Saturday was a day in which several leaders, both state and local, along with family members and the Prince William County community came to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Woodbridge to celebrate the life of civil rights activist Albert E. Brooks, Sr. Brooks passed away earlier this year, and the lives of those he touched joined together to honor his extraordinary life.

The service was led by former Dumfries Vice Mayor Willie Toney. Together, both he and Toney founded the African American Democratic Club. Its mission was to find and place African Americans in positions of leadership, and it was through their efforts that Prince William County went from having only two elected African American officials to 13, including the first African American man elected to the Board of County Supervisors in Neabsco District Supervisor Victor Angry. Brooks also had a monumental impact on getting PWC School Board representatives Lillie Jessie (Occoquan) and Loree Williams (Woodbridge) into elected office as well.

Several state and federal leaders spoke on the impact of Brooks’ life, among them was Congressman Gerry Connolly, who praised Brooks’ life in recognizing the diverse leadership within the county. “We finally look like the face of the county,” said Connolly. “We do because of people like Al Brooks.” He talked about how Brooks learned a bout politics working for former New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.

“It took people like Brooks who understood that we were in it for the long haul. He was what I would call a ‘social arsonist’, he lit people on fire. There are a lot of people in this room who were lit on fire by Al Brooks.”

Connolly talked about how Brooks would fight constantly to ensure everyone had their right to vote, regardless of political affiliation. “It’s not about party lines,” he said, “it’s about the empowerment of people.”

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax talked about Brooks’ service and his ability to view people through a different lens. “Al Brooks could see ordinary things in us and make them extraordinary,” said Fairfax. “Whether it was serving in the Army, federal government or to his community, he always put other people before himself. He changed the course of this generation and generations to come.”

Democratic Lieutenant Governor candidate Hala Ayala (D-51) noted that the commemoration was on the same day as the one-year passing of famed civil rights leader and activist Congressman John Lewis, and how their lives were similar in that regard. “Al Brooks was a icon and civil rights leader that did so much for those around him.”

She recalls when she was working in 2008 to help get then-Senator Barack Obama elected as President and how she met Al Brooks in Tackett’s Mill, and his consistent work led to protecting voter rights. “He was always at the DMV making sure that voter suppression never happened, regardless of the weather. He was a tireless leader, and advocate.”

“When I told him I was going to run for LG, he said to me ‘I see,’ and he talked me through it and the rest was history.”

Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-31) recalled his ability to draw others to his cause. “He knew that together, with respect for those around him, he could bring a vision that moved Virginia forward.”

During the August General Assembly, Guzman will present a resolution of celebrating Brooks’ life on a statewide level. “When Black and Brown people work together,” she said, “we accomplish great things.”

Even with all of his work in the community, his greatest joy was his family, as his son Anton Brooks stated as he spoke to the congregation. “My father would travel from Alaska to Florida to take on injustices in society, but he always made sure he was there for my mother [wife Barbara Brooks], and for his family. He would always reach out to those in the community to check up on you, and had no problem knocking on doors to do so.”

In addition to Guzman’s proposed resolution, the service became a series of ongoing dedications to honor his memory. The Neabsco District community presented Barbara Brooks with the first Albert E. Brooks, Sr. Award, which will be given annually to a Prince William County community leader who works towards social justice and voting rights, two things that were near to Brooks’ passion.

Rafi Ahmed of the Muslim Association of Virginia touted how Brooks reached out to people of all faiths. “We enjoyed a very strong tie with Al Brooks,” said Ahmed. “No individual can do this along without his family.”

Dumfries Mayor Derrick Wood gave a picturesque analogy that summarized the impact of Brooks’ life. “They say that pressure makes diamonds. Not only did Al Brooks bust the pipes of the system in Prince William County but to us he became the diamond, because he shined in each and every one of us.”

Wood also made the official proclamation that October 13th in Dumfries is now declared Al Brooks Day.

A beautiful poem that represented the life of Al Brooks was read by George Mason senior Jessica Williams called “Grey Roads”.

GREY ROADS

Grey roads, tangled and unpaved

Its cracks become ravines

As they unload us from the boats like cargo

And drag us down rocky paths by the tails of our chains

And we march, naked and bare-footed

Feeling loose dirt and pebbles cutting into our flesh

Dust and blood cake our bodies, like a second layer of skin

Our heads hang heavy as the shackles on our wrists and ankles

And still, we move forward

As the sun beats down on our ebony backs

And sweat swells from our pores

We walk when our heads swim

And our knees start to give

As our starved bodies shudder at every crack of the whip

And though this weapon they wield over us has broken our flesh,

We know deep down that it will never break our spirit

Grey roads, tangled and unpaved

Its ravines start to fill

With pieces of the steep brinks

That crumble under the heat of our fire

Sending its pieces into the dark

We march across Alabama

Feeling the edges of cardboard scrape the palms of our hands

As it shivers in the wind

Screaming the words, “We shall overcome”

Even when it’s tainted with the blood of our people

As we are beaten and beaten

In an endeavor to extinguish our fire

To diminish us to flesh and bone

Yet we rise on tired feet,

Resilient, emboldened

And we march and march and march

‘Til that cardboard screaming, “We shall overcome”

Becomes a filled ballot

Grey roads, tangled and unpaved

The ravines’ brinks grow steeper

And our fire rages down the streets of LA,

Swallowing every structure in its wake

From the huts of the Parking Center

To the stores lining JJ Newberry

And we feel the ground shake with anger

As the justice we’ve sought for hundreds of years

Is once again denied

Grey roads, tangled and unpaved

Its ravines become gullies

As we march, burning away darkness with our fire

Cracking the silence with the words, “Black lives matter!”

As we weep for the young men and women, boys and girls

Who’ve been taken from their mothers

We shatter the stone-cold quiet with our with our heated battle cries

And though our oppressors, armed with mace and tear gas, fight to blind us

To keep us in darkness,

We still see the faces of our fallen, crystal clear,

Burning like the fire in our spirits

And on tired legs, we march these grey roads, tangled and unpaved

As the edges of the ravine close together ‘til they’re nothing but cracks

Down this road, we march, crying at the top of our lungs:

“Black lives matter!”

“No justice, no peace!”

“Power to the people!”

“We shall overcome!”

And our fire burns away the darkness

For our fallen old and young, fathers and children

For our people who’d been dragged down this road in chains

For the people who bled on this road for a minister’s dream

We march and march and march

Down these tangled and unpaved grey roads,

It was a festive day of singing, rejoicing and remembrance for a man whose life symbolized service and justice. Al Brooks was, as Ebenezer Baptist Church Pastor Charles Lundy so eloquently stated, “A Faithful Fighter for Good.”

Caesar Roy and daughter Melody singing “What’s Going On?”

(All photos by Sarah Mae Dizon)