In June, Arthur Brown was finally welcomed as U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador. Flanked by a dozen officers in red, white and uniforms with gold braid, he walked the red carpet to present his credentials. He had waited 20 months for senate confirmation after serving in 14 other countries. This job was the culmination of a fascinating career that began on a dirt road east of Charlottesville.
“Route 616, which is Black Cat Road, if you pass the first church on your left, there’s a little dirt road, and I lived down in that holler,” he says.
Brown’s grandparents had been farmers. His parents were raised in the Jim Crow era and suffered through Massive Resistance, when Virginia closed its public schools rather than integrate them. Arthur grew up at a different time. He played football at Albemarle High School, took a field trip the General Assembly, saw New York as part of the model United Nations program and was set on a career in foreign service. There was, he recalls, just one problem – a rejection letter from the University of Virginia. With encouragement from his father, Arthur reached out to the director of admissions.
“I called him out of the telephone pages, and I told him that the university had made a mistake by not accepting me. He was like, ‘Who is this?’ and I was like, ‘I need to come see you. We’ve got to talk!’ I thought that someone had to hear my story, and he allowed me to come in.”
His story was simple. He had excelled in social studies but didn’t do well in math.
“My grades demonstrated real academic prowess in sociology, history and government. But then with the quantitative stuff, I wasn’t super strong, and if I’ve got to take a math class or a stats class I’ll do that, but there’s no doubt that I had what it takes to succeed at the university,” Brown explains.
He had dressed for success in khakis, a blue blazer, orange and blue tie and a pair of tasseled loafers.
“So, you know, I had the uniform,” he jokes.
And the director of admissions was intrigued.
“He asked me, ‘If you don’t get into school, what are you going to do?’ and I was like, ‘I’m going to Parris Island – going to the Marine Corps.”
Angie Murillo
That’s when John Blackburn decided to give him a chance. Brown washed dishes and drove a campus bus to pay his expenses, played sports and double majored in sociology and African-American studies. He joined a fraternity, and armed with a degree from UVA, he entered the Peace Corps, serving in Togo and Benin. He went on to the foreign service, learned French and Spanish, served in other parts of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Wherever he went, Brown says, people were surprised.”
“I’m turning heads because, let’s face it, I’m a Black American male. A lot of people don’t get a chance to meet an American who fits my background. I’m an anomaly, and that’s okay.”
He hopes he might stay on in Ecuador, where the reception has been especially warm.
“They call it carino," Brown says. "It’s just a welcoming, a hospitality.”
But the country is caught between Colombia and Peru in a regional struggle with drug trafficking and terrorism.
“Ecuador’s geography has it sandwiched between two major cocaine transporters and producers, and because Ecuador has a U.S. dollar economy it’s really easy for drug trafficking organizations to launder money and corrupt every institution of order and security.”
Whatever happens professionally, Arthur Brown plans to stay in public service. He might return to the Piedmont and run for office.
“You never know. I may have to come back to the Fifth District and shake things up a little bit. Who knows?”
And over the holidays he’ll be back in Virginia to visit several universities and encourage students to consider a career in foreign service.
“Our young folk matter. I want to be replaced by good people, so you’ve got to influence them. You’ve got to help them," he concludes.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
