ATLANTA — She was the face of arguably one of the biggest movement's in the past decade.
11Alive has followed Atlanta-based activist Mary Hooks over the years as she, along with hundreds of others here in metro Atlanta, championed Black Lives Matter.
Hooks is now the co-director of Southerners on New Ground (SONG). It’s a role she moved into three years ago.
We caught up with her recently inside of SONG’s new regional office in southwest Atlanta.
“Well SONG, we recently purchased this building about a few weeks ago. We are literally still moving,” Hooks said.
For the past 10 years she has dedicated her life to activism.
Hooks has stood on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter movement in Atlanta and SONG.
“Our work is to ensure queer and trans people have their place in terms of doing our work to advance social movements,” she explained.
Around 2015, she became an integral part of starting the BLM Atlanta chapter. She says she still grapples with being labeled the face of the chapter.
“We put out a very broad, whosoever out there let them come. We were out here in these streets and we also seen a huge wave of burn outs,” Hooks said.
"A realistic assessment of where BLM is now, the chapter, I would say is on life support," Hooks said. "I’m amazed that people continue to reach out to us and want support."
Hooks says she continues her work fighting for things like LGBTQ rights, bail reform and immigration. She also takes her work on the road.
She spends time traveling to different SONG regional offices and meeting with different communities.
We followed her last May as she led the Black Mama Bail Out, which sole purpose was to help reunite incarcerated mothers with their kids for Mother’s Day.
Hooks says her goal now is to help pump life back into BLM Atlanta and continue her reach with SONG.
“I think one of the things that organizing requires is consistency. So being able to have steady programs that can move out of very large building is something that we are pretty excited about,” she explained.
She says SONG is in the process of launching new programs and events in the coming months.