P ag e A 4
M A R C H 2 5 , 1998
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T he
First, let m e clear up a possible
m isconception from last w eek ’s ar
ticle. T he invention in B uxton, Iowa
(circa 1922) was that o f a ‘railroad
S em aphore’ or w arning signal w hich
functioned Inside T he L ocom otive
C ab - rather than as a m oving arm
m ounted on tall poles along the right
o f way.
The great advance in life-saving
technology is imm ediately apparent
as was m ade obvious several years
ago ju st out side o f Longview, W ash
ington - such a device ‘w as n o t’ in use
when (here was a tragic collision be
tween two freight trains ‘on the same
track’. A ‘surviving’ engineer said,
that becauseofthedriving rain, he was
not able to peer out the w indow o f his
cab to see that the pole-mounted sem a
phore was indicating that the track
ahead was occupied by another train.
Same problem for other engineer.
The device patented by the Buxton
inventor w as for a w arning signal
m ounted on a ‘dash b o ard ’ w ithin the
locom otive such that there w ould be
T hank V oi F or R eading T hi P ortland O bserver
From the Voice O f
Joe (Bean Keller
c
z
V
e
no need to peer out o f a w indow at
night o rd u rin g inclem ent w eather. A
m inute electrical current traveling
through the tracks and then up through
the locom otive w heels, w ould acti
vate a signal on the en g in eers’ instru
ment panel. This was not a far-fetched
idea or ‘ R o ck et-S cien ce’ for an o th er
black inventor, G ranville T. W oods,
had already perfected this tech n o l
ogy o v er a quarter-century earlier.
W oods had proven this m ethod o f
signal transm ission for various p u r
poses w as quite feasible and he p at
ented m any such system s: ‘‘ap p ara
tus for Transm ission o f M essages by
E le c tric ity , A p ril 7, 1885, N o.
3 15,368; R ailw ay T elegraphy. Nov.
15, 1887 No. 373,383; Induction
T elegraph System , Nov. 29, 1887,
No. 3 7 3 ,9 1 5 ;” and on and on, ad
infinitum . Y o u ’ll get tired after you
reach ninety, all im portant to indus
try in o ne field o r an o th er (including
the first autom atic chicken incuba
tor, sm iles!).
A nd, o f course, the very sam e
G ran v illeT . W oods invented the so-
called “W estinghouse A ir B rake’ .
O n page 37 o f the latest reprinting o f
m y b o o k “ B la c k In v e n to r s o f
A m erica" I have a photo-copy o f
W o o d ’s patent No. 701,981 o f June
10,1902 for the autom atic A ir Brake
and his "tran sfer by m esne assig n
m ents (sale) to the “ W estinghouse
air Brake C om pany o f Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.” An absolutely incred
ible invention that over the years has
saved a n um ber o f lives and property
values that boggles the mind. But we
have never been able to get either the
A m erican m ediaor the W estinghouse
co rporation to acknow ledge “The
T ru th " (B ook is at Reflections Book
Store).
But let us return to the saga o f the
“ S e m a p h o re -o n - th e -d a s h b o a r d .”
Thanks to the historical society based
near B uxton, Iowa, I w as able to
reach a gran d d au g h ter o f the inven
to r by telephone. She told a harro w
ing story, one quite fam iliar to those
o f us w ho have sought to track dow n
th ese inventions - for m otivational
p urposes an d /o r to see how m any
black inventors received the fruits o f
their labors. (It appears now that
there w ere m any thousands o f them
lost to history).
T his lady said her grandfather,
trusting and not w ell-educated w rote
to a ‘R ailw ay A sso ciatio n ’ in C h i
cago. “T hey sent him a ticket and
hotel m oney, advising him to pack up
everything and they w ould take a
look at it. T his he did, w riting back
later that they had set up an elaborate
model train yard on the ninth floor o f
som e big building w here his device
was being ‘te ste d ’."
It seem s that for several years they
kept asking him to “adjust this and
adjust that -y o u ’re going to be rich
soon, boy.” He got a law yer out o f the
phone book and “he jo in e d the ch o
rus.” Finally her grandfather returned
hom e, b roke and disgusted. I tried to
pursue this saga as history but soon
found out I did not have the resources.
But there are m ore than sufficient
m o d e ls w h o se w e ll-d o c u m e n te d
“w hole truth” can m otivate our youth
in this ag e o f technology.
B y B ernice P owell J ackson
W hen I was young three m onths
seemed like a lifetime. The three
months o f sum m er seemed tojust float
slowly by, allowing m e to visit my
grandmother, play with my dolls and
do all the reading I w anted to. The
three m onths before Christm as just
dragged along. But now...
1 rem em ber my m other saying time
moved faster as you got older and it
w asn’t that I d id n ’t believe her, I just
didn’t understand w hat she meant.
