Julian Bond is a co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and former chairman of the NAACP. Before visiting Zócalo to speak about the past, present, and future of civil rights in America, he took questions in our Green Room.
Q. What is your breakfast of choice?
A. Coffee and toast.
Q. What is the worst thing on television?
A. Hard to say, because so much is bad. I hesitate to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. It’s really sports. I’m in a mixed marriage. My wife is a sports fan. I am not.
Q. How can a politician hold office and dislike sports?
A. I never mentioned this when I was in office.
Q. Of what superstitions, if we may ask, are you guilty?
A. I don’t believe that black cats cause bad luck, but I don’t want one crossing in front of my car.
Q. What music did you listen to most recently?
A. R&B, a little jazz, and rock ’n’ roll.
Q. What is your favorite city in the United States?
A. Atlanta.
Q. What is the kindest thing you can say about Los Angeles?
A. It’s beautiful.
Q. Who, if anyone, is a hero to you?
A. W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, and Dr. King. I tend to have dead heroes. The live ones really disappoint you.
Q. What are you like behind the wheel?
A. Cautious, slow, timid.
Q. What animal, wild or domestic, fills you with terror?
A. Tiger.
Read about Bond’s conversation here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.