The Northside Bono's Barbecue is in many ways at the center of everything U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown faces today.

It is where, while dining with her inner circle, she was served a subpoena by federal investigators. It is also in a neighborhood filled with people who have backed Brown for decades and say they will continue to do so even as she faces 24 charges.

"Over the years, she's been a good woman to support us," Northside resident Valeria Johnson, 57, said Friday after the 53-page indictment was unsealed. "If she's found guilty, I'll still support her because she has done good for the community."

The indictment of Brown and her longtime chief of staff reinforced what many people already think about the congresswoman, for better or for worse.

For some, it is proof that she is a career politician driven by greed and criminal behavior. But others - especially in Jacksonville's African-American community that Brown has represented since 1992 - say the charges are indicative of a criminal system that treats minorities unfairly and a political apparatus that has tried for years to take Brown out. This narrative has been stoked by the congresswoman herself, who says everything from the criminal charges to her redrawn district is at least partially motivated by racism and animosity toward her.

The difference now is that Brown is running for re-election in a reconfigured district that now stretches from Jacksonville toward Tallahassee and includes counties and towns that she has never represented before. With less than six weeks to go until early voting begins for the primary, Brown will need to shore up her support in Jacksonville and expand it in other areas to win.

Her main competition, former state Sen. Al Lawson, has been campaigning as drama-free alternative to Brown.

"The thing that I bring to the table more than anything else compared Corrine Brown is a different kind of leadership," Lawson, who lives in Tallahassee, said Friday. "I am a proven leader in this particular area, and I don't have a lot of the baggage that is going on with the current leadership. I am not involved with 'quick picks' and all the other things that people are concerned about."

Derrick Jennings is coordinator of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Monticello, one of the biggest annual events in the town about a half-hour east of Tallahassee. He said Brown may have a hard time convincing voters there to support her, not because of the charges but because Lawson is simply better known.

"Al Lawson attended the recent Jefferson County Watermelon Festival, and he has reached out to some people in our area," Jennings said. "The other candidate has not."

He said the legal case doesn't prevent him for hearing what Brown has to say - "I can't go by what people say until I do my own research for myself" - but for now he leans toward Lawson, whom he knows personally.

"I think Al would have the upper hand if people get out and vote because he is more popular," Jennings said.

Lawson has been campaigning across the district, including frequent trips to Jacksonville where he hopes to claim some of Brown's support. A recent poll by the University of North Florida showed Brown has a slim edge over Lawson with 30 percent of the vote compared to his 27. But 40 percent of voters in the district are undecided.

Brown has been less visible on the campaign trail with the investigation hanging over her head, although she qualified for the ballot by petition and has said for months that she intends to run and win. Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Brown, no relation, said he has traveled to speak to churches and community leaders in Lake City, Live Oak and Macclenny on her behalf.

But now, knowing fully what she faces with the criminal charges, it is time for the congresswoman to step from the shadows and show up for herself, Reggie Brown said.

"I do think it's time that we get to work," he said. "If we're going to win, we need to get to work."

Charged but not convicted, Brown controls her own destiny for now. Although she temporarily stepped down as ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, none of her colleagues have publicly called for her resignation.

Even if she did resign, that wouldn't change that she is on the ballot for the August primary. The trial is currently scheduled for Sept. 6, but it could be pushed back until after the general election.

No matter what happens, 46-year-old Northside resident Ray Hodges said, "I'm still with her." As he picked up his Bono's dinner Friday, he referred to the congresswoman as "auntie" even though he's never met her.

Another customer at the restaurant, 65-year-old Vietnam veteran Frank Mathis, said he walked into her office one day and asked for help obtaining his veterans benefits. Corrine delivered. Mathis dismissed the chatter around the federal charges.

"Because she was indicted, that doesn't mean that she did anything," he said. "All I hear is propaganda and talk."

As protests about unfair treatment of African-Americans take place across the nation, the belief of many of Brown's constituents that she has been treated unfairly has taken even stronger root. Jacksonville Urban League President and Chief Executive Richard Danford said Brown seems to be held to a different standard than other lawmakers.

"If you're wrong, you're wrong," he said. "But there are interpretations of the law, and I find that often times the law is applied unequal in similar situations."

That message could resonate, even with people living in areas that have never been asked to vote for Brown before. But much of it will depend how and where she decides to show up on the campaign trail. Danford points out that she has won in the past, even when issues about her integrity and allegations of wrong-doing were raised.

"Over the years she's had some substantial competition, even those that had the support of the Republican Party as well as independents," he said. "I think like everything else it's going to be a process in how well we get out the vote."

Tia Mitchell: (850) 933-1321

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