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“He didn’t believe in the word ‘can’t.’”
We want to take a moment to salute an Angeleno who recently passed away. At 106, Lee Wesley Gibson was believed to be the oldest living Pullman porter – that select crew of uniformed attendants to high-end travelers in the luxury sleeping railroad cars.
Reporter Ann Simmons wrote a profile about Gibson in 2010. He started as a coach attendant with Union Pacific Railroad in 1936 at the height of the Great Depression.
Millions were out of work. And like so many Americans, Gibson moved around from Texas to California on the hunt for opportunity. Within a year, he landed a job with the railroad in his new hometown, L.A.
That began a 38-year journey in which he traveled all over the country, ultimately being promoted to Pullman porter. That was the gig many wanted, though it involved long hours and occasional indignities. That was the kind of job that improved the fortunes of many struggling African Americans back then.
An interesting detail: Porters were required to respond to the name “George” after George Pullman, who founded the Pullman Palace Car Co. in 1867. The company was most famous for developing the sleeping car, adorned with plush upholstery, marble-topped wash basins and lavishly decorated interiors. In the beginning, the company hired only African American attendants.
“I was very happy. It helped me feed my family … take care of them.”
– Lee Wesley Gibson
Like thousands of other African Americans of his era, Lee Wesley Gibson had found a job that provided steady work and helped elevate his family’s socioeconomic status.
“For African Americans, it was a middle-class job,” Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum in Chicago, told The Times in 2010. The Randolph museum celebrates the contribution of African Americans to the nation’s labor history. “It represented a sort of freedom, flexibility and education all in one bundle.”
Gibson was able to buy a brand new home in 1945 in South Los Angeles, where he lived until his death.
His eldest daughter, Gwendolyn, who herself is 84, described her father’s fortitude: “He was a man whose outlook on life was extremely positive. He didn’t believe in the word ‘can’t.’”
You can read the obituary Ann Simmons wrote about Mr. Gibson here.
Photos by Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times
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Voices of Pride in the face of violence
Angelenos swallowed their fears and joined the L.A. Pride parade on Sunday, calling the celebration a refutation to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida and a show of solidarity.
“As Americans, we will not shrink away, we will not be stuck in our homes, we will not go back in our closets. We are out here to march, to celebrate and to mourn.”
– Mayor Eric Garcetti
You can hear more in their own voices here.
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This weekend is Loving Day, a celebration of the Supreme Court decision outlawing bans against interracial marriage. Our readers have been sharing their stories of how interracial marriage has affected their lives.
Although it’s never been a factor for us, the fact that we are different races definitely plays a role in our life. More than anything it has expanded our perspectives on life, love, and the American dream.
It’s beautiful! To think how far our country has come leaves us with nothing but optimism for where the country is headed!
– Shelby Erickson, Long Beach
More stories at latimes.com/loving. Share your story using #myLovingDay.
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This weekend is Loving Day, a celebration of the Supreme Court decision outlawing bans against interracial marriage. Our readers have been sharing their stories of how interracial marriage has affected their lives.
Being multiracial today means that you don’t have a racial group to identify with. For me, it means that I don’t blend in with my white friends and family, but I also stand out amongst minority groups. It means I’m an outsider because, “[I] don’t really know what it’s like."
On the other hand, being mixed race is fantastic! My parents raised me with all of my racial/cultural traditions. In one month, I could go to a Swiss Days festival and then dance at a Buddhist temple for Obon. I took both ballet and hula classes; I grew up with the biggest palette; and a pidgin English that included, Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Japanese, Tagalog, Hawaiian, and Lao.
While I don’t fit in completely with any one group, I have some "claim” to so many beautiful and unique traditions.
– Sarah Brown Rupper
More stories at latimes.com/loving. Share your story using #myLovingDay.
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This weekend is Loving Day, a celebration of the Supreme Court decision outlawing bans against interracial marriage. Our readers have been sharing their stories of how interracial marriage has affected their lives.
Usually people ask me if my family is OK with my fiancé being black, or my parents ask if his family is OK with me being Mexican. I cannot understand why it is such a problem, but I know generations before me were different.
The fact that me and my fiancé can blend both our families and our cultures makes me feel so happy, because I know that our future kids will be a part of something great. They will be part of two amazing worlds, two amazing cultures and two amazing heritages. Thank you to the Lovings for standing up for love.
– Diana Ortega, Van Nuys
More stories at latimes.com/loving. Share your story using #myLovingDay.
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This weekend is Loving Day, a celebration of the Supreme Court decision outlawing bans against interracial marriage. Our readers have been sharing their stories of how interracial marriage has affected their lives.
I have always known that I was mixed. I can recall sitting in a circle with my elementary school friends saying what our races were and I clearly stated I was half white and half Mexican. I also had a special affinity for the mixed-species Mr. Spock. It didn’t mean that much to me until I entered college at UC Berkeley and became a student activist. After spending several years doing multiracial student organizing I returned home and became active in the multiracial movement through Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC). For years I participated in the struggle to change the Census to allow people to mark one or more races: organizing conferences, workshops, letter writing, etc. We were successful in that mission but imagine my surprise when I found they didn’t allow mixed Latino identity. In spite of all my efforts to enable millions to acknowledge all their identities that option was still denied me and likely millions more people.
