LMU honored two distinguished alumni, Honorable Judge Irma Brown and Ambassador J. Steven Rhodes, with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Social Justice during the annual Interfaith Celebration of the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. More than 100 students, staff, faculty, and community members gathered in St. Robert’s Auditorium to honor Brown and Rhodes. The event also highlighted the merger between Loyola University and Marymount College, by bringing together Brown and Rhodes who attended each of these schools during that time.
During the program, Brown shared that “LMU gave me my wings, it gave me the confidence and the support system that I, as black, young, female from Watts needed to be successful in the world through our priests, the nuns, and the community that we built here.” Brown served as the first African American student body president at LMU, where she cultivated her natural talent for leadership throughout her undergraduate years. After earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1970, she continued her education at Loyola University School of Law, to earn her J.D. from LMU Loyola Law School in 1973.
Brown began working with children in the court system during a brief, but successful, career in the practice of law as a partner of Hudson, Sandoz, and Brown and as a staff attorney with the Greater Watts Justice Center of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She represented neglected, abused, and abandoned children in the dependency system and the delinquency side of the court. Brown retired from the California Superior Court judge and Los Angeles Municipal Court, and is a member of the prestigious John M. Langston Bar Association Hall of Fame. She has been recognized by national, state, local governments, school districts and various other organizations, including the U.S. Congress, the California State Senate and Assembly, and the cities of Los Angeles, Carson, Compton, Inglewood, and Lynwood. She serves on LMU’s Board of Trustees, the African American Alumni Association Board of Directors, and is a former member of the LMU Board of Regents.
For Brown, Dr. King’s message still has validity today and she shared how “there’s still work to be done to fulfill his dream, but personally I am tired of dreaming,” said Brown. “I think it’s time to make it a reality, we can’t continue to say what should be done, what needs to be done, if we’re not doing anything. I implore you all to keep marching ahead and if we have to go back and march again, put on your tennis shoes, tie them up and let’s go.”
Rhodes, who earned his bachelor’s in business administration in 1973, served under former President George H.W. Bush as U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe and as White House chief domestic policy advisor when Bush was vice president. While serving under former President Ronald Reagan, he is credited among those who persuaded the president to honor Martin Luther King Jr. with a national holiday.
“My job was to represent local government to the president,” Rhodes said, “and what I was trying to do was hold small meetings with the leadership of cities so that all the senior leadership can say they had the opportunity to meet with the president, express their concerns, and the president could get in touch with appropriate cabinet members. The day President Reagan was shot, I had 10 meetings with mayors from around the United States.”
As managing partner of Claiborne-Rhodes International, LLC. Ambassador Rhodes is a leader in socially conscious proprietary business development. With expertise in oil, gas, and new energy models, he has successfully negotiated acquisition of asset management businesses and represents minority professional services companies. In 2004, Rhodes was appointed as a governor to the California Community College Board by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The board establishes policy for all the community colleges in California. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor in the negotiation, conflict resolution and peace building department at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he teaches the international component, and he is a visiting professor at LMU and UCLA.
Rhodes shared his experience working in the White House under Vice President George H.W. Bush when the bill to make MLK Day a national holiday was up for discussion. A working group had made a preliminary decision to not recommend moving forward with the bill. “When I met with the president, I said I realize I’m circumventing the system, but this is something we ought to do regardless of what the working group thinks. It’s not only in your best interest but it’s in the best interest of the American people that we reward people who do good things for the world. After being asked to lead the signing of the bill because of this conversation, I worked two of my assistants around the clock to get the bill signing put together, and for the first time in the history of the White House, a bill signing took place in the Rose Garden.”
Rhodes shared the following message directly with students in attendance, “If you want a good education, take advantage of the faculty members, the staff, and the administrators that you have; everyone is here to support you,” said Rhodes. “Your focus in life is to make a mark. You will make money along the way, but what you want to do with your life is to do something to make the world a better place, and you’re capable of doing that…and the last thing I want students to know is you can’t do it alone. To lead people, they have to trust you and you have to do this work together.”
The event also featured student speaker, Exodus Broussard ’25, an animation major, who holds many leadership roles on-campus including serving as an Intercultural Facilitator, student leader for Campus Ministry’s Ignacio Companions program, and as the president for Brothers of Consciousness. Broussard described the experience of speaking during the program as magnificent. “Being asked to be involved with a service like this in such a magnitude felt very honorable to say the least,” said Broussard. “Actually, going up to the microphone and speaking to an audience full of mostly unfamiliar faces along with the president and vice president is very nerve-racking, but it’s also so reassuring. Being able to speak about Dr. King’s legacy, my life, and important issues at LMU at this degree in front of all of those people shows me that my words really matter. I’m grateful for being allowed to speak and I’m grateful for those who listened.”
August 2023 marked the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, during which Dr. King shared his famous “I Have a Dream …” speech. For Broussard, the event reminded him of how his living grandmother was an adult when the march took place. “The change that was made by Dr. King was fairly recent when we look at history as a whole and despite all that he’s accomplished, there is still work to be done,” said Broussard. “I hope people know there’s still work to be done to ensure that LMU is an anti-racist institution. There’s still work to be done to bring equity to the generational victims of slavery and Jim Crow. There’s even work that needs to be done to simply educate people on the issues that plight Black people in America. I want people to know that there is an ongoing fight against discrimination.”
