WESTSIDE LIBRARY, ALEXANDRIA, LA -
The Alexandria Authors Club had the opportunity to hear from Louisiana publisher and author Jim Brown on Thursday at their meeting at the Westside Library.
He has been in public life for more than 40 years serving as Secretary of State, Insurance Commissioner, a state senator and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
Once out of government he decided to write about his experiences in 7 books and a weekly column published in more than a hundred newspapers and websites across the state
Brown spent time in prison for allegedly lying to an FBI officer, but he says he was denied to even see the notes that the agent took to show what supposed untruths he had told.
“The agent had written down all kinds of handwritten notes, and I said, ‘Well that can’t be right let’s see your notes.’ ‘Oh, no, no you can’t see the notes.’ And so I fought through the courts for about 4 years. Finally the notes are released appealing up to the Supreme Court and it showed I told exactly the truth.”
Brown says it revealed that he never should have been charged.
“The foreman of my jury calls a press conference and says, ‘We weren’t given the notes! I’ve lost all my faith in the justice system in America…’”
“The whole U.S. Attorneys Office in New Orleans has been under massive criticism. The district attorney who tried to bring these charges against me has been disbarred, can no longer practice law. The U.S. Attorney at the time has been investigated for drug trafficking.
“And so, I don’t wish ill to anyone but I’m glad to see that there’s been some vindication.”
Brown says the case which was tried 24 years ago is behind him now and he is focusing on the future promoting a book called Jesus, Jews, Jehad and Me on his religious experiences.
“I’ve always written about politics, but I thought at my age I better get straight with the Lord. And so I decided to go to Jerusalem and explore the Christian roots, the Jewish roots, the Muslim roots. And just as I was getting ready to leave the missiles came raining down.”
In the book he explores the tension between Hamas and Israelis and why Hamas attacked.
“Why there is so much hatred in this world in the Middle East particularly against the Jews and I cover that whole ground I cover the Holocaust and tied it all in to my own religious experience.”
Brown says the research and experiences have been fascinating to cover and he is enjoying traveling around the state.
“Talking about that experience of searching for my spatiality. But dealing with the fact that the missiles almost got me.”
One hit about 100 yards from where he was staying and he says the harrowing experience was very timely with what is going on with the world today.
Brown puts his prison and trial experiences in perspective saying:
“It was certainly a very disturbing time in my life. But if you stand by the river long enough sometimes your enemies come marching by.”
“Life is not fair to many people I’ve got my health I’ve got my family
To follow the author and see his books and columns, of which he has written more than 15,000, visit JimBrownLA.com
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