Tyrone Brooks

Tyrone Leon Brooks Sr. (born October 10, 1945) is an American politician and civil rights activist from Walton County, Georgia.

He was born to Ruby and Mose Brooks in Washington, Georgia and was reared in Warrenton, Georgia, where he was educated in the public school system.

Education

He graduated from Boggs Academy in Keysville, Georgia in 1963. He later attendedthe Lassalle Institute, Howard University, Atlanta University, and the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. In May of 2001, the John Marshall School of Law bestowed on him his first honorary degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence.

Brooks is a Democratic former member of the Georgia House of Representatives. He represented the 34th District from 1981 to 1993, the 54th District from 1993 to 2003, the 47th District from 2003 to 2005, the 63rd District from 2005 to 2013, and the 55th District from 2013 to 2015. During his final years in the house he served on the House Economic Development & Tourism, Governmental Affairs, and Retirement committees.

He began his career in public service as an activist for civil and human rights at the age of 15 as a volunteer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He became a full-time staffer of the organization in 1967 under Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Under Dr. King, Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, Rev. Hosea Williams and Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, he served in many positions, nationally and locally. He has been at the forefront and involved in the struggle for freedom, justice and equality since 1960 and has been jailed 66 times for civil rights work.

He has been active with a committee in Walton County to commemorate the 1946 lynchings of four African Americans at Moore's Ford, the last mass lynching in the state. He helped gain approval for the US Department of Justice to reopen investigation into the cold case of unsolved murders, but they were not able to find sufficient evidence to prosecute any suspects.

A former member and officer of the powerful House Appropriations Committee and Special Rules (Policy), during his tenure as state representative he has consistently created and supported legislation to help the poor and oppressed people in our society. He led the successful movement to reactivate the town of Keysville, Georgia in spite of the many threats against his life. He also led the campaign against Apartheid in South Africa by championing legislation to divest all public funds controlled by the state of Georgia from that former brutal, inhumane government. He sponsored legislation calling for the unconditional release of Nelson Mandela.

He has worked to eradicate racism, sexism, and injustice. He also established a program to combat illiteracy, but was later convicted of stealing $1 million from that program, over a 15 year period.Some of the laws he has helped pass include the Antiterrorism law, the establishment of the Positive Employment and Community Help (PEACH) Program, and the Reapportionment Max Black Plan.

Changing the Georgia state flag

His House Bill 16 resulted in winning an almost twenty-year battle in the General Assembly to change the Georgia state flag. It became law January 31, 2001.

Repealing Jim Crow laws

In 2005, he sponsored a package of legislation to repeal and purge Jim Crow era segregation laws from the Georgia Constitution and legal code.

In 2006, his House Bill 101 allowed law enforcement officers the opportunity to buy back service prior to 1976, which was denied to them because of race.

On April 9, 2015, Brooks resigned from the House and pleaded guilty to felony federal tax fraud, and no contest to federal wire and mail fraud charges related to the misappropriation of approximately $1 million from two non-profit organizations associated with him. He was sentenced to one year and one day of prison. As a result of the conviction, in additional to time in jail, Brooks lost his right to vote.