Book Reviews BEING BROWN: A VERY PUBLIC LIFE
by Rosemary Brown (Toronto: Random House of Canada Limited, 1989, v + 325 pages)
In Being Brown: A Very Public Life Rosemary Brown candidly analyzes her politics--a mixture of feminism, socialism and Pan-Africanism. She also addresses the tensions and contradictions within the New Democratic Party (NDP), the third major party in Canada, and explains why this party it supports the tenets of social democracy and advocates the redistribution of national income and state ownership of industry- represents the hotbed of progressive politics in Canada. Brown, the first Afro-Canadian woman to hold an elected office in a provincial legislature, spent fourteen years in the British Columbia legislature (19721986) and narrowly missed winning the top leadership of her party in 1975. Presently she is executive director of MATCH International, a Canadian nongovernmental organization created to work with women in Africa, Asia and Latin America. During her career in electoral politics she had greater access to power and wielded more of it than most African women and men
seeking to transform the internal politics of the major and minor parties in North America. This political autobiography already has claimed the attention of researchers interested in either progressive provincial and federal politics or minority political participation in Canada, particularly since the NDP recently won the 1990 federal election. Visible m i n o r i t i e s - a n acceptable term in C a n a d a - immersed in the current debate around their own political and economic status also frequently debate the applicability of Brown's political strategy. And students of United States politics should also critically examine Being Brown: A Very Public Life, especially those contributors to the literature on women in politics and the political efficacy of racial minorities. Both sets of scholars will discover that Brown, as a case study, confirms and disconfirms their theories. Political analysts seek to determine those factors that influence the minority candidate's acceptability within
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broad-based natioaal parties and electability in the general elections. In Brown's case, given the objective conditions in Canada, few would have forecasted her political success. Canada's African community-approximately 60 percent are native-born blacks and the rest emigrated from Africa, South America and the United States-always has been numerically insignificant and, because the civil rights movement of the 1950-75 period never equaled the intensity of the movement in the United States, Canadian society has been noticeably deliberate in its attempts to initiate historical redress. In terms of electoral politics in British Columbia, where more than 75 percent of the African population resides in the greater Vancouver area and Afro-Canadians comprise less than 2 percent of Vancouver's total population, blacks were conspicuously absent. Between 1858-when Mifflin W. Gibbs won public office-and 1972, blacks did not assume positions of political influence in the province. Although racial oppression in the United States usually overshadowed the problems of Africans in Canada, as well as those of Native Indians, Asians and South Americans, slavery and other forms of racial repression did exist there; their legacies were apparent when Brown arrived from Jamaica. As she recalls them, at McGill University in the 1950s she encountered "polite, denied and accepted prejudice"; as the young wife of a physician and a mother, she was denied housing; and in Vancouver in the mid-1950s, at a time when British
Columbia's economy flourished, "the unwritten rule seemed to be that, aside from entertainment, the special jobs open to them (blacks) were domestic work for women, and portering on the trains for men." And these experiences always haunted her, almost becoming insurmountable barriers in her career: " R a c i s m . . . has left me wary and hypersensitive to the point that I found political canvassing excruciatingly painful and repugnant . . . . I had to do i t . . . (so) I use(d) the process of displacement . . . . I thought of mys e l f . . , in the third p e r s o n . . , used heavy doses of denial, so that the hostile response was rationalized as being directed at the party . . . . but never at me personally (128). Elsewhere, she comments: "Even as I campaigned, I was exploring career alternatives, having learned that for a Black person a contingency plan was the best defence against defeatism and despair" (120). In addition to her race, Brown's political philosophy might have made her an unlikely successful candidate for political office. In the political world of the 1990s political parties are less apt to disregard or express open hostility against feminist demands, and voters, if not always supportive, are aware of them. In comparison, political wisdom of the 1960s and early 1970s operated against the 'non-traditional candidate.' Voters and major parties frequently condemned the individual running on any form of a socialist, feminist or peace platform as a 'protest candidate,' and, to put it mildly, alternatively patronized and ignored her. Because all three were
