Black History

Gen. Charles Quinton Brown, Jr., New U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Followed the Road Less Taken.

After being sworn in last Friday, Air Force General Charles Quinton Brown, Jr. assumed his role as Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1. He follows retiring General Mark A. Milley who served as the 20th Joint Chiefs of Staff chair. The chairman is the highest ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces. He is the principal military advisor to the president, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense.

Published

1 year ago

October 10, 2023

Oakland Post

Charles Quinton Brown, Jr., General, U.S. Air Force, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. Official portrait, 2022, courtesy of the U.S. Air Force.

By Conway Jones

The chairman is the highest ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces. He is the principal military advisor to the president, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense.

Before being confirmed on Sept. 27 as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brown, who goes by ‘CQ,’ was the first Black service chief in U.S. military history when he became the 22^nd chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force in 2020.

Brown is highly qualified to advise President Joe Biden, and lead in direct support to empower, enable, and equip America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardsmen.

Across decades of warfighting experience, Brown was previously selected to be the Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Weapons School. The Weapons School is responsible for teaching and reinforcing officer and enlisted instructors to further develop the Air Force and National Guard members to be responsible and accountable for the effective employment of the most lethal weapons systems in the world.

The Weapons School Commandant position is possibly the most competitive, selective Brigadier General assignment in the Department of Defense.” said Lt. Gen. Bruce “Orville” Wright, USAF (Retired), president & CEO, Air & Space Forces Association.

General Brown has a command pilot rating with more than 3,000 flying hours including 130 combat hours. He has ﬂown the F-16 fighters A/B/C/D models, and 20 additional ﬁxed and rotary-wing aircraft.

“It is appropriate that the first Black USAF Chief of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown Jr., was a fighter pilot, like the most famous of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II,” said Daniel Haulman, Ph.D., retired Chief Historian, US Air Force.

The first three Black generals in the United States Air Force were Tuskegee Airmen Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Daniel “Chappie” James, and Lucius Theus, Haulman said.

“I am delighted that General Brown is now the second Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the first one to come from the United States Air Force,” said Haulman.

General Brown’s promotions through the military ranks to this office are reflected in the last line of the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.” “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”

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Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 26 – March 4, 2025

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February 28, 2025

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February 22, 2025

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U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

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1 week ago

February 19, 2025

Oakland Post

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) and Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) (Right).

By Scott Horton

United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.

The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.

The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32^nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”

In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.

“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.

“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”

In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.

In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.

Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.

Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).

He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.

Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.

Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.