Sometimes promoting a book on social media can feel like pitching into a black hole. That’s certainly how I’ve felt with Busting the Brass Ceiling: How a Heroic Female Cop Changed the Face of Policing, which I co-authored with Fanchon Blake. And then you find that one person who can make all the difference.
I knew I had struck gold in every possible way the first time I talked with retired LAPD lieutenant John Thomas, now Chief of the USC Department of Public Safety (DPS), about the memoir. “Fanchon Blake did her job,” he told me when we discussed the discrimination class-action suit Fanchon launched that resulted in people like Thomas getting hired on the LAPD and in police departments around the country. “You did your job when you wrote and published the book. Now it’s time for those of us who benefitted to do our jobs and get the book and Fanchon’s story out there.”
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard sweeter words. The Chief got right down to business. Two weeks later, he had confirmed that a virtual panel focused on Busting the Brass Ceiling and Fanchon Blake would be sponsored by the USC Department of Public Safety, the USC Safe Communities Institute, the LAPD Museum and the Los Angeles Women Police Officers & Associates (LAWPOA).
“I would love to find a date we could pin this to,” he said.
I emailed him about ten minutes after we had hung up. “I’m pretty sure I found that May date you were hoping for,” I wrote. “Fanchon Blake was born on May 15, 1921. This would have been her 100th birthday.”
On Saturday, May 15–on what would have been Fanchon Blake’s 100th birthday–her story and her book will take center stage. Moderated by veteran news anchor Christine Devine, the online panel will consist of four women:
- Margaret “Peggy” A. York, retired Deputy Chief, Los Angeles Police Department (the first woman to attain that rank in the LAPD) and retired Chief of the Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety
- Ann E. Young, retired Captain, Los Angeles Police Department (the first Black American female to attain that rank in the LAPD) and current professor in the Criminal Justice department at California State University Dominguez Hills and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
- Ruby Flores, Commander, Los Angeles Police Department (recently selected as the LAPD’s first-ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer) and president of the Los Angeles Women Police Officers and Associates
- And me, feeling totally outclassed and absolutely grateful
Actually, there will be one more woman appearing with us that day. Fanchon Blake will be in attendance thanks to a short video clip or two, shot by my brother Jeff Gross five years before her death at age 90. You can watch the entire five-minute video–“Still Outspoken at 90”–on Busting the Brass Ceiling’s website any time you want.
To experience the Zoom panel, live and not-quite-in-person, log on and tune in on Saturday, May 15 at 11 a.m. (You can register here.) It’s going to be quite something!
I’m honored and feel obligated to help tell Fanchon’s story that opened the doors of greater opportunity to not only women in our profession, but, also those of us that make up underrepresented groups in policing. She sacrifice much and was brave in the face of adversity and, I learned through reading the book, she often wondered whether the battle was worth it….as one of many benefactors of her consent decree, I along with legions of others are answers to that question. Thank you for helping her tell her story, and, I’m looking forward to many people reading the book and a great panel discussion on May 15th!