BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Georgia state Sen. Julian Bond Thursday predicted a massive black voter turnout in November to defeat Ronald Reagan and called the president's administration an 'aggressive enemy' of civil rights.
The Georgia Democrat also chided the Mondale campaign, saying it could do more to endear itself to black voters.
He called for more cooperation between Mondale and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, saying Jackson's support was important to the Democrats.
Bond, who spoke to reporters before addressing an orientation session at State University in Binghamton, also said he thought a black should be a candidate on the 1988 Democratic ticket because of the loyalty of blacks to the party.
Bond told reporters that black Americans had a greater stake in the election than any other group in the country. He said the choice between Democratic candidate Walter Mondale and Reagan was 'so stark and so clear.'
'For black people, these are life and death questions. This affects ... whether or not we'll be able to earn an education, whether or not we'll work, whether an enormous portion of our population will remain unemployed,' Bond said.
'They (the Reagan administration) have gone out of their way to be aggressive enemies of the civil rights of female Americans, handicapped Americans, elderly Americans and racial minority Americans,' he said.
Bond also blasted the administration for its defense of tax exemptions to segregated schools, its actions with the Civil Rights Commission and its fight against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act. He accused the Republican Party of writing off the black vote.
