Decorated Civil Rights leader Julian Bond has issued a statement condemning Arkansas House Bill 1228, which he said would “cloak discrimination in the guise of religion.” Bond was a cofounder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern Poverty Law Center. He was also a longtime state legislator in Georgia and chairman of the NAACP.

Bond joins a chorus that already includes Apple, Walmart, the Arkansas Municipal League and right thinking people everywhere in condemning the proposal and calling Gov. Asa Hutchinson to veto it if (when) it arrives on his desk. Hutchinson has said he will sign the bill into law. 

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His statement:

“H.B. 1228 in Arkansas opens the door to a hateful past that some had thought this country had left behind. This legislation cloaks discrimination in the guise of religion — and it will mark people of color, LGBT Arkansans, religious minorities and women as second class citizens. Governor Hutchinson has a duty and a moral obligation to veto this legislation or the ghosts of the past will haunt his legacy.”

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