Willie Charles Brown, Sr., the longtime writer of Inglewood At this time, handed away on June 25 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Middle. He was 81.
For greater than three many years, Brown used his platform as a journalist and writer to uplift Inglewood residents and doc the evolution of one in all South Los Angeles’s most dynamic Black communities. On July 19, his life and legacy have been honored by household, buddies, and civic leaders at a service held at Inglewood Park Cemetery.
Born on February 17, 1944, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Brown was raised within the Want neighborhood of the Higher Ninth Ward. He excelled as a student-athlete at G.W. Carver Excessive Faculty earlier than relocating to California, ultimately making Inglewood his residence.
In 1993, a 12 months after the Los Angeles rebellion, Brown based Inglewood At this time to offer residents a voice and counter narratives of the group too usually distorted in mainstream media. The paper quickly grew to become a trusted supply of native information, group commentary, and political accountability.
“Willie and Inglewood At this time have been an establishment,” stated Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts. “There was no paper extra informative or dependable. He was greater than a writer — he was an anchor locally.”
Brown’s affect prolonged past the newsroom. He was a mentor, civic associate, and connector. He backed rising leaders and elevated group considerations earlier than they made it into metropolis council agendas or marketing campaign platforms.
Councilmember Gloria Grey, a longtime buddy and early supporter, learn a metropolis proclamation honoring Brown’s impression on native media and public life. “By means of his unwavering dedication to journalism,” she stated, “Mr. Brown knowledgeable the general public, empowered the unvoiced, and ensured our tales have been instructed.”
Hardy Brown Sr., founding president of California Black Media, credited Brown as a foundational voice within the community’s formation. “He got here to each assembly,” Hardy recalled. “He believed within the imaginative and prescient of making a statewide Black press infrastructure.”
For Kenneth Miller, writer of the South Bay Black Journal and former editor at Inglewood At this time, Brown was each mentor and buddy. “Willie trusted me together with his child,” Miller stated. “That paper was his coronary heart. I’ll do no matter I’m requested to maintain his legacy alive.”
As print media confronted financial headwinds, Brown stayed dedicated to Inglewood At this time. Throughout the pandemic, Brown labored to safe promoting from the Rams, Chargers, and Clippers to maintain the publication alive.
Exterior the newsroom, Brown’s favourite house was the golf course. His {golfing} circle grew to become a second household, one which shared tales at his memorial about his wit, generosity, and optimism. Pals recalled “Willie-isms” like “shankopotamus” for wayward pictures, or “Saddam Hussein” when a participant bounced from sand entice to sand entice.
“I performed with Willie twice per week for 14 years,” one buddy stated through the memorial. “He was a comic book, a thinker, and one hell of a sand entice escape artist.”
Ken Dower, one other buddy and neighbor, stated Brown might “make everybody really feel like 1,000,000 bucks — whether or not you have been a metropolis official or a busboy.”
Audio system at his Celebration of Life, held July 18 on the CenterPointe Membership in Playa Vista, remembered Brown as principled and progressive. He championed girls’s rights, spoke out in opposition to injustice, and believed Black-owned media must be unapologetically community-centered.
Particulars about Brown’s household stay personal, however what’s public is his monumental contribution to journalism, civic life, and Black media – contributions that proceed to resonate as we speak.
Within the phrases of his longtime buddy James Black: “When somebody you like turns into a reminiscence, that reminiscence turns into a treasure. Willie Brown was a treasure.”
