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Black men who have succeeded have an obligation to serve as role models for young men entrapped by a vicious cycle of poverty, despair, and hopelessness.
Benjamin Hooks -
I wish I could tell you every time I was on the highway and couldn’t use a restroom, my bladder is messed up because of that. Stomach is messed up from eating cold sandwiches.
Benjamin Hooks
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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. It exalts brawn over brain. And the most enduring contributions made to civilization have not been made by brawn, they have been made by brain.
Benjamin Hooks -
The most enduring contributions made to civilization have not been made by brawn, they have been made by brain.
Benjamin Hooks -
At that time you were insulted by law clerks, excluded from white bar associations and when I was in court, I was lucky to be called Ben, usually it was just ‘boy.’ But the judges were always fair. The discrimination of those days has changed and, today, the South is ahead of the North in many respects in civil rights progress.
Benjamin Hooks -
A good history covers not only what was done, but the thought that went into the action. You can read the history of a country through its actions.
Benjamin Hooks -
We’ve been through some little stormy periods before. I think we’ll overcome it.
Benjamin Hooks -
We're no longer arguing about riding in the back of the bus, but being the bus driver or the president of the bus company. We're not pushing for the right to buy the hot dog, but selling the hot dog and the right to own the hot dog franchise.
Benjamin Hooks