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the cornerstone of Brown's platform throughout her political career, her success challenges the electability formulae used by theorists and party strategists. Despite the seemingly unhealthy political climate for a person who was female, emigrant and African, most students of Canadian left-of-center politics would agree that throughout her career the voters' acceptance of Brown's political platform was never in serious doubt. In 1972 she won in the Vancouver-Burrard race, and she was reelected three years later. Activists and observers of progressive politics continue to consider her victories in the mid-to late 1970s worthy of note; in 1975 roughly 70 percent of the NDP candidates running for reelection did not return with her to the provincial legislature, and in 1979, despite the gerrymandering of her district by the Social Credit government, she entered the BurnabyEdmonds race and won. How then does she explain her electoral victories? According to Brown, in 1972 she and Emery Barnes were the antithesis of the traditional politicians in British Columbia and the voters accepted their platform in order to send a warning to the major parties. "I do not believe that our election resulted from any revolutionary decision on the part of the voters to strike a blow for racial equality. Rather, their discontent with the existing government and their determination to turn it out of office overrode their prejudices, and resulted in the temporary colour and political blindness that allowed them to support us despite the fact that we
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(Brown and Barnes) were both New Democrats and Black (120). As an explanation of her continued success, Brown submits that she created a highly disciplined cadre of party supporters and learned to respect the decisions of this collective, never attempted to disguise her political positions and refrained from giving her name to the highest bidder or party willing to commit itself to the issues of visible minorities. With the latter comment in mind, the reader will note that Brown stridently rejects voter leveraging or brokering, a political strategy currently under discussion in this country. Undeniably controversial, Brown decries any attempt to broker with the Canadian Conservative Party, the Liberal Party or the Social Credit; she asserts that offering one's name and vote to the highest bidder in exchange for commitment to specific group demands is "political opportunism that is often touted as the best route to success in society for Blacks and women" (121). Brown acknowledges, however, that it is an increasingly popular strategy in Canada. As an alternative to that strategy, the author suggests that visible minorities, as well as anyone else whose politics stands in opposition to the mainstream, must commit themselves to a party whose interests are compatible with their overall objectives. When contradictions arise--as they assuredly will--Brown advises disgruntled members to maintain an allegiance to the progressive goals of the party, even as they demand reform and participate in temporarily disrup-
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tive activities that will make the goal of structural and ideological change a reality. Despite the myriad of problems that she encountered in the NDP, Brown concludes that her legislative foci--social welfare programs, antidiscrimination legislation, childcare programs and child safety laws, documentation of the feminization of poverty, and reform of divorce l a w s would not have been accepted by the other parties. A cursory reading of Being Brown clearly demonstrates that Brown has adhered to the principles of this strategy. It also reveals that her commitment to the New Democratic Party never prevented her from participating in, sometimes leading, many internal struggles aimed at confronting the party's abridgement of its electoral platform. A more in-depth analysis of the autobiography, however, delineates a second political strategy, albeit subtly stated, that conceivably could contradict the first one proposed by Brown. It is also a strategy that increasing numbers of racial minorities and women may publicly accept, as shown in Susan Hartmann's From Margin to Mainstream: American Women and Politics Since 1960. Much of the literature on women in politics suggests that voters' perceptions of women's roles in politics confine them to the legislative side of the political process. The actions of the party executives and some of the more influential activists reveal, however, that the level of women's electability in politics may be determined long before they reach general election. Party hierarchy and its instruments of power
play an influential role in the public's response to women's candidacy in legislative, executive and party elections. Because party leaders control much of the propaganda generated during the period of backroom bargaining, which frequently takes place before the primary election, and because the propaganda used to help or hurt a candidate in the primary is not forgotten in the general election, their biases are a major force in all stages of a female candidate's career. In Brown's case, even when her election to the British Columbia legislature in 1972, 1975 and 1979 attested to voters' acceptance, and her showing as a major candidate for party leadership in 1975 revealed her popularity among the rank and file membership, NDP executives and influential party activists continued to doubt her political strength. Throughout her career they viewed her race and gender, aggressive support of issues raised by women and labor, and unequivocal push for expanded welfare reform as obstacles to the party's success. Brown's experiences support the notion that female and minority candidates, while creating a base within the party, must maintain a solid foundation of support independent of the party, a constituency that is wedded to the politician's platform and not to the party. Brown attracted the poor and disenfranchised in British Columbia's European, African, Asian and native American population. More specifically, she could rely upon the "movement vote." Long before her entrance into electoral politics, both Brown and her husband--an African
