COMMENTARY: BY OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 19, 2019 — There are many Bahamians living in the diaspora across the United States, and indeed world-wide, who through their accomplishments are spreading the word that The Bahamas is more than just one of the world’s leading tourist destinations, but also a “breeding ground” for some very progressive and talented individuals in their chosen profession.
Sonja Natasha Brown clearly is one of those individuals. I don’t know what Sonja Natasha Brown does for a living, but I am always impressed by her various posts on Facebook, so much so that I sent her an inbox late last year about possibly being featured in BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA, a regular article that I wrote when I was Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager for four-plus years at The Bahamas Embassy in Washington, D.C. She never responded, so I assumed that modesty is one of her cherished virtues. In any case, the invitation is still open.
Here’s what I do know about Sonja Natasha Brown. She is the niece of one of my life-long best friends, Eddison “Ed” Bethel, the renowned Bahamian journalist. Long before she was born, her mother Valencia Bethel and her aunt Ann Bethel, who are sisters of Ed, and I grew up like brother and sisters as a result of my close friendship with her uncle Ed, with whom I worked at The Tribune in the early 1960s.
Actually, Ed started working as a trainee journalist at Tribune in late 1959 and I joined the staff in May of 1960s. Both of us owe a great deal of gratitude to Sir Arthur A. Foulkes, who was The Tribune’s News Editor at the time, for the strong journalistic foundation on which we built our careers, although Ed left The Tribune after a couple years and became an outstanding broadcast journalist.
But back to Sonja Natasha Brown. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, where she obtained her college education at Clark Atlanta University. I first met her when I was Editor of the Freeport News and living in Freeport, Grand Bahama, when she visited Freeport to be maid-of-honour in the wedding Wendy Grant to Attorney Brian K. Hanna.
Wendy is the daughter of my then sister-in-law Veronica Turnquest Grant and her late husband Carver Grant and she and Sonja had been very close friends during their college years in Atlanta. Actually, Sonja is from Freeport and they may have grown up together as close friends.
Sonja’s Facebook page says she currently works in the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office in Decatur, Georgia, where she has been since 2017. Her work history suggests that she has legal training, having worked at the DeKalb County Solicitor-General’s Office, from October 2011 to December 2016; Fulton County Government, February 2007 to October 2011; and Convergent Media Systems Corporation as Staff Counsel, September 1995 to June 2006.
This information would have been included in my BAHAMIANS IN THE DIASPORA feature on Sonja had she given her consent for me to feature her, and I hope she does not mind me revealing her work history, but my curiosity was aroused by a THROW BACK THURSDAY photo she posted on her Facebook page this morning (Thursday, July 19) with the following caption:
“Throwback Thursday…what could me more apropos than this? That time in July 2014, when I got sworn in as the first secretary and a chartering member of The Greater Atlanta Black Prosecutors Association – GABPA; and received an award for service from then U.S. Attorney – NDGA, Sally Yates.”
Indeed, receiving “an award for service” from former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who was then the second-highest ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and as Acting Attorney General was “responsible for all of DOJ’s 113,000 employees including all prosecutorial, litigating, and national security components,” according to information gleaned from the Internet, which further notes: “Known for her lifelong, nonpartisan focus on public corruption, Sally is recognized worldwide for her integrity and credibility. An accomplished trial lawyer and Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, Sally has tried numerous high-profile cases.”
Obviously, whatever Sonja Natasha Brown, daughter of my “sister” Valencia, does in the Atlanta area, all Bahamians should be proud of her accomplishments in one of the most competitive areas in the United States for Black professionals. Indeed, the Atlanta-area is a magnet – a melting pot, so to speak — for accomplished Black professionals, as exemplified by the current political leadership of Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the impressive list of Black political achievers who preceded her in that position.
