February 12, 1997

Previous story - Index - Next Story Search all issues - LA Online

Photo by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier James Ware, a U.S. District Court judge, holds a light bulb as he describes how Lewis Howard Lattimer, a black man, obtained the patent to Thomas Edison's invention.

Judge asks, 'Can't we just get along?'

By Clyde Noel
Town Crier Staff Writer

ames Ware, a U.S. District Court judge for the San Jose district, grew up in Alabama. He was the son of a coal miner, and being black, he went to all-black schools in Birmingham.

At last week's Morning Forum lecture in Los Altos, Ware recalled riding on a bicycle with his brother when a young white man walked up and shot his brother.

He held his dying brother in a gutter. The killer had just attended an anti-segregation meeting. "I came out of that ditch with a hunger for justice," Ware said. "Since that day, I dedicated my life towards equal justice and a life where everyone can be proud."

Ware was in the middle of a jury trial concerning an equal justice issue on Feb. 5. He made the commitment to speak at Morning Forum, but he kept his ear to the telephone for instructions from the court as he addressed his audience at the United Methodist Church.

Ware presented a history of the struggle of the African-American to achieve equal justice by explaining the gradual change through U.S. Supreme Court case decisions.

He specifically mentioned a test case in the 19th century, Plessey vs. Ferguson, in which an African-American could not enter into a contract with a Caucasian on a railroad.

Homer Plessey was characterized in the ruling as "inferior" because he had some African-American blood.

During the same period, Thomas Alva Edison invented the electric light bulb.

He formed The Edison Company in Menlo Park, N.J., and hired a black man, Lewis Howard Lattimer, to run the small firm.

"When you look up the patent of the light bulb you will find the name of a black, Lewis Howard Lattimer as the developer," Ware said. "That is justice that makes you proud."

Ware questioned whether our modern-day society is mature enough to eliminate affirmative action.

"We want to eliminate affirmative action, but if we do then we deny social justice," Ware said. "Everybody agrees that we should get to a debate about this, but is there trust among us?

"Our goals are the same, but trust gets in the way. We have to find a place where we can sit down and be friendly with each other and begin to trust each other. Can't we just get along?

"Whenever we have a protected class, it sets our agenda for the next century. The thing we have to get over is the race and gender," Ware said.

Ware dreams of the day when the president of the United States is both female and black.

Then, "We will have become a nation of all people," he said, "a nation that has formed a unity of social justice. That's my dream."

Ware said building prisons is currently the biggest industry in California. There has to be a better way, he said.

"A teacher would be delighted to have the budget we provide for one prisoner for 10 years. Prisons are our biggest industry and our resources are misdirected," Ware said.

In his concluding remarkas Ware said that acceptance comes when you are able to marry anybody in society and no body cares. "We still have the notion that groups should stick together. Friendship is what is necessary to get away from segregation."