ATLANTA – The recent deaths of Dorothy Height and Benjamin Hooks, two icons of the civil rights era, nudge those who have come behind them closer to the control for which they have clamored.
It is a prospect that is at once enticing and intimidating for the movement’s heirs, who have waited years for their turn and a chance to further the progress of black America. Those years have caught up with both groups, as the graying civil rights generation has no choice but to step aside.
The next generation must decide whether they will step up as the nature of the struggle is in question and the future fight takes on a new identity.
It’s put up or shut up now, said the Rev. Al Sharpton.
“I remember for years we said, ‘Give us a chance,’” Sharpton said. “Well, we’re center stage now. What are we gonna do?”
At 55, Sharpton is considered young among civil rights activists. He was groomed by people like Height and Hooks to lead after they left.
“They knew the struggle would continue beyond them,” said Sharpton, who founded his National Action Network nearly 20 years ago. “We are facing more institutional inequities. These matters are not as dramatic as they were in their time, but they’re just as insidious.”
