Political Quotes

“I rise today to honor the life of the Reverend Benjamin Lawson Hooks. I join all Americans in expressing my sadness at his passing and gratitude for his lifetime of service. Ben Hooks was a man of faith who was dedicated to nonviolent change. He will be remembered as one of the great civil rights champions of our time. Ben Hooks was born in Memphis, TN, at the height of the Jim Crow era in 1925. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army to fight for his country, a segregated nation that denied him access to many public venues. Stationed in Italy, he was ordered to guard Italian prisoners of war, and like so many African-American soldiers at that time, he was utterly shocked to find that the very prisoners he guarded were admitted to the all-White cafeteria, while he had to eat elsewhere. Upon returning to the United States, Ben Hooks completed his studies at Howard University and attended DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. But he never forgot his roots or the civil rights violations that he had witnessed.”