Any judge who considers an appropriate sentence for Tyrone Brooks should consider his contributions to society.
Throughout our nation’s
history, progressive changes have come about in large part because activists
have worked outside of official channels to create a climate that is more
conducive to those changes. In the words
of Frederick Douglas, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did,
and it never will.”
A story is told about Sidney
Hillman, who served for a time as head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers
Union. After helping Franklin Roosevelt
get elected in the Presidential campaign of 1932, Hillman is said to have gone
to the White House and presented an ambitious agenda of progressive actions for
the new President to take. President
Roosevelt supposedly replied: “Sidney, I agree with everything in your proposal.
It is all exactly right. Now you just go
back home and make me do it.”
Years later, Martin Luther
King, Jr. is said to have had a similar conversation with President Lyndon
Johnson. In response to Dr. King’s call
for voting rights legislation and for the appointment of more African American officials,
President Johnson is said to have challenged Dr. King to essentially “make me
do it”.
In more recent times,
Representative Tyrone Brooks has played a role similar to that of Sidney
Hillman and Martin Luther King. With
little thought for his own personal needs, he has worked outside of official
channels to create a climate which made it easier for public officials to do
the right thing. This letter provides just two examples.
When I first began practicing
law, all of Georgia’s trial court judges were white, and few if any were
female, and subsequent progress toward a more representative judiciary was initially
very slow. Through his work with the
American Civil Liberties Union to challenge the method in which Georgia’s
judges were selected, Tyrone Brooks helped to create an environment in which
Governors Zell Miller and Roy Barnes were able through the appointment process
to make our State’s judiciary (at least for a time) dramatically more
representative of the communities that it serves. The work toward a more representative
judiciary continues to this day in our State, and I can personally testify that
Representative Brooks remains a key ally.
Another example: For years,
the people of Georgia were officially represented by a State Flag that was
adopted as part of the State’s historic campaign of “massive resistance”
against court-ordered desegregation.
Tyrone Brooks played a key role in raising awareness of the Flag’s
sordid history. It is largely through
the efforts of people like Representative Brooks that Georgians now have a much
more inclusive Official Symbol that no longer celebrates insurrection or the
elevation of one group over another.
I am not too proud to say that
I a beneficiary of the work of people like Tyrone Brooks. Like many of my contemporaries, I have been
able to take advantage of opportunities which might not have existed without
the work of activists who have opened doors that they themselves never passed
through.
As one considers a sentence for
Representative Brooks, consideration should be given to his overall body of work, which
on balance has significantly contributed toward making our world a better place
