S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. On today's show , San Diego civil rights activist and icon Harold K Brown passed away at the age of 92. We'll talk about the life and legacy he built. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Last week , longtime civil rights activist and San Diego icon Doctor Harold K Brown passed away at the age of 92. Born in York , Pennsylvania , Hal came to San Diego State University in 1953 on a basketball scholarship. He was heavily involved in San Diego's civil rights movement throughout the 1950s and 60s. Then in 1971 became Sdsu s first ever black administrator. He then founded the Afro-American Studies Program , now known as the Department of Africana Studies. The work never stopped for Halle. So today we're commemorating his legacy and the mark he left on San Diego. I'm joined now by Adisa Ashkelon , chair of Sdsu Africana Studies department. Professor Al Capone , welcome.
S2: Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.
S1: So glad you took the time to come into studio today. First , I want to extend my deepest condolences. You know , this loss is deeply felt in San Diego.
S2: I'm okay. It was quite a shock to learn last week. And , you know , difficult. Um , but , you know , we're we're doing okay. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And you. I'm glad to hear that , that you are doing okay. You knew and worked with Hal for many , many years.
S2: And it was at our 30th anniversary for the department , and it was my first year at San Diego State , so I had met him soon after I arrived and was taking part in the 30th anniversary celebration of our department , and he was in attendance , naturally. And I and I met him there. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , let's talk about , you know , the founding of Sdsu Africana Studies department because it was one of the first Afro-American studies programs to be founded in the country.
S2: So the few African-American students that attended San Diego State. Like so many students across the country , were demanding a curriculum that reflected their lived experiences. And as a result of those student protests , the university charged how Brown to create the department to answer the demands of those students. So that's how it came about. As a result of things that were going on across the country. And San Diego was was a part of it.
S1: He eventually stepped down from his administrator role there , but continued to stay involved.
S2: You know , so , you know , in addition to his activities on campus , he was very much rooted in the San Diego community and fighting for civil rights. And he continued to do that up until his passing. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. And again , as you pointed out , the department's founding was really an extension of his community activism at the time.
S2: Uh , so he , you know , participated in sit ins and demonstrations at Bank of America , uh , the San Diego Zoo. Um , SDG and , uh , so it was quite logical and really a natural progression for what he would eventually do , uh , at , at San Diego State. Um , it was an extension of the work that he , up to that point had been doing for for nearly 20 years. So one of the things that I often say. Is that the the universe was aligned , you know , to have Hal Brown in San. Diego and to have been a part of San Diego State at the time that he was. Because without Hal Brown. There would have been and there would be no africana studies.
S1: A lot of his work also centered around economic justice , which was like. You know , the last prong. For the civil rights movement here. Um , talk about that.
S2: And fortunately , the name of that committee is escaping me right now. Uh , Shoba. Uh , uh , and that organization was Developed as a way to educate African Americans on economic development. Coming up with strategies. And in fact , there's a program at San Diego State called HB keep. Hal Brown being the HB and a part of that program's mission is to educate students on how to effectively participate in and capitalism , or understanding the challenges of capitalism and how to manage it. So it talks about economic development , community ties , understanding African American history , etc.. So his interest in economic development was , you know , part and parcel to all of the other , uh , activities and activism that he did. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. Yeah. Last , I last spoke with Hal in 2025 , when the Supreme Court was still debating the Voting Rights Act. Here's what he had to say about what kept him fighting for equity and justice.
S3: You know , I'm fighting for my mother , my family , my friends. If they can't fight , I can't fight. And I'm going to continue to do that until the day I die. And I think many more of us should be doing it to make sure that what Kamala Harris was saying is we are not going back , but we're not going back because we're going to fight and we're going to do the kinds of things that we need to do to prevent our going back , and we have to do it ourselves.
S1: One thing about Mr. Brown is , is that he remained committed to the fight for empowerment racial justice all throughout his life. Talk about why that was so significant , not just to the fight , but for the next generation to see.
S2: Well , it's tremendously important for the next generation to see. And it's so interesting to hear those words and to hear him say that he's going to fight for civil rights until the day that he dies , because that's exactly what he did. He remained committed to the challenges , committed to the struggle. And it's so important for young people to see that , because in modern society , it's just so difficult to , you know , quite frankly , it's often difficult to just educate. You know , which might sound strange coming from an educator , but , you know , today I think our students have so many distractions and so many , uh , interests that they don't really grasp what came before them and that what they the privileges that they enjoy today didn't just kind of spring out and spring out of the Constitution , but rather they came about as a result of the hard work and dedication of people like Hal Brown and Hal Brown. Uh , so it's a very important for young people to , to see that and to really recommit themselves , uh , to take up old challenges and new challenges because they , they are ever present. So it's really important for us to know who Hal Brown was , what he stood for , and to emulator.
