Professor: Education and Human Rights, Social Justice Intrinsically Tied
by T.A. Copper
Dr. Richard Benson
When Dr. Richard D. Benson II talks about education, he quotes Malcolm X, saying “Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our people rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self-respect. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.”
Benson, 37, is currently an assistant professor and associate chair of the education studies program at Spelman College in Atlanta. He said it was his mother’s influence that has made such a large impact on his career.
“My mother’s thing was school. … It was not uncommon for an individual to take 3 to 4 years off to work and save for college with the intent to enroll at a later time and that is what my mother did.”