[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 59 (Monday, April 26, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E658]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF REV. BENJAMIN LAWSON HOOKS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 20, 2010

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1271 
and to mourn the loss of the former president of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Mr. Benjamin 
L. Hooks.
  Mr. Hooks led the NAACP at a time when civil rights legislation began 
to have its greatest impact. The vote had been secured, equal 
facilities were legally required and the right to an equal education 
had finally been confirmed through court action.
  Benjamin Hooks had already seen the benefits of the fight for civil 
rights that he helped lead. Before taking over the NAACP, Hooks was 
President Nixon's choice to head the Federal Communication Commission 
as that body's first Black commissioner.
  So, when he took over at the NAACP, many believed the fight was over 
and the impact of the NAACP had declined.
  Benjamin Hooks knew that the fight would never end, as long as 
injustice remained in this world. When he left the NAACP in 1992, the 
membership who believed along with him, fought along with him, and who 
join me in mourning his loss, had grown by hundreds of thousands of 
Americans.
  His service to his country and to the NAACP was not the birth of his 
activism. Even as a young man, Benjamin Hooks fought for equality.
  Hooks served in the Army during World War II, guarding prisoners of 
war. In his hometown of Memphis, these prisoners would have more rights 
than he did. So Hooks began fighting for those whose rights had been 
left behind.
  For 16 years, he practiced law in Memphis, became a minister and 
served as the first African American criminal court judge in the state 
of Tennessee.
  During his tenure at the FCC, Hooks pushed for more minority 
leadership of media outlets. Minority employment in broadcasting grew 
from 3 percent to 15 percent during his tenure, according to the 
Associated Press.
  After retiring from the NAACP, Hooks stressed that wealthy and 
middle-class African Americans should give time and resources to those 
who are less fortunate. He served as pastor of Middle Baptist Church 
and president of the National Civil Rights Museum, both in Memphis. He 
also taught at the University of Memphis.
  His lifetime work was so critical to the Civil Rights movement that 
in 2007, Hooks received the nation's highest honor, the Presidential 
Medal of Freedom, from President George W. Bush.
  So today, it is with a heavy heart that I mourn the loss of an 
American leader and legend, Mr. Benjamin Hooks.

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