S1: He was really passionate about centering history and remembering those who came before. As you mentioned , that's really the core of of your work at the Africana Studies Department. How are you continuing to do that ? Talk a bit more about also some of the challenges of sharing that history , because I would imagine by the time many students get to you , they've been exposed to a lot of misinformation.
S2: It's definitely a struggle. As someone who teaches African American history , I know all too well. And freshmen , you know , so I know all too well. Um , the , the level of knowledge that the typical student comes to the university with and oftentimes they're very much disconnected from the past , as I said before. So fortunately , one of the things that that happened in the California State University system is that and I was very and I'm proud to say that I'm very much a part of it happening. But there was a legislation that we affectionately called the Ethnic Studies Bill that requires all California State University students to take a class in ethnic studies. And I think that that legislation that one of our own current secretary of state , former Africana Studies chair , doctor Shirley Weber , she authored that legislation. And because of that legislation , all students in the CSU system must take a class in ethnic studies. So I think things like that or that particular legislation has gone a long way at educating our students to the history and legacy of not only African-Americans , but other people of color. Uh , you know , African-American history as it related to , uh , discrimination , segregation. Um , the Voting Rights Act , the Civil Rights Act , etc. , etc.. So , uh , that's how we were able to kind of , you know , continue to push forward with , uh , educating our students on this very important history. Mhm.
S1:
S2: You know , I came around in the 1970s. So I'm the product of the post-civil rights movement. And , you know , on a certain level , there are things that I can't personally relate to. Um , but I relate to it in a way because of my field of study. Uh , so , you know , Hal Brown , having grown up in the era that he grew up in , you know , kind of changes. It really changes my focus , uh , because when I , I read about the stuff and I learn about the stuff , and I teach about the stuff that Hal Brown lived , you know , so in many ways , uh , he is my teacher. Uh , and I will forever be grateful for that. Mhm.
S1: Mhm.
S2:
S1:
S2: And because a lot of times we're comfortable , you know , in our lives and we've become very reactionary. But Hal Brown was not reactionary. You know , he was constantly on the move. He was constantly fighting. And I think that that's what we have to continue to do. That's who we have to continue to be and not , you know , be so comfortable. Uh , and I think , you know , a lot of what I'm saying now , you know , has less to do with , you know , me being chair of Africana studies or , um , a teacher of history. Um , but really being , you know , grieving , um , for someone who meant a great deal not only to me personally , but to the city of San Diego and to San Diego State , you know , University. You know , so it's difficult for me , you know , to say , where do we go from here ? Um. While I'm in a in a state of grief. Um , but I loved how brown and , um , that's. I guess that's what I would have to add to that.
S1: So many of us did love Hal Brown. I've been speaking with Professor Adisa Al Balon , chair of Sdsu Africana Studies Department. Professor , thank you so very much for sharing.
S2: Thank you.
S1: Still to come , the life and legacy of Harold K Brown. In his own words. Midday edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Jade Hindman. This hour , we're commemorating the legacy of local civil rights activist Harold K Brown , who passed away last week at the age of 92. I had the honor of speaking with Howe on Midday Edition several times. We chatted about his lifelong fight for racial and economic justice , and I got his thoughts on everything from the current rollback on civil rights to how we got to where we are today. Well , now we're going to revisit my conversation with him back in July of 2024 , which marked the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. I started by asking about his call to activism and how life as a black student was different from that of white students during his time in school. Take a listen.
S3: I need to start students. I need to start with , uh , in my first grade , uh , we all lived in the black community. Of course , this is this is back in those days where Housing was completely segregated and we lived in a I grew up in an alley in Pennsylvania , and my first grade we were passing. We had to walk a very good distance to get to our school for black kids. And on the way I can recall , uh , white men at the top of the this factory , they should look out their windows. And as we were going by and call us a hey and Bible , you know , and at that time , I said wasn't I never heard that word before. And so that was my first introduction. And then when I graduated from , from high school , there was a picnic to celebrate the graduates at a place that's , uh , about 30 miles , 30 miles outside of York And when we heard that , well , we can all you can go , but you can't swim in the pool , huh ? So I said , forget it. And then we decided we weren't going to that place. So , you know , that went on , uh , on up through college , running into into situations where I was a chairman of the Constitution Committee. I was on the student government. Student government. I was my responsibility was to review all the whatever it took for each organization on campus to have. I reviewed their bylaws , and the bylaws stated that the fraternities and sororities were for white students. And so that was another , you know , knock in the head. When I started speaking to groups about the treatment of blacks in America. And then I was approached by a person , another black fellow , who he said that they were starting a civil rights organization by the name of the Congress of Racial Equality. And would I be interested ? And I said , of course I would. So I joined there. And then I became I became the president or the chairman of that group. And from then on , it was strictly involvement in the civil rights movement.
