GREENVILLE - When you have that political panache, it becomes so easy to light up a room or reinvigorate a stagnant political climate that has become all-too tiresome and predictable in Mississippi.
Yvonne Brown is mayor of Tchula, the tiny Holmes County hamlet that stunned the nation last year when voters decided they were tired of Democrats taking their vote for granted. Brown, a native of Toledo, Ohio, unseated the Democratic incumbent mayor, and essentially brought national attention - all the way from the White House - to this town of 2,300.
"When I look back on the election," Brown said during a luncheon speech last week before the Washington County Republican Women in Greenville, "I guess the citizens voted against conventional political wisdom. It's an awesome responsibility, but God has grounded me for this."
Perhaps those Tchula residents were sick and tired of being sick and tired. They saw Brown - a Republican - as a beacon for change.
"I am so thankful to be a Republican," said Brown, whose father is chairman of the Holmes County Republican Party. "There is more to life than the Democratic Party, and black folks in Mississippi need to stop letting their vote be taken for granted."
Invited to the White House by President George W. Bush four times since her July 2001 election, Brown, who earns $6,000 a year as mayor, is spreading the word that a "new day" is dawning in Mississippi. Although Brown inherited a Delta town with a crumbling infrastructure and a suspect economic future, she is building hope for the future.
"Mississippi is such a special place, and more people should know the good things about this state," said Brown, who returned to the state with her husband, Robert C. Brown, in 1995.
Brown was able to secure a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will pay for a new municipal complex.
While the 49-year-old Brown is proud of being the "the first" African-American female Republican to be elected mayor - not only in Mississippi, but also the United States - she does not dwell on the ethnic designation.
"I am not pro black, I am pro people," she said. "But if there is an issue that is going to impact black people, then I am for it."
Brown's political approach - away from the liberal tact of unrelenting victimization, blame and entitlements - might be considered unconventional in some political circles.
"First of all, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson do not speak for me," Brown said. "Black people need to look at the issue, rather than whether it's a black issue."
Earlier this year, she was one of the few strident black voices who supported the embattled nomination of U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Because Brown is an obvious independent thinker, she is certainly not the darling of the black leadership because of her opposition to abortion, quotas and set-asides, affirmative action, slave reparations and continued government entitlements.
Married to a Baptist minister, Brown is not shy about her religious conviction, and interjects biblical quotations as a means of explaining and amplifying her political positions.
Since moving to Tchula, the Browns have started a ministry, Grace Community Church, in a former supermarket, which provides myriad spiritual, social and educational services to the community from feeding programs to high school equivalency diploma instruction.
"I am a preacher's wife," said the mother of two adult children. "God is good, and because of him, I am where I am today."
Even though God has come under attack in a federal appellate court, Brown remains resolute that the nation must retain its spiritual canopy, and she chastised the religious community for shrinking from the meretriciousness of the liberal left.
"Our country was founded on God's word," Brown said. "So many people who know Christ have stepped back, and we have pretty much lost our rights.
"But when you look at it, we all pretty much want the same things," she added. "We want good schools, good jobs and to have a decent place to live."
While racism continues to occupy the social landscape, Brown does not look at life through a filtered human prism; she believes the divide can be narrowed through dedication and communication.
"It's no longer about race," Brown said. "It's about education and economics."
