COMMUNITY
FONZ BROWN WRITTEN BY DAWN ANDERSON | PHOTOGRAPHY: BY YERO | TWO HEARTS MEDIA, LLC
2 023 is a banner year for community leader and event organizer LaFon “Fonz” Brown. On April 29, Louisville Metro Government honored him with Fonz Brown Day. Deputy Mayor Barbara Sexton Smith presented Fonz with a key to the city for his West End cleanups and other contributions. On July 8, Fonz and his business partner Ethan McKenzie of Brown McKenzie Group (BMG) turned the spotlight to Black visual artists with Black Art of Louisville, an event and exhibit benefiting needy families at Chestnut Street Family YMCA. BMG and Dillard’s St. Matthews will collaborate again on an annual event, Dillard’s After Dark 2 fall fashion show. Fonz Brown has come a long way from his upbringing on Olive Street in Louisville’s West End. But he is still deeply committed and connected to his roots. Raised by a single mother who later remarried, bringing his stepfather into the picture, Fonz describes his boyhood aspirations as “typical” of many young men in the Black community, imagining himself as an athlete or a rapper. Fonz played football at Waggener High School and lived with his coach’s family for a time. “There I was, experiencing white middle-class living while also hanging with the knuckleheads running around in a gang.”
Fonz also explored the local rap scene and sold thousands of CDs. “I was not as disciplined,” he says. “I wasn’t prepared for music business opportunities because I was too focused on attention- getting and showmanship. I was living the lifestyle I was rapping about and burned a lot of bridges. But rapping and entertaining helped prepare me with communication skills I need as a community leader.” On Derby Day 2009 at 15th & Market, Fonz was 30 years old when he was set up, robbed, and shot twice. “I learned to walk all over again. It took 1½ to 2 years to get my legs back up under me.” The trauma and rehabilitation gave him time to reflect. “Depending on others was a humbling experience, and I found out who’s in my corner.” One of those people was his lifelong friend Ethan who encouraged Fonz to seek counseling for the life-changing trauma and PTSD. According to Fonz, “The gun jammed. You have this picture in your head of what might have happened if it hadn’t. For a long time, I couldn’t sit anywhere with my back to the door. It still affects me on the 4th of July and in large, noisy crowds.” But Ethan sees the positive changes, too. “Fonz has natural leadership abilities and charisma that commands the room. Therapy helped nurture those abilities and almost
pushed him into community service. The work we collectively put in with the music grind, his friends in the corporate world, and my connection to the grassroots made the transition from music to community activism seamless.” Fonz sometimes feels helpless and hopeless about gun violence, but he has made a difference in the city’s environment. Starting with his mopar car clubs and car shows in the summer of 2016, Fonz helped organize Peace Fest featuring performing artists at Sheppard Park in the Russell neighborhood. Pillows for the People, benefiting Louisville’s houseless population, came along in 2017. Shoe drives, charity basketball games, pandemic lockdown deliveries, and West End cleanups followed. Fonz says, “I went from rapping to speaking. There’s your plan, and then there’s God’s plan. I focus on giving back and helping others, instantly commanding the utmost respect from kids when speaking in schools because I can relate to them, and they sense that authenticity. I don’t do this for the accolades but for the love of community and putting smiles on faces.” To get involved, follow @502Fonz on Facebook and Instagram or email BrownFonz502@gmail.com.
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