Georgia
State Representative Tyrone Brooks has worked tirelessly
toward the solving of the murders of the Moore’s Ford
Bridge lynching that occurred in 1946 when a white
mob pulled Roger and Dorothy Malcom and George and
Mae Murray Dorsey from their car and shot them in cold
blood. The
killers then cut open the stomach of a 7-month pregnant
Mrs. Malcom and murdered her unborn child. Through annual
re-enactments, the unsolved murder remains fresh in the
public’s mind.
In 2007,
after the April 4th march to commemorate the
assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Brooks, along
with a coalition of activists, asked U.S. Congressman
John Lewis to sponsor legislation that would work toward
the solving of this heinous crime. Thus, the Emmett
Till Bill was born. This bill would
set aside more than $100 million for new prosecutors,
FBI agents, and other resources to re-open unsolved
murders from the civil rights era. The bill passed
in the House of Representatives and is awaiting passage
in the Senate, after which President Bush has
agreed to sign the Emmett Till Bill into law. Most promising
is the fact that the Moore’s
Ford
Bridge lynching is
#1 on the list of unsolved murders as it involved 4
adults and an unborn child, a particularly heinous
crime. For
this tireless and ongoing effort to bring nationwide
attention to this case and justice for those who can no
longer speak for themselves, The Georgia Informer will
present Tyrone with its 2007 Man of the Year Award on
January 19,
2008 at 12
noon at Center
Hill Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia.
Since
becoming a volunteer with the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference at the tender age of 15, Tyrone
Brooks has dedicated his entire life to the pursuit of
civil and human equality for all people. A lifelong
member of Pleasant
Grove
Baptist
Church in
Warrenton,
Georgia, Tyrone
became a full time staffer at the SCLC in 1967 under the
leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. With mentors and
close associates like Dr. King, Hosea Williams, Rev.
Ralph David Abernathy, and Dr. Joseph Lowery, Brooks has
served in many positions within the organization, both
locally and nationally. For almost 50
years, Tyrone has worked tirelessly in the struggle for
freedom, justice, and equality and has been jailed 65
times for his efforts.
Brooks also
played a major role in changing the Georgia state flag
by introducing legislation in the state House of
Representatives. This resulted in
the changing of the state flag from
the Confederate version with the rebel
emblem to a flag not reminiscent of the
Confederacy.
An elected
member of the Georgia House of Representatives since
1980, Brooks serves on the Appropriations, Economic
Development and Tourism, and Retirement and Special
Rules Committees.
Brooks led the campaign against Apartheid in
South
Africa by pushing
legislation to stop all money coming from
Georgia to their
government and was arrested at the South African Embassy
along with Ralph David Abernathy, Dick Gregory, and
others on Thanksgiving Day in 1976 and jailed for
protesting the Soweta massacre while calling for an end
to Apartheid. Brooks is also the President of
GABEO (Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials)
where he has worked alongside other elected officials to
bring about freedom, justice, and equality for all
people.
