Stanley Mosk and William Spiller Sr. and Jr. Take One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Short Story

“Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” Jeremiah 31:15 (KJV)

Blacks brought to this country on slave ships suffered the most heinous crimes against humanity, separation from family, rape, torture and sanctioned murder. Blacks continued to suffer these injustices long after the statutory abolition of slavery.

There were lesser insults to African-American people, not as dramatic, but disturbing and soul shaping none-the-less. It destroys self-esteem to be excluded from playing with other kids (or grown-ups) because of the color of your skin. That kind of exclusion is heartbreaking. But it is obviously not as abhorrent as having your baby torn from your arms and given to your oppressors.

This is the story of two black men, a father and a son. The father suffered indignity and was denied the opportunity of making big money playing professional golf, because of his skin color. The son uses other arbitrary and capricious criteria to determine which children he will separate from their loving parents.

The longest serving justice on the California Supreme Court, Stanley Mosk, was a friend to these two men, and to the African-American Community as a whole. Along with other works protecting the Constitution and equality, he is credited with convincing the PGA to drop its unconstitutional rule of excluding non-Caucasians from its professional golf tournaments in 1961.

Most of the articles I found about Stanley Mosk and his efforts to desegregate golf attribute his success to a collaboration with an African-American man, golf great Charlie Sifford. But their work built upon that of another Black man named William Spiller, Sr. The elder Spiller was a vocal crusader for the right of Black people to play in the PGA. Sadly, by the time the restriction was lifted, Spiller Sr. was past his prime and did not compete in the PGA.

The Los Angeles Times wrote an article about Spiller Senior at Spiller Junior’s urging: (excerpted)

“Decades after golf tournaments threw him out because he was black, Spiller would jolt awake, sit up in his bed, shout the names of the long-deceased people who ran those tournaments.

“Sometimes he would grab his gun, stalk into the living room, wave the pistol, promise 3 a.m. revenge.

“’I’ll get them for this, you’ll see! I’ll get them!’”

Still, Stanley Mosk and William Spiller, Sr. forged a friendship in the struggle for racial justice.

Spiller Senior’s son, William Spiller, Jr. did not take up golf. He became an attorney though and continued his father’s friendship with Stanley Mosk. He became the darling of the Superior Court because of that legacy.

Spiller Junior got into the “club” of clickish attorneys in Los Angeles due to Mosk’s involvement in the Civil Rights movement alongside Spiller Senior.

Junior hit a seven-figure income by being appointed to represent minors in contentious custody cases.

It is ironic that Attorney Spiller is reputed to do the dirty work for judges who have chosen favorites in many of these cases for reasons that don’t include serving justice. Spiller’s victims are predominately Black women, though he is also known as an equal opportunity hater.

One Spiller case in the news right now is the struggle of Tanisha Foster who conceived a child with late rapper Nipsey Hussle. Foster wants to be reunited with her daughter, but Spiller is favoring Hussle’s family who control his daughter’s impressive inheritance. Follow the money.

There are many cases that don’t involve celebrities… the plight of Donicia Augustus, Maria Chiarello, schoolteachers, women of faith, and probably many who are not seen due to poverty and lack of education.

One motivation for these separations is money. Appointed minor’s counselors like Spiller make big bucks, much of it taxpayer dollars, by fanning the flames in contentious divorces. There is little oversight in the disbursements to the selected attorneys, including Spiller, who monopolize the appointed court collateral cottage industry.

The judges are the slave owners in the scenario of these unjust family law rulings. William Spiller is an overseer. With harsh indifference, he rips mothers and children apart.

This tale is perplexing and needs to be told, because instead of looking on Spiller with disdain, the legal community in L.A. embraces him and holds him in high esteem. Should we puke or should we laugh at the stupidity of these “learned” men and women, who make Spiller the keynote speaker at a conference entitled Cultural Competency in Family Law Practice?

Did none of them research Spiller’s record of discipline with the Bar for an act of moral turpitude? Can none of them hear the deep anguish and bitter weeping of Rachel for her children in Ramah?

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Doc of the Day

A bit of scripture.

“Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.” Jeremiah 31:15 (KJV)