Elaine Brown runs for mayor of Brunswick, Ga.
Former leader of the Black Panther Party now a card-carrying Green
By LaVerne Butler
D.C. Statehood Green Party

Elaine Brown, former chair of the Oakland-based Black Panther Party, is running for mayor of Brunswick, Ga. She first publicly announced her intentions at this spring's Chesapeake Campaign School at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

By the end of the weekend, Brown had signed on to become a card-carrying Green because the basic principles of the party, such as social and economic justice, are in sync with her own principles.

Brown previously ran for councilwoman in Oakland, Calif. in 1972 and 1974 as a member of the Black Panther Party.

Elaine Brown, former head of the Black Panthers and candidate for mayor in Brunswick, Ga., speaks at Howard University. Dean Myerson / D.C. Statehood Green Party

Since returning in 1996 from living in France, Brown has wasted no time reconnecting with communities in both Atlanta and the tiny port city of Brunswick, Ga. Brown was introduced to Brunswick by way of the G-8 Sea Island Summit held in 2004. A win by Brown in Brunswick would be historic because it is a majority Black and economically depressed community sitting in the midst of a gold mine from which it does not profit.

Brown delivered a pointed speech to a packed audience at Howard that ran the gamut of age and race. Her message was sprinkled with a dose of reality and a vision of what is possible if she wins. Her challenge to the Black community as well as progressive whites is to get back to basics and work on organizing people at the local level to solve the problems at hand with a bottom-up/egalitarian approach.

"Folks here and around the world are living in tenuous times," says Brown. "People think about freedom of the press, but we can't eat freedom of the press. We need to put the concept of freedom back on the agenda--freedom for Black folk, freedom for all people who are oppressed in this country and throughout the world.... Liberation should be our goal."

Brown's appearance at this event served a twofold purpose. It not only highlighted attention to Brown's impending announcement to run for elective office, but also the viability of the Greens to attract a qualified and highly visible candidate. Even though this is a nonpartisan race, her registration as a Green should catapult the Green Party of the United States (GP-US) to another level.

Many in the audience at Howard University's Blackburn Center, such as Maya O'Connor, member of the D.C. Statehood Green Party (DCSGP), found Ms. Brown's words inspiring and energizing. "She has still maintained her class perspective on politics, despite all the years of retreat by the U.S. left from class-based organizing, and she categorically rejects the Black nationalism and anti-Asian tendencies of the 'new' Black Panther Party as well as the 'black capitalism' favored by wealthier Blacks," says O'Connor.

"I am especially excited with the current candidacy of Sister Elaine Brown in her bid for the position of mayor," says Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture, another member of the DCSGP. "She has taken a historic and courageous position to break from the norm and run for office as a member of the Green Party, which is unusual considering the political path taken by other radicals from the 1960s and 1970s. Elaine continues on her courageous journey of truly grassroots, radical politics. Her warm witty style, keen sense of history, great organizing abilities and razor-sharp critical thinking and analytical skills will prove to be a great breath of fresh air in her campaign."

Brothers Zack and Harry Lyde, leaders in the Georgia Green Party, worked on recruiting Brown in 2004 to run for the mayor's slot in the upcoming election. The Reverend Lyde invited Black Caucus Co-Chair Michele Tingling-Clemmons to attend a campaign strategy session looking at running a Green slate in Brunswick to be headed by Brown.

Tingling-Clemmons believes that the Green Party has "demonstrated that it is a party willing to stand in solidarity with a poor Black community fighting against an entrenched racist bureaucracy in order to secure their future for generations to come."

Brown's campaign was officially launched on May 19, the birthday of Malcolm X, to great fanfare and public interest. Brown feels good about the location of her campaign headquarters, because it is in a high-traffic setting as well as in close proximity to "her people." There is a steady flow of visitors into the storefront office, from the locals on up to those representing the state and federal levels of government.

Brown's historic position in the Black Panthers makes her popular with Black and Latino youth around the country. Africa Resource Center

Brown wasted no time pulling together her core campaign workers, including Campaign Manager Anita Collins, a native of Brunswick with strong family ties to the community.

Brown hopes winning this election will help redirect some of the massive revenues generated by the port to create an economic base of power to improve the welfare of Brunswick's majority Black and poor residents. For starters, a redistribution of just a portion of the port's wealth will provide a springboard to improve jobs, housing, education and healthcare. Her immediate goal if elected is to stem the wholesale displacement of the Black community, which will occur with the implementation of the already planned project "Blueprint Brunswick."

Brown anticipates that the Republican Party will spare no expense in backing a candidate and that the Democrats may put up two Black candidates to dissipate and confuse the electorate. She will need to overcome efforts to portray her candidacy as illegitimate and the fear of some to break away from the status quo.

Should Brown be successful in her bid, not only will she be the first Black mayor of Brunswick, she will be the first female mayor of Brunswick and the first Green mayor of Brunswick.


For more info or to support Brown, contact her campaign headquarters:
www.elainebrown.org
912-262-9811
2802 Altama Ave., Ste. B
Brunswick, GA 31520.

Back to Summer 2005