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View Winners → Joe Brown Resigns Pasadena NAACP after Serving 12 Years
Featured Dec 11, 2012
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By Terry Miller
Joe Brown, president of the Pasadena-branch NAACP has resigned, effective at year’s end.
Brown sent Beacon Media a copy of a letter dated December 6 adressed to community supporters and friends. The move ends Brown’s 12-year tenure as head of the local civil rights organization which tried to heal wounds in an ethnically diverse city such as Pasadena.
Adopting a quote about George W. Bush, Brown said “ Leaders seldom swin with the stream…the truly committeed never waiver from the solemn oath they are entrusted with.”
Not everyone saw things Brown’s way, according to his letter. His support for marriage eqality and Dream Act are but two examples cited in his resignation letter.
Brown went on to praise Pasadena Police Chief Phillip Sanchez for his “ undaunting and steadfast courage” during recent investigations and publicly Brown acknowledges that he was perhaps short sighted and rushed to make decisions about some cases that gar4nered a lot of media attention in the past year.
Joe Brown also thanked Darryl Dunn and Tommy McMullins whose contributions “ will; never be surpassed.”
Prior to heading the NAACP, Brown spent 30 years working for the U.S. Post Office.
Noting if has been a particularly difficult couple of yearsI, Brown refers to being tired and burned out by the position he has held for the past 12 years.
The last year has taken its toll on Brown and other community members and officials. First a medical condition, then the shooting death of Kendrec McDade by two Pasadena police officers and the aftermath.
Following the shooting, Brown asked for independent reviews and investigations of the Pasadena Police dept. The calls were answered but Brown was critical of Pasadena PD at the time.
At the end of this summer, Brown was again spotlighted for inviting Pasadena police Chief Phillip Sanchez to host the 26th annual Ruby McKnight Williams Awards Dinner at the Hilton. McDade’s father, Kenneth McDade, his attorney, and a dozen friends and family held a protest outside the hotel as guests arrived for the event.
Brown concluded his letter by saying he and other leaders who have moved on “leave a legacy that we did our best for all ethnicities, and tried to make a difference for equality.”
Joe Brown at his office in Pasadena will be leaving effective at the end of the year. -Photo by Terry Miller