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American born and raised in Georg i a - were active members of the Canadian peace, feminist and labor movements, and her public life in electoral politics reflected their activism. Long before she entered public service, they publicly supported nuclear disarmament, abortion and reform of family protection legislation. As did her party, she advanced decreased Canadian involvement in NORAD and NATO and increased controls on U.S. capital penetration of Canada's industries. In addition, before her entrance into electoral politics, Brown served in the high-profile position of ombudsperson for the Status of Women's Council - a broad coalition of women from all of the major and minor parties, as well as from the various political movements, and the Council encouraged her to participate in electoral politics via the NDP. And last, Brown's appearance on a regular television series in the 1960s, which addressed socioeconomic issues, helped place her name and ideological framework before the electorate. As a result of her independent base, Brown was able to override many of the obstacles constructed by the NDP leadership. On the side of the NDP hierarchj it must be said that Rosemary Brown probably was not always easily tolerated, and one can only suspect she might have had problems in centrist parties in Canada and the United States. We recently interviewed some of her supporters, and, based on their descriptions, Brown appears to be a philosopher-cum-politician, one more inclined to hold steadfastly to politi-
123 cal principles in preference to a less desirable, ideologically inconsistent short-term solution that may shorten the length of the immediate crisis. And Brown made political errors, most acknowledged in her book and largely due to the inexperience of her machine. Even in 1990 party strategists are wary of female politicians who overtly match the competitiveness of their male counterpart, and, according to those who observed her, Brown neither played a submissive, retiring role nor respected patriarchal politics. Perhaps more perplexing to the NDP leaders, William Brown also disdained old-boy politics. For example, when party leaders sought to postpone Rosemary Brown's bid for the 1972 Vancouver-Burrard seat-- because she had been in the party for less than two years and would run against a longtime family friend who also was her husband's business partner, both Bill and Rosemary Brown dismissed their appeals. (The friendship and partnership apparently dissolved over this issue.) When the NDP leaders attempted to pressure her husband, according to Rosemary Brown, he "explained... that he was unable to compel me to do anything and wouldn't even if he could" (112). One can imagine the resolve of the Browns, as well as the consternation of the more conservative wing of the NDP, as Rosemary Brown responded to the party leaders: "I do not believe in the principle of 'paid d u e s . ' . . . A nomination is an opportunity open to any hopeful to c o n t e s t . . , if you can't win a contest of your political peers, then you shouldn't be representing them on the
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hustings" (112). In light of the recent electoral victories of the NDP, most observers of Canadian politics probably would agree that the party is not in its nadir. And others would assert, as Brown points out, when compared to the Conservative and Liberal Parties, the NDP has resoundingly upheld the interests of the working class and visible minorities. Yet the party has not gained the overwhelming support of AfroCanadians, many of whom remember Brown's constant struggles with the party. Although Brown appears to be reluctant to admit to the presence of significant racism in the party, she does acknowledge, for example, that the failure of the NDP to name one or both of the Afro-Canadian NDPers to the cabinet confirmed the community's skepticism: "They felt they had been duped by commitments made in the party's excellent policy on racial equality into supporting promises that proved to be false and without basis . . . . In time the NDP did regain some credibility with the small percentage of Black people in B.C. who espouse the ideology of social democracy" (129). Brown's comments notwithstanding, the majority of the members of the provincials' African community have not accepted the NDP and its social democracy platform. As one prominent leader in Canada's Atlantic coast explained to us in 1990, "The NDP has its ebbs and flows, and, for the moment, it is on the high side. But it will never be our vehicle for political influence. It backtracked on Brown, reneged on its platform in the 1970s and treated us willy nilly in