S1: In that group that you were involved in after graduating college , you really fought to integrate neighborhoods in San Diego County.
S3: And we held I was on Oklahoma Boulevard , I think was where they brought him down to Oklahoma Boulevard. And so we stood there with signs expressing that we were how we felt. And this was this was there was a lot of discrimination here and segregation here as well as in the South.
S1:
S3: But the interesting part about San Diego at that time was that in the white community , that was the white community was very conservative , and it's still conservative , but it's very conservative and closed in a lot of ways to blacks. But when we when we decided that we were going to really push hard for integration in San Diego and for elimination of job discrimination and elimination of of of living facilities like hotels and things , you know , the big hotel big. And the hotel in San Diego was the El Cortez , and we would not allow blacks to live there. And so this whole thing was disturbing back then in a way that there wasn't much that we could do. We had no power like in the city council and board of supervisors and all that. We had no one on those. And so it was it was tough. But when we demonstrated that , we demonstrated the same as the demonstrations all over the country were taking place , and not only in the Congress of Racial Equality , which is around the country , but they were the kinds of demonstrations that we had to take according to the resistance that we had , which meant we had the picketing online picketing , we had the sit ins , and we had even coin ins at the banks because no banks had any blacks or Mexicans or Spanish. I mean , there was always very much close. And so we took on the Bank of America , the largest bank in California. And that was a tough , tough , tough assignment.
S1: Yeah , yeah , it was just my my grandmother was the first black bank teller in Saint Louis. They told me how people they used to have to close the blinds because people would drive by to , to look and say , oh , there she is.
S3: One was that , you know , I watched my mother and my brothers and sisters and my friends , uncles and aunts and all of us in the black community were restricted to the living of those conditions there. And the no , no jobs hardly were available. If they were , they were the lowest jobs that you could you could get. And so I watched that as I was growing up. And then the the incidents that I mentioned to you earlier , those things all piled up in my mind and they stayed there , and I resented them , and I hated them. And I decided that I would speak up when I saw the opportunity to get involved in the civil rights movement. I just jumped at the chance , because then I could express all of those feelings that I had inside. And so that's what I did. And I had an opportunity to to to work with the Congress of Racial Equality as its local chairman and Western regional chairman. That was why when when I was arrested several times and I served jail sentences and all of those things , I mean , it was it was it was worth it every minute. And I think , as you mentioned , I'm still involved in doing those kinds of things because it's just such a part of me.
S1: You really , in your own way , kind of moved things along to economic development for San Diego's black community and eventually , eventually became a crucial part of your platform. Can you talk about the importance of that ? Yes.
S3: As I taught the students when I was still here teaching that there are two , you should understand that in the United States of America , there are two very important things that that makes this country go , and that's the vote and money. And once we learn that , we realize that in the black community we don't have much money. We can't influence voting. We didn't have the , the , the politicians in place. We were somewhat powerless when it came to participating in this United States of America and and the economic system of capitalism. And so I when I formed this organization called the Black Economic Development Task Force , prior to to forming the the Economic Development Department here , no one. I mean , blacks had never even heard that back in those years. They were so new. And so I just knew that that was the area that was going to be the most important challenge. During the community economic development program. We were having an outing and I wrote a paper for that , and I stated in the paper that the Black economic development would be the next phase of the civil rights movement. And that was years and years ago. And here we are. Economic development. We we need to participate as , uh , we we got we got a late start or almost a no start back during the times when it was from slavery to Jim Crow and on up , and we realized that we started so far back , but we've got to run even faster than we've been running , and we've got to come together and run together and play together. We're at the beginning right now. So.
S1: You know , when we look at the erosion of the Civil Rights Act , you know , we see the attack on diversity , equity and inclusion. We see the attack on , um , learning about ethnic studies in schools. We see all these barricades to voting and suppression laws in some states.
S3: I take a little slightly different approach. I call. I call it reparations. I think that we knowing that we have built in America this foundation , just like a building , a house on foundation , the foundation was atrocious. Slavery and everything that followed from slavery. And so I'm pretty sure that we need to find a way to remedy all of the stuff that's happened to black people and others in here , and I don't know how we can do it other than through education and other than the vote , because I think those are the two elements that we are so , so deficient in , not only vote , but help to support people who would vote in according to our wishes and desires. I think that's that's what we , we call some empowerment. If we can get people like that in these positions around the country , then we won't have to worry about anybody threatening to take us back to the Jim Crow area.
S1: That was my conversation with civil rights activist Harold K Brown from July 2024. Hal passed away last week at the age of 92. That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
