BLACK BUZZ NEWS SERVICE
James S. Robinson, Jr. Project
Pittsburgh PA
September 30, 2010
This is about the history of my dad, James S. Robinson Jr., my family, the famous Hill City Municipality, the Hill District and the City of Pittsburgh, PA. This vital important history about my family and the Hill District will not be relegated to a position of secondary consideration.
Blogger Black Buzz, whose real name is Ronald B. Saunders, recalls an incident that happened on July 9, 1950 in the afternoon at the family confectionery store located on Watt Street in the Hill District section of Pittsburgh, PA. We had previously purchased the store from Jim Shaw. Our store was directly across from Robert L. Vann Elementary School.
I was sitting at our soda-bar, eating a bag of Owl potato chips, and my dad James S. Robinson Jr. and my aunt "Bunchie" (Montrose Brooks Bradshaw) were working behind the counter, when two unsavory looking white men came into the store and proceeded to ask my dad a series of questions.
My dad said: "Ronnie, you and Bunchie go into the backroom and stay there until I tell you to come out." My aunt Bunchie asked: "Is everything alright Jimmie?" My dad replied: "Go into the backroom with Ronnie now Bunchie.
I couldn't hear everything that my dad and the white men were talking about, but the next thing I did hear was a very loud thump which I found out later that my dad had jumped over the counter and knocked both of the white men to the floor with Karate chops to their necks and dragged them out of our store into the street. By the time my aunt Bunchie and I came back into the main part of the store, I could see and hear my dad telling the white guys: "You tell Spinelli that if he ever attempts to do something like that again that Jim Robinson will pay him a personal visit."
My dad gave those thugs a beat down that they would never forget.
My dad informed Bunchie and me that those two thug Italians heralded from the Logan Street area of the Hill District which is in the vicinity of the present site of the Mellon Civic Arena. They (Italians) came into the store telling my dad that they wanted him to write numbers. My dad also stated that he asked the two men the following: "You guys don't know whom you are talking to?" The Italian thugs replied: "We don't give a damn who you are. We want you to write numbers."
The Italian gangsters obviously didn't know that my dad was an expert gymnast, an expert in Judo, and Aikido. He also was an expert with all law enforcement weapons of his time. He was always armed.
My dad also stated that Mr. Finney, who was a famous local boxing trainer had taught him how to throw a lethal left hook and a right cross long before he became a Master in Judo. Back in the 1970's, when I worked at the Kay's Boy's Club, located at 1908 Wylie Avenue in the Hill District, the same Mr. Finney was still training some of the best boxers in the City of Pittsburgh, PA.
My dad had a track scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh back in the late 20's and early 30's where he ran both hurdle events and was lightning quick and fast as a leopard going after its prey.
We also owned a Grocery/Chicken store on the famous Wylie Avenue section of the Hill District on the same side of the street as Mason's Bar, where today new apartment buildings have been built.
We had purchased this store from a Jewish lady named Lena, and we kept one of the her former employees named Jerry. My aunt Ruth, whom my dad called "Duck Butter" also worked in our Grocery-Chicken store. My mother and I would work in this store on the weekend along with Desert (my brother's and my nickname for our dad).
Our home was broken into on several occasions in Slippery Rock, PA. The rogues/thieves may have taken important documents that would have revealed the complete identity of Lena.
Once Spinelli found that his men had visited Jim Robinson's store on Watt Street, he basically apologized to my dad because he remembered that my dad had led the Black men from the Soho District and other parts of the Hill in defense of the Black residents in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh back in the late 30' s who were being brutalized by whites in East Liberty. Spinelli wasn't about to start a racial war on the Hill. I suspect that many of the Ma and Pa businesses throughout the Hill District did write numbers for the Spinelli crowd as a means of survival rather than out of fear of the Italians. Many of the businesses were owned by Jews, Blacks and a few Italians. Those numbers-runners jobs provided employment for many Black men, women and teenagers who were discriminated against by the businesses in downtown Pittsburgh and throughout the City of Pittsburgh.
Some Black numbers racketeers may have been independent of the Logan street mob. Citizens all over the City of Pittsburgh played the illegal numbers with the knowledge and silent consent of Pittsburgh's Mayor, David L. Lawrence and Harvey Scott who was the Superintendent of the Pittsburgh Police Department.
Mayor Lawrence was also the Honorary Chairman of the Hill City Municipality for which my dad was employed. Mayor Lawrence knew that Jim Robinson wasn't for sale because of prior incidents in the Hill District.
My dad arrested a prominent white man from Fox Chapel who was attempting to solicit a 14 year old colored girl who was just standing outside of the Hour Glass Restaurant on Fifth Avenue. In the 1940's, Black police officers were not supposed to arrest white men or women for any crimes. So, after my dad's arrest of the big-wig from Fox Chapel, two fellow white cops from the Lawrenceville section of the City, after business hours, made a visit to Hill City located on Bedford Avenue in the Hill District to teach the Nigger a lesson for arresting a white man. According to my dad, the next day they found the two white police officers laying on the sidewalk outside of Hill City. They had been so soundly beaten that they were completely disabled and both men had to retire from the Pittsburgh Police Department due to permanent injuries. My dad said he could never prove it, but he felt that Superintendent of Police Scott, through Mayor Lawrence had sent those two cops up to Hill City to teach the nigger to stay in his place. My dad said he knew they were cops by the way they were attempting to fight him plus he thought he had seen them on patrol around 4oth and Butler streets which is in Lawrenceville.
The next day after the citizens found the two white police officers laying in the street on Bedford Avenue, the Honorable Mayor Lawrence called my dad into his office and said: "Robbie, you can have this office next to mine and you don't have to do anything." My dad said he looked at the Mayor and said 'no thanks' and walked out of the Mayor's office.
My aunt Lorraine, who is Mrs. Clifton Brown, also told me about the above incident on how Mayor Lawrence tried to buy my dad off by giving him an office and desk with no job responsibilities. Mrs. Brown presently lives in Mechanicsburg, PA with her son Sherman. She is the sister-in-law of the famous late Jazz Bassist Ray Brown. One of my aunt's sons, Raymond Brown is named after the famous jazz bassist. Raymond, whose nickname is Bummie, formerly worked as the assistant general counsel for AT& T. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law. He received his B.S. degree from the elite Johns Hopkins University located in Baltimore, Maryland. Raymond is presently self-employed along with his wife Marta in Real Estate Investments.
Mayor Lawrence found out that Jim Robinson wasn't for sale at any price.
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