The death of Amos Brown was shocking, sad and left a tremendous void in the community as a whole. As heartbreaking as his death was, his home-going service brought about a sense of reflective warmness that will soothe the souls of countless people as we begin to acclimate to life post-Amos Brown.
I know Amos would have chuckled at some of the comments people made about him — especially the politicians whom he held to task time after time. Amos would also be humbled by all the acts of kindness individuals and various companies and organizations demonstrated in the days following his death. He was a beloved treasure, and we will all miss him tremendously.
I asked Amos’ family if they’d like me to relay anything to the public, and his sister, Oveda Brown, had this to say:
“We would like to thank the city of Indianapolis for their love and support during this time. Amos loved this city! He loved its people. It has been a comfort (knowing) he will never be forgotten and that his legacy will live on.”
Since Amos’ death, many have asked the wide-ranging question, “Who is next?” The Recorder in particular has received numerous calls and emails from members of the community specifically asking if they can “take over” Amos’ column. Perhaps I am a bit overly sensitive regarding Amos’ death, but some of the requests were in poor taste … like the individual who contacted me only hours after the public learned of his passing. I appreciate one’s passion and dedication, but to make such an inquiry so soon after his death showed extremely poor decorum.
While there will never be another Amos Brown, the reality is that we do have column space that needs to be filled, and my staff and I have been working to determine our next steps regarding this very topic. We unanimously decided to have Amos’ column space show his name, picture and birth and death years last week as we paid homage to him. It was only fitting to leave it blank, because no one can ever truly fill Amos’ shoes. After discussing different options for the space moving forward, we concluded that there will rotating columnists for the next few months. The columnists will be Millennials as well as more seasoned people in the community. We will also continue our regular rotation of columnists including Congressman Andre Carson and Abdul-Hakeem Shabazz.
Our goal is to provide diversity of thought that reflects a wide range of people and topics. I have said time and time again that our African-American community has to do away with what I like to call the Martin Luther King Jr. complex. Our hopes of having one leader to represent the nearly 277,000 Blacks in this city not only limit our potential to expand our perspectives and power, but also reduce the contributions of others who have the potential, passion and skill set to be effective leaders.
We must embrace more of the diverse voices that we have in this city. There are some powerful voices in this community — some just have not had a platform to share their voices on a large scale. Some do not have a fancy title behind their names, and some aren’t aligned with well-known companies or institutions. That doesn’t mean they don’t have anything worth sharing. It just means their platform has been limited. The Recorder seeks to broaden their platforms.
As a community, we benefit from embracing different schools of thought, and I am confident you will appreciate the perspectives of our new columnists. Some names you may be familiar with, others, perhaps not. But all will have something impactful to say, and our community will be all the richer for it.
Here at the Recorder, we want to foster a spirit of inclusion, opportunity and engagement. We think our new approach to columnists will do just that.
I look forward to learning your thoughts on our new editorial page. Stay tuned for next week’s Thanksgiving issue, where the first round of new columnists will be featured.
