Dr. Hooks

I did not know personally the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Hooks here in Memphis but attended a few meetings at which he spoke. His death early today has generated many tributes, since he was a beloved community and national leader. He was a lawyer, court judge, ordained Baptist minister serving as pastor of two influential churches at once in Memphis and Detroit, member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and other luminaries of the civil rights movement, head of the NAACP, appointed to the Federal Communications Commission by President Nixon, awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush, a husband and family man, a tireless encourager of rising generations... Dr. Hooks was outspoken, opinionated, dedicated. His was a life well lived, by all accounts.

This caliber of leader -- so prevalent in the tumultuous days of the civil rights era -- seems all too rare today, in my view. That Rev. Hooks was a man of God is a witness and encouragement to us all. That he lived out his faith, rising from the hard streets of prejudice and injustice to serve in powerful places of government, is a testament to his own personal resolve and abilities, and the capacity of one individual to make a difference for the good of many. Rest in peace, Sir.