When it came time to start my own family I chose a Latina friend whom I’ve known since high school. I wouldn’t say I explicitly set out to find a Latina, but rather, when looking for someone with which to spend one’s life, you tend to settle on someone with whom you have something in common. We had a daughter shortly after we married but then five years later chose to adopt a child from LA County. When we heard our son’s story and saw him as a newborn we couldn’t say no. When we made our decision at the time it really didn’t matter much to us what his race was. It wasn’t until we began introducing him to friends and family that we realized the significance of our transracial adoption.
Some like to believe that love is all you need to raise a child. But how do we show our love for our kids? We do what all parents do, we try to prepare them for life on their own. We live in a racist world, and our children, as people of color, will be subject to that racism at some point in their life. In our son’s case it happened before he was even one year old. So many people were curious about his race and one went so far as to comment how “you can’t even tell he’s black.” Why should it matter if you could tell he was mixed black unless you believed for some reason that was shameful? Being multiracial he was very fair skinned to start but has since darkened up somewhat. Today we don’t go out of our way to teach our kids about racial injustice, but we do try to instill in them a sense of pride in all of who they are. They will learn soon enough all the many ways racial discrimination can affect them. For now, we want them to know how their race makes them special.
Thomas Lopez, president of Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC)
More stories at latimes.com/loving. Share your story using #myLovingDay.
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This weekend is Loving Day, a celebration of the Supreme Court decision outlawing bans against interracial marriage. Our readers have been sharing their stories of how interracial marriage has affected their lives.
My daughter, Marika, was born May 22, 2015.
In the haze of post-delivery joy, my wife, Karen, and I had yet to run down a set of life lessons to impart to our new family member. We were still waiting for a moment to get a good look at her so we could settle on which of three names we would bestow.
Now, we’ve survived our first sleepy year of being parents and withstood a series of honest discussions between us on raising a child with an African American dad and Filipino mom.
Karen, for example, wanted Marika to learn to speak English and Tagalog like she did. My wife would occasionally point to things and describe them in both languages.
I would want Marika to have an appreciation for black history.
We came to a pretty simple conclusion: Our goal would be to help her develop a strong sense of self.
We believe it’s the best way for her to gird herself from people who can’t see past stereotypes. She in turn can educate and inform people about who she is.
Sure, much of what we’ll say to her in the years to come will probably touch on an assortment of historical and societal issues and how that affects her. But we believed our best move was to make sure she gets a good dose of exposure to our families on both sides and to our cultures.
In other words, we hope little Marika grows up to be as familiar with pancit as she is with black-eyed peas.
We know there’s lots of ground to cover. I mean, she’s just getting a handle on the whole “mommy” and “daddy” thing.
And that’s a big deal because I believe how she sees us is how she’ll view herself.
For right now, it’s enough that she knows that mommy loves daddy and daddy loves mommy and they both love her.
–Robert Meeks, Los Angeles Times
More stories at latimes.com/loving. Share your story using #myLovingDay.
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This weekend is Loving Day, a celebration of the Supreme Court decision outlawing bans against interracial marriage. Our readers have been sharing their stories of how interracial marriage has affected their lives.
“My parents were married shortly after Loving vs. Virginia. This image of my Black dad and Mexican mom joining hands with us, their biracial children, in a flexible link secured us during waves of prejudice, stereotypes and misunderstandings from the outside world with the ability to pull us in as needed for support. A search for my identity, illustrated by our hands forming an abstract heart, is based on the love and confidence we had for each other to find our own way individually and as a unit.“
– Sonia Smith-Kang
More stories at latimes.com/loving. Share your story using #myLovingDay.
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Bernie Sanders makes a last-minute swing through Los Angeles this evening. People lining the streets to shake hands with Bernie Sanders in Silver Lake. This woman was crying.
More on his meet-and-greet in the streets of L.A. on Primary Day.
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“She’s gone through a lot of stuff in her life, and I have a lot of respect for her.”
– Kelly Crown, a healthcare business analyst, on supporting Hillary Clinton
Kelly’s husband, Kyle, voted for Bernie Sanders because he believes the Vermont senator “genuinely wants to help people.” What will they do come the general election? Read more here.
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“I would tell parents, love your kid, love them unconditionally, don’t try to change them.”
– Jake Hofheimer, teenager
Jake agreed to share his journey with sports columnist Bill Plaschke.
May is National Bike Month. And this week is Bike to Work week. There are tons of events throughout the month, with Metro hosting Bike Night on May 27 at Union Station.
I’ll admit that I dream of riding my bike to work, but frankly, I’m too scared to. Traffic here in Los Angeles is scary enough with a car and a bunch of metal around me. Paul Thornton in our Opinion section wrote about the sorry state of our streets for those on two wheels:
“…pavement that makes driving in a car mildly uncomfortable poses potentially grave risks for cyclists. So yeah, the city and county can go ahead and celebrate Bike Month, but I still want that asphalt on Mission fixed.”
What’s your trick to braving the L.A. roadways?
“I have a love/hate relationship with L.A.”
– Luis J. Rodriguez, Los Angeles poet laureate
Rodriguez’s “Love Poem to Los Angeles,” gets at what many Angelenos find so hard to do: define a city that’s always changing.
But if anyone knows Los Angeles, it would be Rodriguez.
