Any life taken too early, especially that of a young father of two, is tragic, but this death is particularly heart-breaking when you realize what Chris White meant to Wilmington.
The full News Journal story is linked below, but what you should know about Chris Brown is that his activism was two-fold - he was an advocate for the poor, but he was also working to build a real, grass-roots arts community in Wilmington. As an advocate for the poor in Wilmington, he drafted the city's first rental hosing code. As an arts activist, he was, in the words of the New Wilmington Arts Association, "
the visionary behind Shipley Lofts Artist Community in Wilmington, De. A senseless act (outside Shipley Lofts) took his life days prior the grand opening of the space which he envisioned - providing low-cost housing specifically for artists in an urban center. Chris collaborated with the NWAA during its formative years and shared a vision for a cultural Wilmington." Besides being the visionary of this first-of-its-kind space, he helped restore the building and prepare it for its debut. That he died in front of the building, his vision, a week before its grand opening, is the most tragic of ironies. The building has since been renamed in his honor. To be clear: this was not a shooting, but a stolen car that had gone out of control and jumped the sidewalk where he stood.
Wilmington doesn't have many people like this. People who are champions of the arts, but who also understand the inner-city and the needs of its residents from the inside out. There's no telling what else he could have accomplished here, but if there is a silver lining it's that his death appears to have motivated his friends and associates to keep his visions alive.
Full News Journal article:
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110525/NEWS01/105250354/Guilty-plea-ends-pain-court-pain-slaying-lingers-on
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