Mary-Pat Hector describes herself as a revolutionary, but her mother calls her a “bumblebee” because her mission in life is to put big stings into injustices like racial inequity, child abuse, youth violence and bullying. Mary-Pat says her mom calls her “bumblebee” because the critters’ wings flutter so fast. Nesbit says her daughter got the nickname because she’s been busy since the age of three, helping kids in need or just making speeches for those afraid to do so.
“She’s such a fighter,” says Kathleen Nesbit, mother of the fiery, ambitious 15-year-old. “Since she was three she’s been helping people who were in trouble or need. At first what she did really scared me.”
But fear is a stranger to Mary-Pat, who is national youth director for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, a not-for-profit civil rights organization aimed at fighting social and economic injustice and which has 40 chapters nationwide.
She’s been recognized by Sharpton, flown around the country to make speeches to young people, formed her own non-profit called Youth in Action USA at age 10 and is now youth leader at the Usher New Look Foundation. She also was given a community service award by President Obama.
Recently Hector was named one of Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 of “young, gifted and black” people who are making names for themselves while drawing attention to problems that impact the African-American community more than any other.
The list includes such luminaries as broadcaster Tavis Smiley, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., scholar-activist Cornel West, NBA star LeBron James and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Ebony calls them “game changers” who’ve made “vital accomplishments during the past year.”
The teen has raised money to help runaway youngsters, battled bullying and vocally attacked perceived discrimination, like the execution in Georgia in 2011 of Troy Anthony Davis, which she describes as “the day I grew up.”
“I’m tired of seeing all negative images of young people,” she says. “Statistics about the black community are frightening. We’re dying,, we’re tired of it, and we want people to listen. So that’s what I do, talk about it.”
She wrote a play, “Easy Street Ain’t Easy,” that explored child cruelty, sexual abuse and bullying. As a leader in her own and national organizations, she says she travels thousands of miles a year, educating young people, especially about violence and the need for jobs programs for underprivileged youth.
“I also let kids know they don’t have to wait to be great,” she says. “A group called Youth Move is part of Rev. Sharpton’s leadership academy and I take part in that.”
She says her fight has just begun, and plans to run for president in 2046.
“I’ve made a difference, and that’s what I want to do in the future,” she says. “I believe that lots of kids waste their opportunities. We can change things that need changing. And we will.”
Incidentally, her play, which opened to a packed house at North Atlanta High School in 2008, has been turned into a book, “Easy Street Ain’t So Easy,” which is available in bookstores and on Amazon.com.
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