Griffin Speaks

IN MEMORY OF LOUIS J. WILLIE

In August 1984 I moved to Birmingham, Alabama walked in off the street and asked to speak to Dr. A. G. Gaston. I was allowed to see him. He interviewed me for about an hour. He stood up and told me to come with him. He escorted me to his legal division and told his General Counsel Philander Butler to put me to work. Everyone thought the old man had lost his mind. Mr. Willie almost passed out! Who was this stranger that had captivated the great Dr. Gaston?

I told Dr. Gaston that since I was a child I had wanted to meet him. I told him how he and Dr. Benjamin Mays were my Father's heroes. He told me that I reminded him of him. We really clicked when he told me what old men had told me all my life, "young man I see something in you." That was what I would hear from the old men after I finished shining their shoes for 25 cents at Grimes Barber Shop in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The old men would also say "that boy is going to be somebody." They thought it odd for a seven year old boy to take so much pride in his work.

Office politics was foreign to me. I thought everyone would wish me well. I thought that surely Dr. Gaston's top level men would embrace me and mentor me. What I received at A.G. Gaston Enterprises was a Masters in Negro Business Administration. I believed that I would have an opportunity to fully use my LL.M in Taxation from Boston University School of Law. Dr. Gaston's idea of a Tax Attorney was someone going to the Tax Office to pay property taxes. My principle responsibility was running to Green Acres to purchase chicken wings for his then Assistant General Counsel Barbara Fox Jones. I would pray to God that she would not hit me in the eye with one of those chicken wing bones.

When I started with the company, I was licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania. I could not take the bar exam in Alabama until February 1985. Dr. Gaston started me off at $19,000 a year. He promised me that after I passed the bar exam in February he would raise my salary $2000.00. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven. My office was next to his office. I felt like the fair haired boy. Little did I know that I would learn the greatest lesson of my life about some of my people.

When my parents visited me in Birmingham, Dr. Gaston invited them to have lunch with us at the Relay House (presently the Summit Club). We traveled to the Club in his chauffeured driven Eldorado. My parents were star struck. When you were in Dr. Gaston's presence, it was like being in the presence of a movie star. People fell all over him. He was once the richest black man in the world. Here we were eating lunch with one of my father's heroes. I had already introduced my parents to my father's other hero Dr. Mays. We became friends when I was a student at Morehouse.

The last words that Dr. Gaston spoke to my parents were: "I am going to make a man out of your son." We exited his car and said thank you. My father did not come back to earth for a week.

On May 1, 1985, I received a letter from the Alabama State Bar Examiners informing me that I had successfully passed the Bar Exam. I rushed to the Office to spread the good news. Even though I was already admitted to Pennsylvania and District of Columbia Bars, this was great news. Dr. Gaston was not in the office because he left work every day after lunch. He was over ninety years old.

When I informed my immediate supervisor about my passing the bar exam, she told me to go and tell the accountant to give me the $2000.00 raise promised by Dr. Gaston. I quickly went upstairs and informed the accountant. What happened later would be one of the most unforgettable experiences in my life!

In May of 1985, only two black men successfully passed the Alabama Bar Exam. That was Dennis Sweet, an attorney working for Morris Dees and me. I just knew that Dr. Gaston would be so proud of me.

On May 2, 1985, I was sitting in my office having a conversation with Gerald Long, a CPA that was auditing the company. Dr. Gaston passed by my office and stuck his head inside the door. He said Lawyer come to my office I need to see you. I told Gerald to excuse me I have to go. Dr. Gaston wants to congratulate me!

I entered Dr. Gaston's office and he immediately started screaming: "YOU ARE FIRED! YOU DON'T APPRECIATE ME! JUST GET YOUR THINGS AND LEAVE! I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WERE RUNNING AROUND HERE YESTERDAY DEMANDING A RAISE! YOU DON'T APPRECIATE ME!! JUST GET OUT! Every time that I would try to speak and tell him what happened he would scream louder. He never let me say a word.

I rushed to my immediate supervisor and asked her to go and tell him the truth. She refused to do so! I was devastated! I now realize that I had become the victim of office politics. Mr. Willie refused to talk to me! I went to Attorney J. Mason Davis for advice, but he said that he couldn't talk to me because he was outside counsel for the company. I was left with nowhere to turn.

I suffered for one year trying to earn a living in Birmingham after the old man threw me out the door. He claimed until the day he died that he never fired me. Six years later he called me to come and see him. I was working in the Civil Division at the Attorney General Office at the time. I asked my supervisor Walter Turner if I should go. He recommended that I go and see what he wanted.

After six years, I entered Dr. Gaston's office and we made peace! As I looked at this old man that had thrown me out on the street I realized what a favor he had done for me. I realized the lesson he taught me. He left me more than all his millions. He left me with the knowledge that snakes bite no matter what the color. He left me with the knowledge that you have to manage your own career. Few people care about whether you make it. "Love many, trust few, paddle your own canoe!"

When Dr. Gaston passed at the ripe old age of 103, I sat in the chapel at the Smith and Gaston Funeral Home for over an hour alone with him. I thanked God for the opportunity to know him. I thanked God for the experience. The last thing I said to Dr. Gaston before I left was: "I LOVED YOU AND YOU DIDN'T REALIZE IT!"

Today, I am one of three black merit system Attorney Fours in the State of Alabama. I serve as the Chief Legal Counsel for the Parole Board. In a few years I can retire and receive seventy five percent of whatever my take home pay is at that time. I owe a great deal of my success to OLD MAN GASTON!

In the words of my dad: “Stay away from the pig ears and fried pork chops.  Eat more fruits and vegetables.”