|
| Affiliation | Democratic |
|
| Name | Tyrone Brooks, Sr. |
| Address |
Atlanta, Georgia , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
October 10, 1945 |
| Died |
Still Living
(79 years) |
| Contributor | Joshua L. |
| Last Modifed | David
May 25, 2022 10:44am |
| Tags |
Black -
|
| Info | Representative Tyrone Brooks is now known around the world as the man who brought down that old, racist, divisive symbol, the Georgia Confederate flag. He is a lifelong member of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Warrenton, GA and his Atlanta church home is the West Hunter Street Baptist Church in the west end.
Tyrone Brooks began his career in public service as an activist for civil and human rights at the age of 15 as a volunteer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He became a full-time staffer of the organization in 1967 under Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Under Dr. King, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy and Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, he served in many positions, nationally and locally. Brooks is president of an SCLC affiliate (GABEO). He has been at the forefront and involved in the struggle for freedom, justice and equality since 1960 and has been jailed 65 times for civil rights work.
Elected in 1980 as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, Brooks serves on three committees: Approprations (Secretary), Economic Development and Tourism, and Retirement. During his tenure as state representative, he has consistently created and supported legislation to help the poor and oppressed people in our society. He led the successful movement to reactivate the town of Keysville, Georgia in spite of the many threats against his life. He also led the campaign against Apartheid in South Africa by championing legislations to divest all public funds controlled by the state of Georgia from that formal brutal, inhumane government. He sponsered legislation calling for the unconditional release of Nelson Mandela. Along with Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, Dick Gregory and many others, Brooks was arrested at the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Thanksgiving Day November 1976 and jailed for protesting the massacre in Soweto while calling for the end to the Apartheid government.
Tyrone Brooks has worked eradicate racism, sexism, illiteracy and injustice. Some of the laws he has helped pass include the Antiterrorism law, the establishment of the Positive Employment and Community Help (PEACH) Program, and the Reapportionment Max Black Plan. His House Bill 16 resulted in winning an almost twenty-year battle in the General Assembly to change the Georgia state flag. It became law January 31, 2001. Because of this historic victory, the John Marshall School of Law honored him with his first honorary law degree in May of 2001.
Representative Brooks is an active member of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, President of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, cofounder of the Coalition for a People's Agenda, and serves in many other organizations. He has dedicated his life to the achievement of complete justice and equality.
Highlights of Representative Tyrone Brooks'
23-year Legislative Career
1981 The Charitable Solicitations Act.
1981-2001 Cosponsored legislation to increase Homestead Exemptions and reduce taxes for the elderly and the poor.
1982 Divestment from South Africa Free Nelson Mandela Reapportionment to create the Majority Black 5th Congressional District in Atlanta.
1983 Anti-Terrorism (Anti KKK) Law.
1986-87 Positive Employment and Community Help (PEACH) Program (Welfare Reform).
1986 Began Movement to Reactivate the Town of Keysville, Georgia.
1987 Keysville won the legal fight with assistance from ACLU, the Crystic Institute and Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers.
1988 Keysville elected African-Americans to all municipal offices. They are still serving today. Keysville has been in the state and federal budgets since 1990. This financial assistance has contributed to revival and rebuilding of the city's infrastructure, and the reopening of Boggs Academy (now known as Boggs Rural Life Center).
1988 "The Brooks Litigation." Initiated a federal class action lawsuit against the state and introduced legislation to force the state to appoint more African-American judges and prosecutors and reform the Judicial Nominating Committee. Today, Georgia has the most racially diverse judiciary of any state in the nation.
1992 Signed an out-of-court settlement consent decree to settle the Brooks Litigation with Governor Zell Miller.
1992 Cosponsored and helped pass the Max Black Reapportionment Plan which elected three African-Americans to the United States Congress from Georgia and several African-American state legislators.
1999 Sponsored resolution urging federal and state authorities to reopen investigation of the murders of five African-Americans at the moores Ford Bridge in Walton County. This massacre was the last open public lynching of black people recorded in the nation. Governor Roy Barnes has ordered the GBI to reopen this case and work to bring justice to bear and closure for relatives of the victims, our state and the nation.
November 22, 2000 & January 9, 2001 Sponsored House bill 16, the legislation to change the Georgia State Flag. Brooks participated in the fin
|
|
 |
| Date | Firm | Approve | Disapprove | Don't Know |
 | BOOKS |
 |
|
| Title |
Purchase |
Contributor |
|
| INFORMATION LINKS |
|
|
|
