Page 10 The Skanner December 7, 2016
News
Oct. 20, 2026 - Aug. 28, 2016
A
once. He retired in
aron
Brown
1995 but continued
was the fi rst
to preside as a Cir-
born of 10
cuit Court judge as
children
to
needed in multiple
Aaron Sr. and Edna
Oregon counties for
Mae Brown in Bell,
several more years.
La. on Oct. 20, 1926.
Aaron was very ac-
His family moved
to Houston when he
tive in many commu-
was four-years old
nity organizations,
where he attended
including the Urban
school and church.
League, NAACP, Or-
Aft er graduating
egon Black Lawyers,
from Phillis Wheat-
Kiwanis, American
ley High School in
Bar
Association,
1944 he helped his
Oregon State Bar,
family supplement
Multnomah
Bar
Aaron Brown
their income by sell-
Association,
AFL-
ing chicken and fi sh until he was draft - CIO’s Executive Council, Boy Scouts of
ed into the U.S. Army where he served America and the Sigma Pi Phi Fraterni-
as Private First Class until he received ty Boule’ — any other organizations.
Two children were born during his
an honorable discharge. He attended
Southern University, but later trans- fi rst marriage, Gregory A. (Angela),
ferred to Fisk University where he and Yevette D. Later he met and mar-
worked as a railroad porter and attend- ried Alvenice Mines in 1970 and ad-
opted her son Eric V (Renee). He leaves
ed classes until graduation.
In 1955 he moved to Portland, Ore., behind four grand-children: Marquise,
and set up a shoe shine stand in the Ben- Autumn, Erica, Quincy, and three
son Hotel in downtown Portland before great- grandchildren. He is survived
becoming employed by the State of Or- by two brothers: Karl Brown (Betty
egon’s Social Welfare Department. Ann) and Frank Brown as well as one
While employed there, he enrolled sister-in-law, Corinne Coleman and
and attended Lewis and Clark College’s one brother-in-law, Smyth Alford and
Northwestern School of Law night pro- many other relatives.
gram. In 1959 he graduated from law
Aft er retiring, Aaron and Alvenice
school and immediately passed the Or- re-located to Holly Springs, Miss., in
egon State Bar. He opened his law offi ce 1999 where they resided until his death
in the hub of the Black community at on Aug. 28, 2016.
the intersection of North Williams Av-
During their years together they en-
enue and Sacramento Street.
joyed the love and friendship of many
In 1968, then-Portland Mayor Terry friends in Oregon, Washington, and
Schrunk appointed Aaron as a pro tem Mississippi. Aaron passed away on at
judge and later made the appointment Alliance HealthCare System facility
permanent, thus he became Oregon’s in Holly Springs, Miss. He was one of
fi rst Black judge. In 1971 then Gov. a kind, and will be truly missed and
Tom McCall appointed him to District always be loved and remembered by
Court. He successfully ran for re-elec- his family and many friends and col-
tion four times, facing opposition only leagues.
From Banks to Beauty Products The
#BuyBlack Movement Is Real
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Contributor
I
t’s a trend that many are hoping
won’t just turn into a passing fad.
Late last month, Essence mag-
azine noted that aft er years of
slow-burning idealism, #BuyBlack
has seen a community-wide takeoff .
And, as the holiday season moves
into full swing, the #BuyBlack cam-
paign has led many to imagine what
would happen if African Americans
— the largest consumer group of color
in the United States with an estimated
$1.2 trillion in spending power — rou-
tinely demonstrated allegiance to the
2.6 million Black-owned businesses
that exist in America.
“I think the #BuyBlack initiative is
a good move for the Black communi-
ty and not just because of dollars and
cents,” said Walt L. Jones III, principal
of the SEQ Advisory Group, a Bethes-
da, Maryland-based management
consulting and advisory fi rm dedi-
cated to helping businesses achieve
the highest level of performance and
effi ciency. “There’s the deeper per-
spective of reinvesting in our own
community and building up the local
businesses, some that are owned by
our friends, neighbors, and relatives.”
Jones continued: “Similar to the
#ECStrong initiative, a community
can only heal, recover, and persevere
if its residents are willing to make an
investment in its infrastructure.”
The idea of Black capitalism goes
back many decades, according to an
NPR report which cited the advoca-
cy of civil rights activists Booker T.
Washington and Marcus Garvey for
African Americans to create and do
business with each other to build
wealth within their own communi-
ties.
The #BuyBlack movement has
helped Black-owned banks to realize
substantial gains. In one month, this
summer, Washington, D.C.-based In-
RICHELIEU DENNIS/SUNDIAL BRANDS
Obituary: Aaron Brown
Richelieu Dennis, the founder and CEO of
Sundial Brands, the largest Black-owned beauty
company in the country, sees the positive eff ects
of the #BuyBlack movement.
dustrial Bank opened more than 1,500
new accounts with deposit balances
of about $2.7 million — or more than
the number of accounts that are usu-
ally opened in a six-month period.
At Baltimore-based Harbor Bank,
new accounts totaled about $10 mil-
lion in deposits, said Joseph Haskins
Jr., the bank’s president and chair-
man.
“Because of the [#BuyBlack] move-
ment, we’ve received many telephone
calls from individuals and organiza-
tions who’ve shown a lot of interest,”
Haskins said. “Once folks learned
or discovered that we are Black-con-
trolled, things took off .”
The idea of supporting the com-
munity is vital for all involved, said
Shahara Wright, an attorney and
business development strategist with
The CEO Eff ect, LLC, a Staff ord, Tex-
as-based organization that provides
small and mid-sized companies with
legal and business strategies includ-
ing entity formation, mergers and
acquisitions, investor packages and
contracts.
“I think it only works when it is lo-
cal. Many people point to Jewish and
Asian communities, which seem to
have cohesive purchasing power
to support their own,”
Wright said. “The #Buy-
Black seeks to create that
same idea…it ultimately
has to be a community
that you support consis-
tently.”
Sonja Thompkins, a
brick & mortar business
strategist and founder of
SincerelySonja.com, said
#BuyBlack is a trend for
consumers of color to
consciously spend their
money within their own
communities and partic-
ularly with Black-owned
businesses, a welcome
movement.
“I believe it gives peo-
ple a sense of pride
to see businesses like
ours that off er an array
of quality products in
our own communities,”
Thompkins said. “And,
because most people are
going to spend the mon-
ey anyway, the recent
occurrences of injustice
make people want to do
something. Everyone’s
not protesting in the
street. They have chosen
to make a statement eco-
nomically.”
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