Political Quotes

“This resolution honors the life and achievements of my dear friend, the late Dr. Benjamin Lawson Hooks. With Dr. Hooks's passing last week, our nation lost a champion for justice and an iconic figure of the Civil Rights Movement. Personally, I will never forget the genuine spirit and talent Dr. Hooks had in inspiring every individual he encountered. This spirit of Dr. Hooks is what we celebrate today. In addition to being a dedicated civil rights advocate, Dr. Hooks was an accomplished attorney and judge, a government servant, and a respected Minister of the Gospel. He served as the Executive Director of the NAACP for fifteen years. He was also the first African-American appointed as Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, and the first African-American criminal court judge in Tennessee. Dr. Hooks was the founder of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis. He also founded the Children's Health Forum in 2002. And the list of his accomplishments goes on. Today, I would like to touch on three significant points. First, Dr. Hooks's leadership in the Civil Rights Movement was shaped by his firm belief that education and non-violent activism could lift the oppressed. He once said: ``There are a lot of ways an oppressed people can rise. One way to rise is to study, to be smarter than your oppressor. The concept of rising against oppression through physical contact is stupid and self-defeating . . .…”