I want to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity afforded me to continue serving this incredible
organization. I remain humbled by your confidence and trust. I remain committed to honoring that
confidence and trust. Great things are already happening in the NBPA. I am expecting even more great
things to take place this year. Our organization is at a tremendous yet critical time in its history.
Incredible opportunity and awesome
responsibility are staring us in the face. We will meet both
with unwavering dedication and enthusiasm. I am excited about the NBPA. You should be too.
We have been blessed to experience another wonderfully organized Annual Conference and Job
Fair in New Orleans. For those of you unable to attend, you definitely missed a treat. The host
committee is to be commended for all of their tireless effort. A special thanks goes out to our
phenomenal Planning Committee Co-Chairs, Rhonda Goode-Douglas, Helina Dayries, and Suntrease
Williams. They went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure every attendee had a wonderful time in
Nawlins. Special congratulations are also extended to Suntrease Williams, this year’s Youth Conference
Chairperson, and Audrey Moore, our Job Fair Coordinator. This was our fourth Youth Conference and
was, by all accounts, an overwhelming success. Our Job Fair has become the model for prosecutioncentered job fairs around the country thanks to Audrey’s commitment and dedication. This was Audrey’s
(and her committee’s) seventh year handling our Job Fair. I would be remiss if I did not also extend a
heartfelt thanks to April Christine and Ayodele (Af) Olusunde, our By-Laws Committee Co-Chairs. They,
along with their
committee, undertook the Herculean task of revising our by-laws. On behalf of the
entire Board of Directors, I would like to thank them for their unbelievable hard work and to thank you for
the hearty debate and discussion during the plenary session.
These past several months have seen the worst of times and the best of times. Personally, I
suffered the devastating loss of my mother, Bettye W. Brown, on August 28th. She was my rock, my
hero, my inspiration, and dealing with her loss has been a moment by moment endeavor. She was an
educator for nearly forty (40) years and was the 1st person in our family to graduate from college. She
completely poured herself into me, her firstborn, in an effort to mold me into the man God, my family, my
community and the world needed me to be. I credit her with every positive thing I have ever done (the not
so positive stuff I developed on my own!) Words are simply inadequate to express my gratitude for the
love, care, and concern you have shown me and my family during this incredibly difficult time. The calls,
the cards, the texts, the voicemails, the emails, the prayers, and the thoughts have simply meant the
world to me. I will be forever indebted to you. Several of you also contributed to the scholarship we
established in my mother’s honor. To date, we have collected $4,000 to assist needy high school
students to pay for college! Her legacy continues.
The past several months also saw the utter destruction levied by Super Storm Sandy. As a south
Florida resident for nearly my entire life, I am intimately familiar with hurricanes. But Sandy was
something different. The sheer size of it made its path of destruction vast and unpredictable. The
majority of our NBPA family in the northeast fared reasonably well. However, the same cannot be said
for one of our beloved associate members, Ikeisha AlShabazz. “Ike” lost the use of her home due to the
devastation of Super Storm Sandy. She and her mother purchased their Long Island dream home only a
few short years ago. Ike’s two sons shared the home with her and her mother. Ike’s home was deemed
uninhabitable forcing them to seek shelter elsewhere and rendering them effectively “homeless.” As you
can imagine, this has been an incredibly trying time personally, psychologically, and financially. Ike, her
mother, and the boys have had to start completely from scratch. They could really use our help. Several
of us have already made donations of every kind to assist Ike and her family. Although she will never
ask, she needs more help. A website has been established to accept donations for Ike. It is
http://ikieshurricanerelief.com. Obviously, this will be a difficult holiday season for Ike and her family, but
every little bit will help to restore some normalcy to an extremely abnormal
situation. I (as well as Ike
and her family) thank you in advance for what you are going to do.
We also enjoyed some great news over the past several months. First of all, Great Lakes
Regional Director, Gino Betts, Jr. got married on September 21, 2012. We want to wish Gino and his wife
years and years of martial bliss and a quiver of little Ginos and Ginas!! Next, and speaking of babies,
Southern Regional Director Suntrease Williams (those who attended the conference will remember as the
“extremely” pregnant, 4’10 fireplug serving as Regional Director, Conference Co-Chair, and Youth
Conference Chair who travelled to the conference via bus from Brownsville, Texas against
doctors’,
husband’s, and everyone else’s orders) FINALLY gave birth to Sarai Maynard on September 9th. I
guess baby Sarai was just as stubborn as her mommy! Sarai, big brother, mommy, and (recently
speaking to Suntrease again) hubby are all doing fine!
Lastly, long time Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney, NBPA member, and NBPA conference
attendee, Jackie Lacey, was elected District Attorney for Los Angeles County! Jackie become the first
African-American District Attorney for Los Angeles County. Congratulations Jackie on blazing the trail for
all of us to follow. We are so proud of you!
Planning is well under way for our historic 30th Annual Conference & Job Fair in Orlando,
Florida at the breathtaking Single Creek Resort. The Board of Directors has accepted the task of
coordinating this epic event. If any of you would like to assist on any of the various committees, please
feel free to contact the Board Member responsible for said committee or contact me directly. The
committees (and their respective Committee Chairs) are as follows:
■ Hospitality:
Olubunmi Salami & Ron McCormick
■ Transportation:
Bruce Terry Brown
■ Off-site Events:
Karen Gwynn & Carmen Lineberger
■ Lecturers:
Suntrease Williams & Carmen Lineberger
■ CLE Credits:
Carmen Lineberger
■ Souvenirs:
Nyshana Sumner & Colleen Babb
■ Journal:
Erika Gilliam-Booker & Tracye Jones
■ Budget:
Nyshana Sumner & Bruce Terry Brown
■ Fundraising:
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Registration:
Awards:
Youth Conference:
Audio Visual:
Photo Directory:
Menu:
Joshua Williams, Stuart Burns, Theo Lawson, Otis Bruce &
Tony Covington
Michael Royster & Ron McCormick
Gino Betts, Jr.
Karen Gwynn, Suntrease Williams, Gino Betts, Jr. & Otis Bruce
Carmen Lineberger & Suntrease Williams
Erika Gilliam-Booker & Bruce Terry Brown
Erika Gilliam-Booker, Karen Gwynn & Bruce Terry Brown
We still are in need of State Representatives in many states. These individuals are responsible
for identifying ALL of the Black prosecutors in their respective states. They are appointed by the
President and report directly to the Regional Directors. Contact me directly if you are interested in
serving.
Your Board of Directors has met telephonically at least once a month since the conference in
New Orleans endeavoring to chart the future course of this amazing organization. We will continue to do
so in the coming months. We are close to determining the location of our next several conferences/ We
have been researching many cities. If you have any cities you would like to consider, please do not
hesitate to contact me.
As you can see, this is a busy and exciting time in the NBPA. We have accomplished much, yet
we still have much to do. I am extremely excited about the next level. Together we can do it. Let’s make
it happen.
Your Board of Directors wishes you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Kwanza, and a Prosperous New
Year! Enjoy the family, food, and fellowship this most wonderful time of the year always brings. I look
forward to hearing from you soon.
Bruce Terry Brown
NBPA PRESIDENT