Dallas Police Chief David Brown has at least one job lined up after he retires next month: He said today that he's been invited to be commencement speaker at the University of Texas in Austin.
Brown spoke at a lunch sponsored by the Dallas Friday Group -- a day after he announced he'd be retiring Oct. 4, three weeks earlier than planned. He said he was contacted by the school Friday morning.
He spent three years studying in Austin -- and dropped out in the spring of senior year to come home and become a police officer.
The chief, who became a national figure after the July 7 police shootings in downtown Dallas, also told stories Friday about how his youth shaped his views on race:
A black kid from South Oak Cliff, he was bused to an all-white middle school. "I was treated horribly" for the first few weeks, until a classmate invited him over for a meal. "It was 'Guess Who's Coming To Dinner!'" he joked, referring to the groundbreaking Sidney Poitier/Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy film from 1968.