the 1980s; the NDP, with all of its progressive hyperbole and continual wooing of popular community leaders, will never get our vote in the 1990s. As far as we are concerned, it has no future in this country." Our provincial interviews in British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario confirm this view. To explain her relationship with the NDP hierarchy on the basis of race, Brown adumbrates, is to deny the complexities and contradictions within progressive Canadian politics. Unfortunately, however, Brown fails to offer an historical analysis of internal NDP politics, and thereby obscures the ideological tensions within the party. In the absence of this historical analysis, the reader does not easily appreciate why, at least from her vantage point, race was a minor explanatory factor in the leaders' response to the Brown machine. A brief review will elaborate this point. In 1961 the NDP was born out of a conference called by the New Party, Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CCL). Since that year, its social base has been the working class in British Columbia and Ontario and small to medium-scale farmers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. And the conflict of interest between the two classes, as well as the fight between the more radical and conservative in all of the provinces, never has been solved. Class and geographic differences partially explain why the Waffle disbanded in 1972 (the most prominent group among the radicals, sometimes called the New Left) and why the
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radical wing reorganized and infused itself with new members. Rosemary Brown appears to have been one of these members. If she, as well as other NDPers recently interviewed are correct, when the established leadership responded to her initial candidacy and reelection, it was based on the ideological challenge that she and the "upstarts" posed. Hence, when a colleague refers to Brown as a "dithering device," a political irritant, the reader comes to terms with the real and symbolic roles of Rosemary Brown within the NDP. An insider's analysis of the accomplishments and failures of NDP governments in British Columbia (1972-75), Saskatchewan (1944-64 under the CCF-NDP and 1971-82), and the formation of the Official Opposition in Ontario, Nova Scotia and the Yukon not only would have greatly enriched Brown's coverage of the interplay between class, race and ethnicity. It also would have allowed the reader to better understand the successes and contradictions of the national NDP. Those readers concerned with the compatibility of feminism and nationalism may find Brown's politics an incoherent and incongruent admixture. She does not. Brown avers that her political views are framed by her roots in Jamaica, where she was born in 1930. According to her, the writings of Angela Davis, Betty Friedan, Catherine McKinnon and Marilyn French merely fertilized the feminist seeds planted by her mother, maternal grandmother and uncle in Jamaica. Although she was young when he died, Brown remembers the
125 death of her father and its effect on her life; as relatives assumed some of the responsibilities for the education and socialization of Brown and her brother and sister, she witnessed their professional and political work, particularly that of the women in her family. Brown vividly recalls the activism of her grandmother-a social democrat and member of the People's National P a r t y - a n d the nationalists' demonstrations in the 1940s, which led to the death of many Jamaicans. She concludes that the politics which consumed her family and community "seeped into my pores and into my consciousness in my early teens" (9). To date, few scholarly works have analyzed critically the economic and political state of affairs of Africans in Canada, and, when these works come along, researchers interested in the subject often expect too much of their authors. The latter should address, they expect, not only that which is directly relevant to the specific topic at hand but should cover tangential material as well. In this regard, this reviewer is guilty. If there is one glaring omission in the book, it centers on the nature of overall black political activity in Canada. The reader hungry for information on this topic must certainly bemoan the fact that Brown appears to dismiss summarily the efforts to create a black united front in Canada. For example, the most exhaustive coverage is as follows: "The Black and other racial minorities in B.C. l a c k e d . . , clout . . . . As much as they would have liked to elect a candidate of their choosing, they could muster neither the numbers nor the resources
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to do so" (225). Although she does mention in passing the National Black Coalition, the Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and the Negro Women's Association of Ontario, the reader never is able to determine African people's level of political activity, its social base, and the successes and failures of the AfroCanadian political forum. Perhaps Being Brown is just the type of work that will generate additional research on the contemporary political experiences of Africans in Canada. In conclusion, Being Brown: A Public Life is excellent reading-excellent because it not only provides scholars with the base from which to analyze the political career of one of Canada's most prominent provincial
leaders, and, if rumors are correct in Ottawa, possibly one of Canada's first black ambassadors, but also because it strongly reminds scholars of the work that must be done. This work should generate more comparative studies focused on minorities in North American politics, and for those interested in the contradictions and accomplishments of progressive politics, it offers useful reference material. And last, Being Brown: A Public Life reveals the significance of political autobiography, a form of documentation sorely needed in the literature on African American political leadership, and it adds fuel to the current debate centered around effective electoral strategies for African Americans.
Jacqueline Howard-Matthews
