wfn.org | Minister Tackles Public Policy Arena

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

CONTACT: 	Joretta Purdue
(10-31-71BP){154}
		Washington, D.C. (202) 546-8722 	 March 17, 1998

NOTE: 	A photograph is available. This story is also accompanied by a
sidebar, UMNS #155.

Alpha Estes Brown sees
public policy as clergy arena

	WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- Alpha Estes Brown has been doing alcohol
and drug counseling for 22 years -- the last five as a United Methodist
minister serving a small church here.
	Too often he has been able to "help people in an antiseptic
environment" only to see it all wash away when people go back to their
old settings, he said.
 	"I realized that I had to change environments," he said.
	A recovering drug addict and alcoholic, Brown, 45, knows how
hard it can be to overcome those problems.
That's why on any given day he may be found at a zoning meeting or a
city council session, or gathering signatures on a petition asking a
major brewery to stop slanting its advertising at children. Or he may be
writing an opinion piece for one of the local newspapers.
Recently, he was taped for a Bill Moyers special. "Moyers on Addiction:
Close to Home," a five-part series on the science, treatment, prevention
and politics of addiction. The series premieres March 29 on PBS (check
local listings) and will be shown in three nights. Brown is in the
concluding hour, which looks at related politics and policy issues, on
March 31.
Brown began his formal preparation for ministry in 1989 and was assigned
to Brightwood United Methodist Church here on July 1, 1992. He has
brought new vitality to that declining congregation, which was mostly
elderly and attracted few children and youth.
"We now have two after-school programs that deal with over 70 children
per day," he said. Another program functions on Saturdays, and the
congregation has been helping a nearby Episcopal church with a group of
children. 
Developing his call to the ministry has led Brown to earn a whole string
of degrees. He has a doctorate in health management services and public
policy, a law degree, a divinity degree, a master's in business
administration and several others. He is completing the "John Wesley and
the Poor" program at Wesley Seminary here.
He sees two kinds of ministries, centering on mercy and justice, he
said. Mercy ministries deal with kindness, such as feeding the hungry,
while justice ministries deal with fairness issues, such as addressing
the causes of hunger. The mercy ministries are the more popular, he
said.
"For every mercy ministry, I'm finding there is a justice correlate," he
observed.
Because no one can do everything, Brown has focused his advocacy work on
tobacco, alcohol and drugs. He found, for example, that alcohol was
implicated to some extent in all 20 top factors causing major problems
for Washington --  factors like unemployment, underemployment, racism,
crime and drug abuse, he said.
His concerns with tobacco and alcohol include decreasing accessibility,
affordability and availability, and raising the level of responsibility
on the part of merchants, he said.
Tobacco, alcohol and drug use are costing the nation's capital $4
billion a year, he said. Recent articles on the city's balanced budget
show the elimination or reduction of several categories of programs for
the poor and disadvantaged, he noted.
"So we've balanced the budget on the backs of the poor," he commented.
That's why he and other pastors must spend time in city hall, advocating
for the poor. Part of that, Brown said, involves reining in alcohol
distribution.
The District of Columbia, at 69 square miles, has one alcohol outlet for
every 330 people -- one liquor store for every 1,908 people, Brown said.
Adjoining Montgomery (Md.) County has one liquor store for every 31,000
people, and Fairfax (Va.) County has one liquor store for every 43,000. 
"We're just saturated. . . . We end up with so many ills," Brown said.
So he lobbies against giving out more liquor licenses.
"It's a quality-of-life issue," he asserted. "It's a health issue."
On a national level, Brown advocates raising and equalizing alcohol
excise taxes, which are added to the wholesale price and passed on to
the consumer as part of the cost of the product.
He wants to see beer, wine and hard liquor all carry the same tax. Too
often, he said, beer is lightly taxed or not taxed at all, but beer
consumption is high and it causes all the usual alcohol problems.
At the same time, there is a disparity among state tax rates, prompting
many people to cross state lines and buy alcohol where the tax is lower.
Brown would like to see all alcohol excise taxes raised. Youth and
seniors are particularly price sensitive, he said.
Increasing the taxes on these products would result in lower consumption
and reduce problems such as the frequency of cirrhosis of the liver, he
added.
For the same reasons, Brown advocates higher taxes on all forms of
tobacco.
Brown said his obligation as a clergyman "is trying to shape the
culture, the environment."
"Think of a church as a nursery where we raise soul seedlings, for lack
of a better word," he said. "It's a protected environment. . . . Our job
as clergy is to transplant people into the greater garden."
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