Willie Brown rides again

Ebony, May, 1996 by Aldore Collier

DURING his final term as Speaker of the California Assembly, Willie Brown was asked what he planned to do after an incredible 31 years in the legislature. Without the slightest hesitation, he responded, "I will be mayor of San Francisco." Months later, the 62-year-old politician, who has educated and bemused and bedazzled Californians for more than a generation, was sworn in as that city's first Black mayor.

"There was never any question in my mind that if I did all the things I needed to do that I would win," he says. "And to that end, I proved a prophet."

Some might be shocked, appalled and possibly amazed at Brown's level of confidence. But not San Franciscans. And not Californians. For the last 14 years, he served as Speaker of the Assembly, the second most powerful position in the state of California after governor. As the dominant personality in Democratic politics in the state and as a major power broker in Washington, he was called in to settle major labor and political disputes. When a Republican governor nominated a White female to a state post, she was endorsed by many media outlets statewide. But Brown said on television, matter-of-factly, that she'd never get it. And she didn't.

During his 31 years in the legislature, Brown represented his beloved San Francisco, where he has been a leading lawyer and activist for almost half a century. As mayor of San Francisco, Brown presides over one of the most dynamic, diverse and elegant cities in the United States. San Francisco has a population of roughly 700,000 and is the focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region that is home to f@ million residents and some of the nations top financial institutions and high-tech companies.

What Brown downplays and what is especially noteworthy is the fact that Blacks make up only about 10 percent of San Francisco's population. "This city is made up of racial minorities," he points out. "A combination of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Cambodians and Mexican-Americans represent a huge population. Blacks make up about 10 percent. Whites are not dominant. You see the diversity more glaringly in the public schools. There are almost no public schools in this city, at any grade level, where Whites are the majority."

Most politicians, labor organizations, women's groups and gay organizations in the area endorsed Brown instead of incumbent Mayor Frank Jordan. "There were 75 opportunities for people to be endorsed, and I believe of that 75, I got 66. I think the mayor got four or five. So the city opened its arms and welcomed back one of its political veterans."

The two major daily newspapers in San Francisco, the Chronicle and the Examiner, were not among those who welcomed back the political veteran. Brown says they did everything they could to keep him out of City Hall.

"They wrote negative stories at least three times a week and sometimes as many as six times a week," he says. "And every Sunday, major attacks - editorial attacks, letters to the editor selectively printed, news stories planted, speculation pieces written - all designed to discredit me and all consistent with the theme of Jordan's campaign. It was every week. Relentless. No politician anywhere has taken the kind of bows I've had to endure."

There was nothing new in this for Brown has been taking blows for many of his three decades in politics. Soon after he became Speaker, Republicans tried for the first time ever to limit the powers of that position. Term limits for all of California's elected politicians which passed last year was a sometimes thinly veiled, sometimes overt attempt to get rid of Willie Brown. To Republicans, he has been Public Enemy No. 1 for many years. They found more negative names to call Brown than one is likely to find in a thesaurus. When term limits passed, they toasted the demise of Willie Brown. Although Republicans finally seized control of the Assembly, they still spend a considerable amount of time berating and investigating Brown. Even though he's almost 100 miles away in San Francisco, investigations into how he managed portions of the Assembly are ongoing.

Brown, who wears tailor-made suits and drives expensive sports cars, shrug it off. "I think I bring out those feelings of hate because I symbolize a liberated Black male. I symbolize a Black man who is equal and who demonstrates equality. And that generates great fear. They know I've mastered their rules. They know that I I know how to play the art of politics and that I do it with great glee. They are still focused on me as if I were still in Sacramento. They cannot accept the fact that maybe I had a little bit of talent."

Brown learned how to deal with tremendous adversity as a child growing up in the tiny Texas town of Mineola. His mother instilled in him a strong sense of self that he says he has always been able to summon in times of need.

He was one of five children who had to deal with outdoor toilets, meat once a week, shoes with cardboard on the bottom and school books handed down from White schools that often had pages missing. He moved to San Francisco in 1951 and graduated from San Francisco State University in 1955. Three years later, he received a law degree from the University of California's Hastings College of Law. Brown was first elected to the Assembly in 1964 and was re-elected 16 straight times. His 14 years as Speaker make him the longest-serving Speaker in California history.