HAZEL DUKES
Continuing the Fight for Civil Rights
Interviewing the female pioneering activist HAZEL DUKES, whose activities have helped to pave the way for Kamala Harris’s Vice Presidential nomination, is not a job but a real treat. She has worked with such civil rights pioneers as Congressman John Lewis when he came to New York at the request of Congressman Charles Rangel; Julian Bond, Dr. Benjamin Hooks, Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, Myrlie Evers-Williams (wife of Medgar Evers), and Rev. Al Sharpton. Aside from her active participation in the civil rights movement, which included her being arrested, she is President of the NAACP New York State Conference.
Two of Duke’s mentors were former New York State Secretary of State Basil Paterson and former Manhattan Borough President and businessman Percy Sutton. “I have seen progress made at the local level with men and women of color on the City Council educating our community on issues that set the framework for establishing policy for education, health and the police department,” said Dukes. ““The outcries of defund the police and other messages have forced corporations to want to give out money, but that doesn’t address the problem of systemic racism,” Dukes adamantly stated. “Black Lives Matter is needed like the NAACP, the Urban League and other organizations that have been our foundation, and the message must be consistent. I have been in the civil rights movement for 44 years and I am still fighting.”
