Stop Violence tour to begin with event at Sandler Center

Adolph Brown was taking the red-eye back from a California speaking engagement on report card day.

The father of seven never misses the traditional family celebration of good grades.

Brown will begin his first cross-country tour, Stop the Violence: Two Teams, One Dream, Tuesday at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts.

He'll be joined by local rap group O.C. Clique, hip-hop icon Doug E. Fresh and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson to focus attention on the importance of supporting children through public education and life.

Two teams represent "parents and educators together," said Brown, who stressed the importance of bringing students, educators, parents and professionals together to discuss and work toward success for children. Topics include "Achieving Maximum Success in Classrooms and at Home" and "Reclaiming At-Risk Youth and Managing Cultural Diversity."

It's for "everyone who touches the life of a child," he said.

His wife, Marla Brown, who runs the Child and Family Wellness Center, said her husband speaks to many schools and corporations whose audiences are open only to their members.

She said the tour is an opportunity "to get everyday people out to hear this message."

Her husband said growing up in the projects wasn't easy.

"We were exposed to violence on a regular basis," he said, recalling the murder of his older brother at age 19.

"I talk about it by virtue of having lived it," he said, attributing his climb to success to his "caring, supportive" mother, Virginia Powell, 64, a resident of College Park, who sometimes worked several jobs raising five children by herself.

"She gave us work ethic, a value system," said Brown.

Powell said she told her children, "You can be anything you strive to be" and encouraged them to set goals when they were as young as 6.

"Adolph always wanted to be a doctor. He had something to work toward," she said.

He graduated from Green Run High School and the College of William and Mary, has a masters degree in child psychology and education, plus a doctorate in clinical psychology, and travels extensively to speak on leadership, diversity, character and personal development.

Daughter Maranda, a Kempsville Middle eighth-grader, said she enjoys hearing her father speak.

"He talks about having somebody in your wheelbarrow for support. He's fun, interesting," she said.

Brown said he sees children with lots of privilege and little responsibility, who end up with "potential with no purpose." He wants to change that.

His mother said she always told her children, "It's not what they call you; it's what you answer to."

Cindy Butler Focke, butler496@aol.com