Howard Alumnus Receives Illustrious Congressional Medal

The Obama Administration honored Howard alumnus and former Senator Edward Brooke (D-MA) with a Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation’s most prestigious awards.
As President Barack Obama noted, Brooke, at 90-years old, is a man of many firsts.

“When he ran for statewide office in Massachusetts, and one reporter pointed out that he was black, Republican, and Protestant, seeking office in a white, Democratic, and Catholic state, Ed was unfazed. It was, to say the least, an improbable profile for the man who would become the first African American state attorney general, and the first popularly elected African American senator,” President Obama said before a medal ceremony audience gathered in the Capitol Rotunda yesterday.

Before starting his political career, Brooke graduated from Howard in 1941 with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. From 1963 to 1967, he served as Massachusetts’s 39th Attorney General before being elected to serve the first of his two Senate terms.

Last year, the release of an autobiography by acclaimed ABC News reporter Barbara Walters granted Brooke unwanted media attention when Walters revealed that the two had an affair in the 1970s, while he was still married. Brooke has not commented on the affair since Walters’ public acknowledgement.

Throughout the ceremony, Obama applauded Brooke for his non-partisan view on politics.

“He ran for office, as he put it, ‘to bring people together who had never been together before’,” Obama told spectators. “He didn’t care whether a bill was popular or politically expedient, Democratic or Republican - he cared about whether it helped people, whether it made a difference in their daily lives. It’s why he became a lifelong advocate for affordable housing, establishing protections that are the standard to this day.”

 “I’m definitely proud of him to be an Howard alumnus,” said Vincent Kelley, sophomore history and economics double major.

The first Congressional Gold Medal recipient of African American descent was famed baseball player Roberto Clemente in 1973. Revered opera singer Marian Anderson received the same honor shortly after in 1977.
 

1 comments

Steve McCall

Mon Nov 2 2009 07:33

When will the collective Black community stop being so elated to receive any award from the White establishment for crimes(legally that is) they have committed against us. That being said, that is not to diminish the accomplishments of former Senator Edward Brooke and many of the harsh treatment (directly or indirectly)he received from his White colleagues at that point in time. Interestingly enough, now Mr. Brooke is in the Winter of his life and now these "so-called" committees finally decides (probably due to political expediency) to an award that he'll enjoy for a few years. Whereas, this "so-called" award committee should have realized Mr. Brooke contributions years ago and rmade such and presented him with this decades ago.

One of the saddest aspect about this story is that our "beloved" collective Black community is still comfortable in being validated by those who have treated them so harshly. Now we have President Barack"The Empty Suit"Obama in the Whitehouse and the collective Black community has become even more apolitical and ahistorical, it will only lead to our being treated more disrepectfully. Only this time, we'll have a sea of middle and upperclass smiling Black faces in the audience nodding their heads in agreement.

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