Recently, Google’s Doodle celebrated Women’s and Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Height. A remarkable woman from Richmond, Virginia who spent her life in public service, serving more than 40-years as the president of the National Council of Negro Women. American leaders regularly took her counsel, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Height encouraged President Dwight Eisenhower to desegregate schools and President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint African-American women to positions in government. These are just a few of her accomplishments. A true servant of the people, which leads us to a young lady cut from the same cloth-Mayor Aja Brown.
On June 4, 2013, Aja Brown made history as Compton's youngest
mayor ever to be elected. The desolate, violent realities of
life in Compton, California were immortalized in rap anthems during the 1980s
and 1990s and has heavy ties to celebrity.
Some who have trudged through the infamously violent streets include Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Serena and Venus Williams. Brown however, has a deeper more painful connection to the
city. Her maternal grandmother, Lena Young was the victim of a violent home
invasion. Young was raped and brutally murdered in Compton in the 1970s. The
case is still unsolved.
Despite the grim outlook many people
would expect Brown to have toward the city of Compton, she claims that her city is "on the cusp of revitalization,"
and compared its forthcoming revival to the transformation of Brooklyn, NY.
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| Aja Brown alongside husband, Van Brown, a Petrochemical Safety Manager |
We are so proud of you Mayor Brown! Thank you for being such an extraordinary representation of how far an education, hard work and dedication can take you.
I do not claim ownership to the above images.
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