Spokane Was Lucky To Have Him Here

Not everyone in Spokane loved Carl Maxey.

Some people feared him. Some people were angry at him. Some people cursed his causes and his clients.

Nearly everyone knew his name.

He was a part of Spokane, a player, a force to be reckoned with, someone who held down a corner of this city’s social, cultural and political fabric.

When he died this past week at 73 of a self-inflicted gunshot, the loss echoed through households rich and poor, black and white.

Carl Maxey was the first black man from Eastern Washington to pass the bar and become an attorney.

That would be an accomplishment of note under any circumstances. It was all the more remarkable because Carl Maxey came upon success via a difficult path.

Kicked out of an orphanage because of his skin color and raised on an Indian reservation, he worked his way through high school and college as a waiter and busboy. He came of age and established his professional life in Spokane at a time when strong-willed men of color were few and far between in the establishment.

He was a liberal Democrat in Eastern Washington where liberal Democrats aren’t in fashion, and he succeeded.

He was an early champion for civil rights before civil rights became the law of the land, and he succeeded.

He opposed the Vietnam War in a city where Fairchild Air Force Base is a major employer, and he succeeded.

He represented women in messy divorces and cleaned out the pockets of many men who imagined a divorce would be cheap and easy, and he succeeded.

He took on clients who were charged with murders, assaults and other major crimes because our system says these people must have good representation, and he succeeded.

These were the reasons not everyone loved Carl Maxey. And, these are the reasons his life was all the more remarkable.

He did more than make money and a name for himself. He contributed to community life in a thousand small ways.

He fought one day with his fellow attorneys and political adversaries, only to show up on Sunday at their social gatherings and churches. Carl Maxey played Santa Claus at the Unitarian Church.

Spokane, and every vibrant, healthy community, needs men like Carl Maxey.

Communities need men and women whose strong beliefs are matched with their caring souls, high principles and solid sense of place.

For nearly 50 years, Carl Maxey made things happen here.

Suddenly and sadly, the place he occupied is empty.

In time, Spokane can only hope that space will be filled by others who recall his legacy.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Chris Peck/For the editorial board