(From The Whole Delivery, a special and poignant one)
April 15th marks the expected and (sadly) unexpected celebration of the lives of two prominent African-Americans who have made indelible impacts on America throughout the 20th century.
While baseball and many others celebrate the day that Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in the sport 63 years ago, it is also proper and just that we also display felicitations for the life of Benjamin Hooks.
Hooks, as some of you may know, passed away earlier this morning at age 85. And the outpouring of love felt for this underrated figure in the black community has been felt on the rational online community's most recognizable black website and throughout Twitter (and the Attorney General as well).
Now Hooks wasn't really the fiercest liberal around at all, as he was a supporter of Republican policies (before they really went off to the embarrassing state that they are now) and was appointed by Richard Nixon to the FCC in '72.
In his 16 year tenure as executive director of the NAACP, Hooks encounter some heavy criticism at times. Hooks' belief that his race self-assist themselves as well as urging wealthy and middle class blacks to help the struggling was obviously not embraced with full open arms. And, as some civil rights leaders still struggle to do today, Brooks had difficulty in the minds of some younger members of the NAACP at letting go the fights of legal, open, and fierce racism of yesteryear.
Even with those beliefs in "Trickle down economics", Hooks exhibited a golden, genuine heart for his fellow race. And it really damaged his soul whenever the offsprings of such a contentious epoch in our nation's accord didn't bestow the gratitude towards it.
“A young black man can’t understand what it means to have something he’s never been denied,’ Hooks told U.S. News & World Report about the new generation how hard the struggle for civil rights was for blacks in America . “I can’t make them understand the mental relief I feel at the rights we have. It almost infuriates me that people don’t understand what integration has done for this country.”
And being conscious of racing tension was always on the mind of the well accomplished Hooks, as anger with President Bush the 1st was felt from this figure with that Administration gladly neglecting the inner city poverty and paucity of public education in the ghettos and damaged slums of America.
It is a true shame that Hooks never has gotten the nation attention that a man with his record should garner. You never hear his name mentioned in mainstream thoughts of renowned Civil Rights leaders, and you'll never see him in cookie cutter TV specials like Black in America even for his rich perspective.
And certainly I never even saw a thought from him in a newspaper, online, or a TV news show about his thoughts on our nation's current first black President.
But what you will see is that Benjamin Hooks is not to be forgotten in this article's account.
As almost every team in baseball wears Jackie Robinson's number today (because only 24 out of the 30 teams in baseball are playing thanks to Bud Selig & MLB screwing up the schedule instead of having all teams play), the Hall of Famer Brooklyn Dodger certainly deserves the continued accolades on this day that he will always hopefully receive.
May that praise on every April 15 throughout also include one Mr.Hooks as well.
(From TWD, God Blessings to you, and until next time.)