A few days

ago, Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown was laid to rest. By now, nearly everyone

who reads or watches television is cognizant of the fact that Brown was

murdered, execution-style, in the driveway of his DeKalb County home.

The newly elected sheriff was scheduled to be sworn in as the new sheriff

of DeKalb County after a bitterly fought campaign. Brown was, by all accounts,

an honorable and hardworking man and a consummate law enforcement professional.

Brown held

dual bachelor's degrees, was a graduate of the National F.B.I. Academy,

was cofounder of the Father's Foundation (a community-based organization

working with troubled youth) and was the father of five and the grandfather

of five more. He and his wife Phyllis had been married twenty-three years

at the time of his murder. Sheriff-elect Brown had been in law enforcement

for twenty-two years.

On November

4, my wife and I were the guests of a couple who sponsored a table at

the Fayette NAACP Freedom Fund 2000 event. Sheriff-elect Brown was the

keynote speaker. The theme of the evening was "Truth," and Brown

certainly shared some hard truths with the hundreds gathered.

Saying that,

"Before things get better, the truth must be revealed." He then

waded in waist deep, firing volleys that made some of the gathered obviously

uncomfortable. Others, however, cheered Brown, and the "Amen's"

offered were more than a few.

Brown reminded

the gathered leaders that more blacks are currently in jail than in college.

Rather than seeking to lay the blame at another's doorstep, Brown stated,

"Too many times we blame someone else for our own problem."

"We don't

look back and see who made the sacrifices," Brown continued. Brown

took dead aim at the music currently in vogue among black youth, saying

that the music of the young black culture "degrades women, promotes

death, glorifies and encourages killing, and stresses money."

Brown said

that if people doubt that music impacts culture then all they have to

do is look at how much money is spent on Super Bowl commercials in an

attempt to influence buying decisions.

Brown said

that a "serious problem" exists in the black community when

blacks can call each other the "N-word" and this conduct is

seen as normal. If a white person were to use this word, Brown related,

the response from blacks would be swift.

Blacks are

willing to confront and fight when whites uses the "N-word"

to degrade blacks. However, he went on to say that, by using this word

to refer to each other, blacks demean each other far more than a racist

ever could.

The Sheriff-elect

also decried the practice among many blacks of tolerating unacceptable

behavior in black elected officials. "Black leaders who are not accountable

lower the standards, morality, honesty, and ethics of us all," he

declared. "We cannot blame others for our misdeeds," Brown said.

Speaking softly, Brown shared, "I was raised to seek excellence but

we have lost contact with the things that have served us so well. Black

students are setting their standards too low and are giving up the fight

but they are only doing what they have been taught." He related that,

when he was growing up, he was taught that he would have to work twice

as hard to be though half as good as a white man. He was taught, he said,

to settle for nothing less that the very best in himself and in others.

Brown reminded the older people present of how they had been brought up,

too. He called for a return to those strong values of family, morality,

and hard work, once prevalent in the black community.

Afterwards,

I was able to meet Derwin Brown and felt that I was in the presence of

potential greatness. If ever, I mused, there was a contemporary black

leader who had a vision of what could be and one who insisted on excellence,

regardless of background or color, Derwin Brown was that man. His, I thought,

is a voice that needs to be heard and heeded.

Then, one terrible

night, that voice was silenced, as Brown was brutally gunned down in his

own driveway. Although I only met the Sheriff once, I was devastated when

I saw the newscasts.

Brown was much

more than a law enforcement officer. He was a positive role model, and

a genuine inspiration, for all citizens, regardless of their race. I can

only pray that his dreams, his influence, and his voice will not be silenced

[Father David

Epps is Rector of Christ the King Church. He may be contacted at [email protected].

or at www.ChristTheKingCEC.com.]