-presidencies:
• Herbert Hoover. He left office on 04 Mar 1933 and died on 20 October 1964. (11,553 days)
• Gerald Ford — Carter’s friend and contemporary. Ford left office on 20 January 1977 and died on 26 December 2006. (10,932 days)
• John Adams. Our second president left office on 04 March 1801 and died on 04 July 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. (9,253 days)
• George H.W. Bush. The senior Bush left office on 20 January 1993 and as of 15 July 2015 he has been out of office 8,211 days.
• Martin Van Buren. The first president born after independence (1782) left office on 04 March 1841 and died on 24 July 1862. (7,812 days)*

The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner is well placed to set an additional record. He stands a good chance of becoming the president with the longest lifespan. That record is currently held by Gerald Ford who lived 93 years and 165 days. Carter, who will turn 91 in October, has the vigor of someone a dozen years younger. And the former president seems to have inherited some very good DNA. All three of his siblings died of pancreatic cancer at ages 51, 54, and 63 respectively. Jimmy Carter himself has been free of any serious health problems though last spring he had to cut short a trip to Guyana because of what he called “a bad cold”.

The quality of Jimmy Carter’s post-presidency also deserves a quick mention. The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia has monitored 100 elections in 38 countries since 1989. The Center has also been at the forefront of eradicating several preventable diseases in developing countries. Largely through the Center’s efforts, the number of Guinea Worm cases in Africa has plummeted from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 126 in 2014.

* Date calculations from Time and Date.

Malcolm X on freedom.

“You get freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get your freedom; then you’ll get it.”

– Malcolm X

Malcolm X (1925-1965) was a charismatic activist, organizer, and lecturer who energetically and uncompromisingly championed the rights of fellow African-Americans. A convert to Islam and a minister, he became known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz upon returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964. He was assassinated by members of a rival group in New York on 21 February 1965. His autobiography, co-authored with journalist Alex Haley, became a posthumous bestseller.