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Another of our mighty trees has fallen and the impact will be felt around the world. Lerone Bennett Jr., 89, made an extraordinary contribution as a historian and author and to the field of journalism. He died at his home in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side on February 14^th of complications from vascular dementia, a cruel blow for such a superior intellect.

Born in Clarksdale, Miss., Bennett grew up in Jackson and earned his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse in Atlanta, where he and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were classmates. He served in the Army during the Korean War and pursued a career in journalism after returning home. His first job in the field was as city editor for the Atlanta Daily World. In 1953, he moved to Chicago to take a job as associate editor of Johnson Publishing’s Jet magazine. He became associate editor for the company’s Ebony magazine in 1954 and senior editor in 1958. He interviewed Dr. King about the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, one of the first of many articles in Ebony about King’s civil rights crusade.

Bennett devoted his great mind to people of African descent, seeking to inspire as much as inform. While working for Ebony, Bennett also taught as a visiting professor of history at Northwestern University.

The author of the 1962 classic, “Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America,” which has been hailed as a critical component to the comprehension of a peoples’ history. Bennett repeatedly updated the book in subsequent editions to include events such as the Civil Rights Movement.

Bennett Jr. also wrote, “What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King” in 1964, “Confrontation: Black and White” in 1965, a collection of essays, “The Challenge of Blackness,” in 1970 and “The Shaping of Black America” in 1975. Among his most controversial work was his 2000 book about Abraham Lincoln, “Forced Into Glory,” which cast Lincoln in shadow as a racist and white supremacist who practiced a politics of expediency rather than of mission and service.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, said. “His legacy of scholarship and activism is writing history and making history.”

“He gave Ebony its voice and its perspective on empowering African-Americans, and also was very much a champion of civil rights,” said Ebony Media CEO Linda Johnson Rice. “And everything that he did, he did with class and with style.”

Bennett remained at Ebony, becoming its executive editor in 1987 before retiring from the magazine in 2003.

“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know Lerone Bennett,” said Johnson Rice. “I watched him work side by side with my father to create the editorial direction at Ebony. What Ebony stands for today really stands on the foundation of what Lerone Bennett envisioned for the magazine and what he championed for the years that he worked with us.”

Bennett was on the board of trustees of Columbia College and of the Chicago History Museum. President Bill Clinton appointed him to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and President George W. Bush named him to the Presidential Commission on the proposed National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Bennett also sat on the board of the Chicago Public Library while Harold Washington was mayor.

One of the biggest surprises for Bennett was a resolution by the state of Mississippi commending his literary career as one of the state’s most successful Black writers of the 20thcCentury.“

Bennett’s wife, Gloria, whom he met when she was an associate editor at Jet and married in 1956, died in 2009. A son, Lerone III, died of lymphoma in 2013. He is also survived by three daughters, Alma Joy, Constance and Courtney, as well as three granddaughters.

A visitation will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home, 318 E. 71st St., Chicago. The visitation will continue at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24, at St. Columbanus Catholic Church, 331 E. 71st St., Chicago, followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m.

By now, the world knows about Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Florida. On Valentine’s Day he killed 17 people — including students, teachers and other staff —with an AR-15 assault rifle designed for combat and known for speed, light kickback and for easily rending flesh and bone. A local white supremacist group, The Republic of Florida, which seeks to create a “white ethnostate” out of Florida, has said that Cruz is a member.

The world is also coming to know the names and faces of young people in Florida and across the U.S. who have decided to do what adults in charge have not done — force President Trump and the GOP to wean from the teat of the NRA and substantively address gun violence. We will be hearing a lot more from these angry and determined students.

We’ve heard less, however, about Anthony Borges. If anyone deserves the title of hero, it’s Borges. He was shot five times in the back as he attempted to lock a classroom to prevent Cruz from entering. He may have saved the lives of the 20 students inside. Likely, Borges was a welcome target for the crazed white supremacist. A bullet went through Borges’ back, his left thigh was shattered, and he was shot in both legs. He clung to life for several days and it now appears that he will survive. A GoFundMe page has already raised $198,000, but more may be needed to cover his medical expenses.

Angry students have been walking out of classrooms across the country in protest. In Washington, D.C., students quickly formed an organization called Teens for Gun Reform. They staged a lie-in on the White House lawn on Presidents’ Day and the message on their Facebook page read: “By doing this, we will make a statement on the atrocities which have been committed due to the lack of gun control and send a powerful message to our government that they must take action now.” Following the lie-in, protesters marched around the premises shouting, “Shame on you” and “Disarm hate” toward the White House. The group also chanted “No more deaths,” “Am I next?” and “Hey, hey, NRA, how many kids have you killed today?”

A formal and coordinated walkout is organized for March 14^th when students, teachers and other staffers at many schools across the nation will participate in the      “Enough! National School Walkout” to protest lax gun laws at 10am in each time zone. Protestors will wear orange and the walkout will last 17 minutes – one minute for each of the students murdered in Florida. Students are being helped in the planning by organizers of the National Women’s March. Ten days later on March 24^th, a “March for Our Lives” is planned on Washington, D.C. Actor George Clooney and his wife Amal are donating $500,000 to this protest, which will be led by Stoneman Douglas High School students. Hearing that, other big names came on board with donations, including Oprah, Steven Spielberg and others.

Along with calling for a ban on assault weapons and greater protection overall, the students want to know how officials could leave them in harm’s way when there was ample evidence that this tragedy might occur. On January 5^th, a person close to Cruz called the FBI tip line to report that Cruz had “a desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts,” and that there was a “potential of him conducting a school shooting.” The Broward County Sheriff’s Office had been called to Cruz’s home 39 times since 2010 over reports of a “mentally ill person” and “domestic disturbance.” He posted a photo of himself on social media standing in his yard aiming a rifle, wearing nothing but boxers and a Make America Great Again baseball cap.

Meanwhile, the president has done little more than spout rhetoric, with his avoidance of the very mention of the word “gun” sparking both outrage and ridicule.

“No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school,” said Trump. But a year ago, less than two months into his administration, Trump rolled back an Obama regulation making it more difficult for the mentally ill to purchase guns. The Trump Administration has also proposed $680 million in cuts in 2019 to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration amidst a reported growing mental health crisis among millennials. The Affordable Care Act mandated coverage for mental disorders that had previously been denied, including anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. No more.

Gun control advocates say that much is needed across the board and that sustained attention must be paid if this longstanding crisis is to be properly addressed at long last. Young students, angry and fearful for their lives, appear ready to go the distance.