Celebrating Roy LaVerne Brooks - "She was about Truth to Power"

By Faith Chatham - March 16, 2013

The civic, political and ministerial footprint of Roy LaVerne Wilson Brooks stretches across the Lone Star State and beyond. Roy was charismatic, articulate, and staunch in refusing to cave to the intimidation by those who favored back-room deals over a fair, transparent electoral process. Activish within the Democratic Party of Texas, ministry to the sick through hospital and hospice chaplaincy and dedication within the civic life of her hometown of Fort Worth were some of the tributaries of her life of service.  She was a Christian, she was a Texan, and she was a "home-town Fort Worth gal from the Como Neighborhood."

Roy's "footprint" stretches far beyond her beloved Fort Worth, Texas. She was always a leader.  Her incredible work ethic, people focused communication, and passion for seizing opportunities for improving the lives of everybody propelled her into leadership as a young person. While in college she was elected to her first state-wide political office: First Vice President of the Young Democrats of Texas. She went to work as liaison to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Honorable Jim Wright. After he left office, she continued serving the community as Education Director for the Mental Health Association, as Chaplain at local hospitals and hospices,  in the Greater Fort Worth Women’s Club, the League of Women Voters, N.A.A.C.P. and numerous counseling and ministerial organizations and in local, state and national Democratic Party leadership.

The daughter of LeRoy and Artelia Wilson, and sister to Ruby and LeRoy Wilson Jr., enrolled in Prairie View A&M where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Social Work after she graduated from Como High School. She earned her Master's in Divinity from Southwestern Theological Seminary. Some of her other post-graduate study was at UTA's  Urban Institute, The Potter's House Center of Counseling and Behavioral Health and the Campaign School at Yale University. As an educator with the Fort Worth I.S.D., she inspired colleagues and young people. Roy was consistent in private and in public to her values. Roy believed that knowledge is vital to being able to serve effectively. Her commitment to education was reflected at home: Roy LaVerne was a life-long learner who was always improving her professional skills. Her only son (Troy Brooks) also graduated from Prairie View A&M. Troy has gone on to earn his Masters in Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Houston and his PhD in Leadership Studies from Our Lady of the Lake University!

People who consider their their mentor ranges from teenagers to people in their sixties, from high school and college students to individuals who have been elected to public office and have served for years. It includes people of many ethnicity's.

Roy was proud of her Black heritage and cherished the freedoms and opportunities her generation enjoyed which were not available to her parents and their parents. She worked hard to be as good as she possibly could be because she knew that what she did and how she did it would either make it easier or more difficult for others in the future. She was honored with the Legislative Black Caucus Award in 1993 and is listed in Who's Who in American Politics.

  

She saw people as people and did not get enmeshed in stereotypes which creates or perpetuates barriers. When it came to friendship, fairness, and serving with people, Roy was color-blind.

She has earned the respect of people and been recognized by organizations through out Fort Worth, the State of Texas and the United States. Roy LaVerne was named Fort Worth Woman of the Year, was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame, served as a member of E.L.A.N.A, the Honorary Steering Committee for the United States Presidential election campaign, was elected Democratic Committee Woman for Texas Senatorial District 12 and as Vice Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. She was a delegate to the Democratic Conventions from 1996-2008 and served on Rules, Nominations and Resolutions Committees.

In Civic Service, Roy was Chair of the Mobility Impaired Transportation Service (M.I.T.S.A.C) and served 9 years on their board. She also served as Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (a.k.a. "The T") and 2 terms as an Advisory Member of HER-PLACE at All Saints Hospital, Fort Worth.  

 These are just a few of the things which reflect are some of the footprints of her life.  Her life was so full of service that she lost track of where she'd been and what she'd done, but the impact she had on people as she encountered us one-on-one lives on.

Roy LaVerne wanted her life to be bigger news than her death. As a tribute to her, some of Roy's friends began making micro loans through KIVA this week in her honor. I know of at least 80 people (mostly women) who have received loans to help them expand their businesses, improve their homes, educate their children in honor of Roy. They live all over the world. Some are in Senegal, W. Africa. Others live in Kenya, the Philippines, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador and other parts of the world.

