After learning of the death of Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks, I asked my 15-year-old daughter if she knew who he was. She didn’t. I wasn’t really expecting her to know he was a former chairman of the NAACP, a civil rights activist, a man who played a significant role in helping shape our society as it is today.

Such history isn’t taught very well in our nation’s schools, which are steadily getting rid of teachers and reducing programs  because of the economic crisis. And while I believe that parents must take an aggressive role in the education of their children, I had not yet talked to my daughter about Hooks. Then came the news that Dorothy Height, 98, longtime head of the National Council of Negro Women and matriarch of the civil rights movement, also has passed away.

I’m mourning the loss of both of them, as are many people across the nation. I took my daughter to several Black Family Reunion events that Height started in Washington, D.C. so she had a chance to see and hear Height speak about the importance of the black family. “The black family of the future will foster our liberation, enhance our self-esteem and shape our ideas and goals,” Height once said.

Her death, and that of Hooks, 85, has reminded me that I must sit down more often with my daughter, nieces and nephews and share the stories of these civil rights legends as well as my own memories of the movement. 

What, I wondered, would Hooks want us to tell our young people?

 ”Dr. Hooks felt it was important that contemporary youth understand the value of getting an education,” said Daphene McFerren, director of  The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. “Dr. Hooks was someone who did the best he could with what he had. He understood that education was important to improve his life and the extended community’s life.” (Photo from the Hooks Institute website)

Hooks felt that young people “have to prepare themselves to live responsibly,” McFerren added. “They have to advance the social good.” At times he was disappointed, she said, that some black youth don’t avail themselves of the educational opportunities that he and others fought so hard to obtain.

He wanted young people to understand that the fight for social justice isn’t over and in the 21st century requires more than mass demonstrations or boycotts. The best way for our youth to tackle such issues as economic disparity, Hooks told McFerren, is for them to aim for excellence in their skills.

In a Nov. 4, 2009 speech at the University of Memphis, Hooks passionately urged the crowd to do something to make a difference. “Are you ready for your turn? It’s your turn now. You’ve got to face the future unafraid.  Get up and get going.”

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