ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) — When the wind-driven Eaton Hearth whipped via Altadena, California, they did not simply destroy neighborhoods, they wiped away a part of the wealthy historical past of the town.
A long time in the past, when the unlawful and discriminatory observe of redlining was widespread, elements of Altadena have been open for folks of coloration to purchase properties. In consequence, generations of Black households planted roots there.
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“At one time, we have been 30% African American,” mentioned Veronica Jones, president of the Altadena Historic Society.
The Mountain View Cemetery is the resting place of abolitionist and educator Ellen Garrison Jackson Clark and famend creator Octavia Butler.
The group can be dwelling to lots of of Black households, whose properties have been ravaged by the Eaton Hearth one week in the past.
“You’ve got received three generations,” mentioned Altadena resident Pauline Daniels. “And we’re Daniels, Franklin, Hughes and we’ve a component that is not right here: Freeney.”
Between these households, seven properties have been destroyed.
There’s generational wealth that’s in query now.
One dwelling that’s nonetheless standing, is the one 93-year-old Shelly Daniels and her husband, Paul, bought for about $16,000 in 1960.
“About that point it was fairly tough, as a Black particular person, to get previous Grant, previous Woodberry, actually,” she mentioned.
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Shelly and Paul have been engaged in racial justice efforts with organizations just like the NAACP and Ladies in Motion.
“We organized with a purpose to get a Black member on the town council,” Shelly mentioned.
Her granddaughter, Jamaica Hughes, lived in one of many household properties that was destroyed.
“I’ve raised my youngsters right here,” she mentioned. “Their pals are reaching out. I’ve had pals attain out to me actually from junior highschool.”
Hughes is decided to return and rebuild. It is a want her grandmother echoes.
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“I’d hope for Altadena to rebuild,” Shelly mentioned. “I do not assume I will be right here to see Altadena rebuild. However I do hope that Altadena rebuilds, as a result of it is a great place.”
Altadena is a various group that is roughly 18% African American and 27% Latino.
“Give honor and homage to the range of our group,” Jones mentioned. “There’s a big Japanese presence in Altadena.”
The lifelong resident and president of the Altadena Historic Society hopes the voices of those residents are on the middle of an equitable rebuilding of the town.
She additionally has a message to the various intergenerational Black households who name this dwelling.
“They do not have to depart,” Jones mentioned. “It is their dwelling. It is their place, that folks years in the past set down the stakes and paid the worth for them to be right here, and that they need to keep, that they need to rebuild.”
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