Roy's footprint lives on in the lives of her son, Troy, and her three precious grandchildren, Jayden, JaKobe and Jordon. It also resonates among those of us who witnessed her stand firm for the right to be on the ballot and let the voters decided who would be elected to public office. 

In 2008 she defied pressure from the campaign of the African American front-runner for President of the United States by refusing to withdraw as a candidate for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party in "the name of party unity" instead of allowing the delegates to decide who would be the Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Instead of remaining silent when "they could not find her convention credentials" when employees of her opponent refused to admit  Roy (a legally elected delegate and the current Vice Chair of the Texas Democratic Party) to the 2008 Texas Democratic Convention, claiming they "could not find her credentials".  Roy went public. Her "mysteriously missing" credentials appeared when a television crew arrived to interview her about what was "going on." She did not believe that any presidential campaign should determine who ran for state party offices. She believed that convention delegates should decide who would lead the party and that elected offices should not be awarded through back-room agreements. She resisted suggestions from from Presidential National Campaign Staffers, from Senators and from the future Commerce Secretary Ron Kirk, alerting her that to the consequences, lose out on being a Delegate to the National Democratic Convention if she didn't withdraw from the State Chair's Race. down for "party unity."   Roy's sense of what was right and what was rotten propelled her to stand firm long after most other people would have caved and cratered.

I had heard of Roy LaVerne Brooks, but I did not know Roy going into the 2008 Texas Democratic Convention. I saw Roy LaVerne Brooks denied her convention credentials for hours after delegates were on the floor. I could tell something "peculiar" was going on when the cell phones of the Tarrant County Obama delegates around me lit up with text messages from their floor leaders instructing them to vote for Boyd Ritchie for State Democratic Chair!  I watched Tarrant County Obama delegates get text messages from their floor leaders telling them to vote the status quo, vote Boyd Ritchie for State Chair.Why would Black Tarrant County convention delegates vote against one of their own unless there had been a deal cut?  I had served on the steering committees of several State Wide Democratic candidates and knew the culture of attempted intimidation they had encountered. I watched Roy and saw her fight for a fair, transparent electoral process. She didn't flinch. She faced them down. She was not elected State Chair but she impressed me! Seeing her example that week was the beginning of one of the most trans formative friendships of my life.

In 2010 Roy declared her for candidacy for Justice of the Peace in Tarrant County. The incumbent was (is) a Republican whose record has been less than exemplary. Another Democrat, a wealthy former Savings and Loan Chairman of the Board and Chief Financial Officer decided that he deserved to run in the primary unopposed because he has given money to powerful Democratic candidates and sponsored fund-raisers for area Democratic Clubs. His supporters "encouraged her not to run."  She refused and said that the American process is one in which the voters are supposed to be allowed to decide who will be the party's candidate in November. She resisted back room deals when it comes to deciding who will be on the ballot. She had collected more than enough signatures on her petition, however, her opponent, Mr. Dick Abrams (who is currently a candidate for Chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party) challenged Roy and the Tarrant County Democratic Party in District Court. During an election cycle, Dick Abrams sued a fellow Democrat and the local Democratic Party in the court room of a Republican judge! He drained her of valuable limited campaign resources and time during the last weeks of the primary. Despite his deep pockets and her modest means, she beat him in court.  The Judge dismissed the case and told him not to file it again. The voters chose her to be the Democratic Nominee for Justice of the Peace. Democrats did not win that J.P. seat in November. However, LaVerne Brooks defended the American electoral process. She stood firm, knowing that the right to vote and the right to be on the ballot are sacred trusts which shouldn't be abandoned despite attempts by self-appointed power-brokers who attempt to perpetuate back-room anointing instead of fairly contested elections!  I hope her grandchildren come to understand how brave she was. Even when she didn't win the office, she wasn't defeated if the process was preserved for future fair elections. She preserved our civil rights by refusing to be intimidated by the campaign insiders of a Presidential Candidate whom she wanted to be President or by a wealthy political donor/bundler who believed that his pocket book entitled him to force other Democrats off the ballot before the voters had opportunity to choose their party’s nominee during the Democratic Primary.  

Rights don't mean much if you are scared off or intimidated into not exercising them! Roy showed people that winning the office is not always the only triumph. How you campaign, what you say, what you stand for, who you inspire, and what you refuse to allow to happen can also be your legacy!