Thats one of the guys Im really going to miss working with when I leave here. (Katko, who was one of just 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump after the events of January 6, was sure to clarify that his praise of Thompson pertained only to the Homeland Security Committee. In 2012, Jeffries won his seat in Congress. Debbie Elliott/NPR Just a few years before Thompson and Fitzgerald attended Tougaloo, nine students held a sit-in at a public library in Jackson in an effort to integrate the facility, a protest that catalyzed a wave of civil rights demonstrations in the state. I call him a quiet giant. Hes someone who can walk in the room without saying things, but he makes you feel secure and comfortable, said Representative Joyce Beatty, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. The idealist, John Milton Lee also contributed significantly to the fledgling organization. AP It remains the only Greek letter organization with its Alpha Chapter on Indiana Universitys campus. Picking an underclassman like Jeffries to run the chapter fit with the Kappa Alpha Psi mantra of training for leadership, Cordero adds, by letting the youngest brothers in the chapter run the chapter while the older ones can provide mentorship.. It was 1969, one year after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., and in Bolton, Mississippi, white Southerners ugly backlash to the gains of the civil rights movement was a powerful force. Bennie Thompson These incidents caused the Founders to change the name of the Fraternity. But, although he has had his fair share of big-name interviews, Thompson has maintained a relatively low profile. It means giving blacks the same quality of service as whites., After his election to the Hinds County Board of Supervisors in 1979, his statewide influence quickly grew. * Selected to Pro Bowl, + First-Team AP All-Pro, Bold indicates league leader. Thompson defeated the Republican candidate for the seat in a runoff election, mobilizing the districts Black voters. Thompson is married to London Johnson of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and has a daughter, BendaLonne, a granddaughter, Jeanna, and a grandson, Thomas. The committee has also been entangled in multiple lawsuits attempting to block it from obtaining information. The Fraternity has over 125,000 members with 700 undergraduate and alumni chapters in nearly every state of the United States, and international chapters in Nigeria, South Africa, the West Indies, the United Kingdom, Germany, Korea and Japan. Henry Tourner Asher, Dr. Marcus Peter Blakemore, Paul Waymond Caine, George Wesley Edmonds, Dr. It was Carter's vision to leverage to size and breadth of the fraternity to mobilize legislators, regulators, and activists, and, at the same time, bolster the influence of the Congressional Black Caucus. Or write about sports? For a long time, Thompson says, people didn't talk about Till's lynching. And there's shame attached to it.". Bennie Thompson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College