Attorney Clarence Benjamin Jones (Jan. 9, 1931 – May 22, 2026) will be remembered as a champion of freedom, justice and equality in America and around the world.
Jones, chair emeritus of Spill the Honey, was an iconic leader of the Civil Rights Movement and the trusted lawyer and speechwriter for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
I first met attorney Clarence Jones in 1962, when I was a teenage statewide youth coordinator for Dr. King and the SCLC in my home state of North Carolina. For more than 65 years, I have known and admired Dr. Jones as a steadfast visionary and prophetic leader. Dr. King and Dr. Jones were more than civil rights colleagues. They worked together as freedom-loving comrades and brothers.
Jones wisely stipulated, “Today, there are both challenges and opportunities to a successor generation of Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel.” Yes, we need a new, vibrant and active generation of young Black and Jewish freedom fighters who work and win together.
Spill the Honey is a national nonprofit founded by Dr. Shari Rogers that focuses on public education about the transformative shared legacies between Blacks and Jews who worked together effectively during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
The name “Spill the Honey” was inspired by the story of Eliezer Ayalon, a Holocaust survivor who is a model of recovery from trauma and a messenger of hope. The nonprofit takes its name from his story — he was gifted a cup of honey from his mother the final day she would see him before being sent by the Nazis to five concentration camps. He came to understand the power of using his voice and telling his story to inspire others not to remain silent in the face of hate and dehumanization while healing himself in the process.
Throughout the lives of Dr. Clarence Jones and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they used their voices and strengths to fight for civil rights, human rights and equality. The Black and Jewish leaders of the Civil Rights Movement taught millions of people the power of sharing our stories and using our collective voices to bring about social change. They also demonstrated the strength of alliances in challenging antisemitism, racism and hate across the nation and around the world.
Clarence Jones emphasized, “An example of a current initiative to restore this coalition is the Spill the Honey Foundation in Detroit. They seek to rebuild the historical coalition that existed between the African American and Jewish communities. Spill the Honey uses Holocaust education and ethical lessons learned from the Holocaust that contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.”
Under the vision of Rogers, Spill the Honey has produced a powerful and timely documentary that revisits the enduring partnership between Black and Jewish communities during the Civil Rights Movement — and challenges us to reclaim that spirit today.
In the turbulent 1960s, a shared vision of justice brought these communities together, as Jewish leaders stood alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Clarence Jones and many others in the fight for racial equality. Yet in recent decades, this once-strong alliance has frayed and is often overlooked or misunderstood.
Through rare archival footage and deeply personal interviews, “Shared Legacies” brings this history to life. The film features eyewitnesses, activists, Holocaust survivors and movement leaders, including Dr. Clarence Jones, Rep. John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, Louis Gossett Jr., members of the King family, Dr. Susannah Heschel and others.
At a time when division and hate are on the rise again, the film serves as both a reminder and a call to action. A new generation is stepping forward, committed to advancing justice, strengthening relationships and building bridges across differences.
Long live the freedom-fighting spirit, love and legacy of Clarence B. Jones. May our shared legacies become our shared futures for sustaining freedom, justice and equality for all of humanity. Leader Brother Clarence, rest in power.
Benjamin Chavis is president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and executive producer of “The Chavis Chronicles” on PBS TV Network.