Now I do.
Three m onths ago I left to go on
sabbatical and it seem s like, well,
maybe three weeks. It was truly a time
o f rest, o f unloading all the responsi
bilities, all the pain and all the frustra
tions o f being on the front line o f the
struggle for justice. Probably the en
tire first m onth I ju st rested my body
and my mind, w atching the birdsat the
bird feeder, listening to music and
finding tim e to read whatever 1 wanted
w henever I w anted to.
It was truly a tim e o f personal heal
ing.-of tim e spent every day meditat
ing and praying, o f remem beringclose
friends and colleagues who had passed
away in 1997 and laying down the pain
o f their separation. It was a tim e o f
attending to my own physical and psy
chological needs and spiritual nurtur
ing. I took Tai chi chuan and felt the
pow er o f exercise and meditation to
gether. I used several daily books o f
prayer and took tim e ju st to listen to
G od rather than always ju st talking to
God.
It was truly a tim e o f personal
growth. T here’s an old Chinese saying
which says that when the pupil isready,
the teacher will come. W hen I m en
tioned my quilting project ju st a few
days before m y leave was to begin at a
retreat at m y local church, one o f the
w om en there cam e forward and said,
“I w ant to help you.” She soon led me
to a teacher and som e o f my sabbatical
tim e was spent learning how to quilt
and I found a new/old survival skill
w hich our grandm others m ust have
know n a hundred years ago.
I also have a renewed sense o f pride
and inspiration found w hen I re
searched each o f the 16 w om en in my
quilt, each one is a w om an w ho re
fused to color within the lines o f the
life that society had draw n for her as a
black women. So they becam e libera
tors, college presidents, millionaires,
writers, politicians, pilots and preach
ers. Each o fth em was or is a powerful
w om an w ho reached back and helped
others and serve as role m odels for
millions o f us even now.
BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES:
Supporting Family Strengths
Deontae J. Keller Defense Fund
Giving honor to God, the Pastor and all Ministers,
M y name is Joe (Bean) Keller and I am addressing this letter
to you r Church asking fo r you r support and financial contri
bution to the Deontae J. Keller Defense Fund.
On February 28, 1996, my son, Deontae J. Keller, was the
victim o f a police shooting, that left him dead at the scene. My
son was shot directly in the back by a certified Special Enforce
ment Team (S.E.R. T.) officer o f the Portland Police Bureau.
As such, he had received special training in weapon and other
emergency scenarios. After being shot, my son was discovered
by a K-9 unit and an officer at 1:48am. Deontae was on the
ground and breathing heavily but officers did not approach
him. When they fin ally approached him, he was dead. The
autopsy estimated that his time o f death was 2:45am. Deontae
had laid there unaided and suffering fo r nearly an hour before
he died. Deontae was left in mourning a Mother, Father,
Grandmother, Grandfather, Brother, Sister, 10 Uncles, 8 Aunts,
and 103 1st & 2nd generation cousins, as well as an extended
fam ily. He was well loved.
For the past two years, my attorneys and ! have been
preparing a fe d e ra l Lawsuit on behalf o f my son against the
City ° f Portland, the Portland Police bureau and the officer
that did the shooting. Monies from the defense fu n d will be
used fo r Federal Court costs, filin g fees, expert witness fees
and a number o f additionalfees that will occur in a case o f this
magnitude. Any excess fu nds available after the case has been
settled will go to the Deonatae J. Keller Scholarship Fund to be
presented to chosen graduating students at Rose Mary Ander
son High School (formerly P. O.l. C) where Deontae graduated
from the summer before his death.
Contributions can be made payable to the Deontae J. Keller
Defense Fund and deposited at any U.S. Bank o f Oregon or
sent to Joe (Bean) Keller at : 5404 NE 24 th, Portland, Or 9721 !
fo r recording and acknowledgment purposes.
I f you would like more information, please don't hesitate to
call me at 503-903-2471.
Thank you fo r you r support, with God's blessing.
Sincerely,
Joe (Bean) Keller
s
Recharged, refueled and re-engergized for the struggle
S ubscriptions
P ortland O bserver ; P O B ox 3 1 3 7
P ortland , O regon 9 7 2 0 8
Name:
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The Truth, I he Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth,” III
t> .
(Tip? ^ Jn rtla n h (JDbscrucv
s P
w
; :
ten our
family faces
a challenge,
we face it
head on.
With all our minds
put together,
we’ll come up
with something to
meet that challenge.”
-GENEVA JONES,
grandparent of six,
great-grandparent of three
¿The ^ î o r t b t n b (¡D b s e ru e r
Multnomah County's Family Centers supjxirt family strengths
with 14 locations throughout the county.
iy^
centers
B uilding B etter C ommunities
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