Black History Month: Israel Brooks Jr.

After finishing a four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966, Israel Brooks Jr. was determined to achieve a lifelong dream to become a Highway Patrol Trooper. One of seven children, he grew up in Newberry, where he attended Drayton Street Elementary School and Gallman High School. His father, the Rev. Israel Brooks Sr., was a minister on Sundays, a mill worker and roofer. In the 1950s and early sixties, all of South Carolina's troopers were white. On Feb. 8, 1968, heavily armed white troopers shot and killed three young men at S.C. State University and wounded 27 others now known as the “Orangeburg Massacre”. The troopers became symbols of violence against black South Carolinians. That didn’t stop Brooks from pursuing his dream of becoming a trooper. In 1965, Brooks was told the Highway Patrol didn't have applications for Negroes. He was very persistent and continued to write letters hoping that one day he would get that chance to wear the patrol uniform. The following year, Brooks checked "Negro" on the updated application form and at age 23, reported for trooper training in 1967. In the racially segregated South, many feared white motorists would not take commands or be arrested by a black man. Brooks was eventually assigned to cover Beaufort County, where race relations were better than other parts of the state. Brooks and another black trooper, James Streater, were sent to numerous race riots throughout the state during their career together. Ironically, they were assigned to be present at a 1970 trial for nine white troopers accused of killing three black students during the Orangeburg Massacre protest. Brooks took the slights and insults for years, but emerged a leader widely respected by law enforcement officers across the state. Brooks rose through the Highway Patrol to command the Internal Affairs Unit, then to the rank of major and the No. 3 administrator of the patrol. He served on the Highway Patrol from 1967 until 1994. In March 1994, he was nominated by then U.S. Senator Fritz Hollings and appointed by President Clinton to serve as U.S. Marshal for the District of South Carolina. After his retirement, Brooks took an interest in Democratic Party politics. In 2004, he co-chaired Law Enforcement for Inez Tenenbaum and spoke on her behalf to law enforcement groups.Brooks died in September 2007 after a long battle with cancer. He leaves behind a wife and four children.