As readers of the Amsterdam News are likely aware, Dr. Hazel N. Dukes died on Saturday.
Dukes served as president of the New York State Conference of the NAACP for nearly 50 years and was a longtime member of the association’s National Board of Directors.
Dukes was a civil rights icon whose wise counsel was sought by presidents, governors, and countless movement and community leaders. She was universally respected. Among those of us who were blessed enough to know her well, she was revered.
While her resumé is incomparable, it could never come close to capturing who she was and why she is such a monumental figure in our country and history. Many tributes have honored Dukes over this past week, telling the story of her life and accomplishments. I am honored to have the opportunity to add my own, because of the immense role and influence she had in my own life.
Many people remember Hazel Dukes from seeing her in the halls of power. I’ll remember her as an organizer’s organizer. I’ll remember her marching. And smiling.
I’ll remember marching with her to Fox headquarters to protest the reprehensible portrayal of President Obama in the “New York Post” (which has the same owner as Fox) as an out-of-control ape that needed to be put down. I’ll remember her marching to the United Nations to protest attacks on voting rights here at home. I’ll remember her marching silently on Father’s Day in New York to call attention to all the young people being killed by the police and the need to end racial profiling. I remember her marching in 2010 to call for the country to unite in the face of efforts to divide it.
And I’ll remember her smile. The way she smiled at every young person she met. The way she smiled and inquired about the health of every senior citizen who was becoming more frail. The way she smiled at me, providing reassurance and inspiration, when I would stand before the NAACP and give the charge as we fought to preserve civil rights in times that were getting tougher by the year.
Without Hazel Dukes, I never would’ve become the youngest president in the history of the NAACP. Her faith in me was one of the great honors of my life. When I met her, I was being vetted to become the association’s next president and CEO. She played a critical role in building consensus behind my selection. A life lived as an organizer taught her to judge people quickly and put her faith in you if she saw in you the values she held dear. Her faith in me stemmed in part from her deep faith in the judgment of icons like Julian Bond and Bill Lynch, whom she counted as mentors even though they were younger than her.
Dukes was fierce. She was kind. She always had the courage to stand up for “the little guy,” even when the wealthy and powerful were aligned against him. She understood that often, the battle for a better life comes down to those whose greatest power is organized people and those whose power comes from money. And she perfected the art of harnessing the power of organized people.
She was deeply committed to making a better future for all children, and she fought for a better future for all Black children in New York as if they were her very own.
Hazel Dukes had a preternatural ability to galvanize leaders and mobilize among different communities — and a unique talent for bringing those communities together in common purpose. She was a formidable opponent to those standing in the way of justice. If you were on the side of justice, she was a loyal and reliable friend. She was fiercely committed to lifting up working people, and will be deeply missed among Black religious leaders; union members of all colors; civil rights advocates; immigrant rights advocates; and leaders from the LGBTQ+, Jewish, and Muslim communities alike.
Rabbi David Saperstein, the former longtime head of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and U.S. ambassador for religious tolerance, served with Dukes on the NAACP’s National Board of Directors for 27 years. He counts her as one of his mentors and called her “the consummate bridge builder,” saying of his time with her on the NAACP Board,“Throughout those decades, I marveled at her success, in New York and nationally, in keeping the broad coalition of decency together — with a special appreciation for and commitment to the historic Black-Jewish partnership in the struggle for civil rights and social justice.”
There is a picture of Dukes I have kept and looked at from time to time — and will surely continue to look at, as I remember Hazel for years to come. It is of her watching me deliver one of my annual speeches as NAACP national president. As I gaze at it now, the look of loving pride on her face makes my heart heavy as a reminder of the bonds of our friendship and our mutual admiration.
The passing of Hazel Dukes is a profound loss for New York, the NAACP, and the country. It is also a profound — and profoundly personal — loss for me. Rest in power, my dear friend, and I will see you on the other side.
Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, former national president of the NAACP, and a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania.