Houston's Lee P. Brown A Can-Do Mayor For A Can-Do City - Houston, Texas

Ebony, Jan, 1999 by Kevin Chappell

With support from political heavy-weights like President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the strength of Black voters, who came out in record numbers to vote for him on election day, Brown won a runoff election with 53 percent of the vote. "Our African-American community came out like never before, in order to make history, because it did make history," he says. "It wasn't an easy campaign. The opponent got to be very negative. I made a commitment that I entered the campaign with my integrity intact, and I would end with my integrity intact."

Brown's election has opened many doors for African-Americans throughout Houston's government. The superintendent of schools is Black, as is the city attorney, the parks director, the health director and the deputy of communications. "Around here we celebrate our diversity as a strength, not as a problem."

Brown hopes the city's diversity (its population is evenly split among Blacks, Whites and Hispanics), and its can-do attitude will help bring the 2012 Summer Olympics to town. He is leading the city's bid for the international games at a time when Houston's economy is booming and the city is in the midst of building three new stadiums--one for baseball, one for basketball, and one for football (The city hopes to get another NFL team soon to replace the Oilers, who moved to Tennessee several years ago).

These are lofty goals, but Brown says his political and personal lives have been filled with challenges and lofty goals. "I knew what I wanted to do," he says. "I knew I had to do certain things above and beyond what the average person had to do if I wanted to achieve the same goals. So I have been driven by making sure that I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish."