Honorable Jew Don Boney Jr. was Mayor Pro Tem of Houston Texas, from 1998 to 2001, and served as member of the Houston City Council from 1995 until 2001, representing the historically African American District D.

His involvement in Texas politics began with the 62nd Legislative Session, when he worked as a legislative assistant to State Representative Curtis Graves. The following year, in 1973, he accepted a position as a legislative aide to former U.S.Congressman Craig A. Washington, who was then a freshman Texas Legislator.

Boney would go onto enjoy an impressive career as a radio journalist but political and community organizing would eventually become his primary passions.

During the 1980s,Boney received national notoriety for his activism, which involved organizing the Coalition to Free Clarence Brandley, a multiracial and ecumenical alliance of Houstonians that successfully galvanized international support for Brandley’s release. Brandley was falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death row yet after serving a decade of his life in Huntsville, he was finall yexonerated in 1990. “I believe having the opportunity to serve in a capacity that actually helped save a human being’s life is the most significant contribution anyone can make,” says Boney. Boney’s activism was depicted in the Show time movie, “White wash: The Clarence Brandley Story,” which starred Eamonn Walker as Boney.” He spoke out in the aftermath of the 1998 hate-crime killing of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas.

Boney chaired the Legislative and Public Policy Task Force for the Earl Carl Institute at the Thurgood Marshall Schoolof Law at Texas Southern University.

In 1995, Boney was elected to Houston City Council District D and served three consecutive terms until 2001. As a member of City Council, he was widely recognized for building consensus between various constituencies around public policy issues and strong leadership on fiscal issues. He served on every committee that held oversight of major fiscal operations for the City of Houston and chaired several,including Regional Planning, which oversaw the financing of Houston’s Downtown Convention Center Hotel, Housing and Community Development, the Sub-Committee of International Trade in Africa and the Caribbean and the Ad Hoc Committee on Election Procedures and Voting Systems.

Following Boney’s tenure on City Council, he was appointed Associate Director of the Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace at Texas Southern University. There he headministered the Center’s widely acclaimed leadership development programs,including the Texas Legislative Internship (Sponsored by Texas State SenatorRodney Ellis), the Mickey Leland Congressional Internship and the Mickey Leland International Enhancement Program, a Study Abroad program that enabled more than 200 TSU students to travel to varied locations around the world. Under Boney’s leadership, the Mickey Leland Archives were restored, digitally preserved, and made available to the public for the first time.

As aninternational trade facilitator, Boney has visited more than 20 foreign countries including Mexico, England, Ireland, Germany, Italy, the Bahamas,Jamaica, Brazil, Canada, Malawi, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana,Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Globally, Boney was a staunch anti-apartheid campaigner. He fought for the release of Nelson Mandela, and eventually met with the South Africa President on several occasions. In the field of world peace and the fight against hunger, he participated in the 2002 Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Summit on issues relating to human rights. He also was a delegate to the African/African American Summit inAccra, Ghana.

Boney has worked hand in hand with numerous African governments on missions to initiate,facilitate and implement global policy. This included work to secure passage of “The African Growth and Opportunity Act” (AGOA) signed by President Bill Clinton, established the first formalized trade relationship between the U.S.and Africa.

At the request of Ethiopian officials, he successfully facilitated the certification of Ethiopia under AGOA. Boney was also asked to co-lead a September 2002 Trade Mission to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he was able to successfully facilitate an agreement between the Ethiopian Government and the Food Development Corporation (FDC) to develop an unprecedented food security project projected to build a multimillion-dollar agribusiness complex which is projected to provide food for 100,000 and employ more than 10,000 Ethiopians.

Boney chaired the Legislative and Public Policy Task Force for the Earl Carl Institute at theThurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. He was also Chairman of the Board of Directors for the 37th annual Houston International Festival in 2008, with the theme “Out of Africa: The Three Journeys”.

Son of the late educator J. Don Boney of Calvert, Texas, and Clara Bernice Payne of Houston, Boney earned his Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication (magna cum laude), M.A. in Communications from Texas Southern University (TSU) and an Executive Master of Public Administration from TSU's Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. He is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.