Page 16 - CEEM Shopping Mag August 2020

Remembering Don Griggs

Hardy Brown, Sr., Contributor

During those years, Edison was a little slow in promoting Blacks to management, at least Don and I
thought so. I became a little impatient, so when I had the opportunity to leave and go to Kaiser, I took it
and told Don of my move.

Don asked me to tell Edison about our concerns of discrimination in the region even though Division
Manager Oliver P. Roemer and District Manager Allen Yauchzee were doing a great job.

After I secured my position at Kaiser, I kept my agreement with Don and sent a six-page letter to
G. E. Walcott, Vice President of Customer Service at Edison, detailing the many incidents of racial
discrimination that I knew of. This letter, with documented evidence, forced a meeting with the Black
employees of the Eastern Division and top management from the utility’s Rosemead o ce.

They met at Geri’s Velvet Lounge on Mt. Vernon after working hours. As a result of that meeting, Don
became Edison’s rst District O ce Manager and other Black employees like Leonard Jacks and
Pete Baeza were promoted, and Frank Palomino became a supervisor.

Like me, Don later left Edison to become his own boss and opened Irv Silvers, a men’s clothing store in
Riverside and later opened his second store in San Bernardino. He worked closely with Francis Grice and
Wesley Je erson of Operation Second Chance to secure the small business loans to build his dream of
being an entrepreneur.

Meanwhile, Bob Parker, another business owner and president of Westside Action Group (WAG), was
looking for someone to take over WAG. With Don being an independent, business-minded person and
ex-Marine, it was easy for him to take over as president.

One of the things we had learned at WAG over the years was to speak out on community issues, you had
to be free from government in uence. Don took on issues like keeping Community Hospital open and on
the Westside.

He also knew how to ght racism. As an example, in 1992 he told members of the Lions Club about a
community issue that involved some of their members, “It would be interesting to see whom of our
so-called business and civic leaders were in attendance and also the companies they represent.
Perhaps that will give us the advantage of looking the enemy in the eye prior to feeling the dagger
in our backs.”

When Don was re-elected president for his second term over 400 members of the community attended
his installation. One of the things everyone remembers is it was a crowd of all racial groups in attendance.

Remembering Don Griggs | Page 2 of 3