FILE - In a Monday, May 4, 1982 file photo, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., appears beside NAACP Director Benjamin Hooks in Washington. Benjamin L. Hooks, a champion of minorities and the poor and former executive director of the NAACP has died. State Rep. Ulysses Jones, a family friend, said Hooks died early Thursday, April 15, 2010 in Memphis, Tenn. He was 85. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)