Longtime civil rights leader Hooks dead at 85

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: MSNBC/AP

Champion of minorities awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007

updated 1 hour, 48 minutes ago

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Benjamin L. Hooks, a champion of minorities and the poor who as executive director of the NAACP increased the group's stature while quelling fear created by a 1989 firebomber who targeted his group and officials in the South, has died. He was 85.

<snip>

Hooks' inspiration to fight social injustice and bigotry stemmed from his experience of guarding Italian prisoners of war while serving overseas in the Army during World War II — foreign prisoners were allowed to eat in "for whites only" restaurants while he was barred from them.

When no law school in the South would admit him, he used the GI bill to attend DePaul University in Chicago, where he earned a law degree in 1948. He later opened his own law practice in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn. In 1965 he was appointed to a newly created seat on the Tennessee Criminal Court, making him the first black judge since Reconstruction in a state trial court anywhere in the South.

President Richard Nixon nominated Hooks to the Federal Communications Commission in 1972. He was its first black commissioner, serving for five years before resigning to lead the NAACP.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36550484/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

---

I heard this very early this morning and was surprised (but maybe not so much) that it wasn't being headlined in the M$M or even here. I guess the results of "American Idol" is more important. :eyes:

Where can anyone begin to describe what he has done over the decades? He was fortunate as a life-long Civil Rights fighter, to be able to live long enough to see the fruits of his and so many others' labor, come to pass, and see the history that was made on Jan. 20, 2009.

R.I.P. Rev. Dr. Hooks. O8)

[Delphinus]

1. It *is* important.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know.

[saigon68]

2. Thank you

[tabasco]

3. I will remember him as a champion for human rights.

Not just a "champion of minorities."

What idiot wrote that headline?

[BumRushDaShow]

4. The headline? Hate to say but what else is new?

The original article and inordinate amount of time discussing Shrub's mumblings and supposed role in honoring Dr. Hooks (Hooks having been the same age as Poppy, a man born with the silver spoon in his mouth who had a son born with the gold spoon - neither forced to struggle to receive respect and dignity).

And agree about human rights. We are all human and his efforts helped to change the policies that oppressed so many of the poor and downtrodden, which cuts across all of humanity. As MJ sang - "They don't really care about us" and it reflects in the headlines and usually most of their content of the M$M's faux reporting.

[kpete]

5. Longtime civil rights leader Benjamin L. Hooks dead at 85

Source: MSNBC

Longtime civil rights leader Hooks dead at 85
Champion of minorities awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007


MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Benjamin L. Hooks, a champion of minorities and the poor who as executive director of the NAACP increased the group's stature while quelling fear created by a 1989 firebomber who targeted his group and officials in the South, has died. He was 85.

State Rep. Ulysses Jones, a member of the church were Hooks was pastor, said Hooks died early Thursday at his home, following a long illness.

Hooks became executive director of the NAACP in 1977, taking over a group that was $1 million in debt and shrunk to 200,000 members from nearly a half-million in the 1950s and 1960s. He pledged to increase enrollment and raise money for the organization.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36550484/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

---

<>

[alp227]

6. He was also an FCC commissioner 1972-77. n/t

[BlueIris]

7. K&R. nt