The Eaton Fire: 1 Year Later
Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of the Eaton Fire, which killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 buildings. Thousands of Californians had their lives irrevocably changed in the blaze, with the Black residents of Altadena particularly feeling the impact. NewsOne’s documentary One Year Later: Eaton Fire explores the rich Black history of Altadena and the fire’s impact on the city’s Black community.
“I feel sad, the memories are coming back,” Altadena resident Emani Lloyd says in the documentary. “I thought I’d be better since I’ve been here before, but it’s actually each time I come back it gets worse and worse.”
“It’s not just about a fire. It is political,” Sade Sellers, the producer/director of the documentary, says. “I want people to know this goes way deeper than losing a family home. We’re losing a culture, we’re losing an economy, and the ripple effect of this is going to be felt for generations.” For many of the Black people who lived in Altadena, their homes were inherited from their older family members. “A lot of people here bought their homes in the 70s and 80s and just passed it down to their families,” Lloyd said.
“The national rate of Black homeownership is just over 40%,” Jasmine Shupper, Founder and CEO of Green Line Housing Foundation, says. “In Altadena, the rate of Black homeownership was almost 80%.”
Shupper explains that in the 1950s, Pasadena had incredibly restrictive laws that made it almost impossible for Black people to purchase homes in the area. Altadena was far easier for Black people to purchase homes, resulting in a significant Black population. While white flight was a very real thing, the white people who stayed in Altadena generally had no problem with Black people, resulting in a vibrant, multicultural community.
With that history in mind, it should come as no surprise that Altadena’s Black homeowners were disproportionately affected by the Eaton fire. Shupper addresses a UCLA study examining the demographics of those affected by the Altadena fire. “There was a disproportionate impact on communities of color, particularly the Black community,” Shupper says. “61% of Black households were located in the fire perimeter, as compared to only 50% of non-Black households, despite the fact that Black households only comprised 18% of the population.” Shupper goes on to explain that almost half of Black households were destroyed or sustained significant damage, compared to 37% of non-Black households.
As Sellers acknowledges in the documentary, so often when it comes to natural disasters, the focus is only on the immediate devastation before the media and public move on to the next issue. This documentary is intended to showcase what life looks like for people trying to rebuild their lives in the wake of a devastating natural disaster. While the danger of the Eaton fires is no longer present, the impact is still being felt every day by the families who lost everything that day.
In 1865, Black people who had been newly freed from the shackles of chattel slavery were promised 40 acres and a mule to help them build their lives and close the wealth gap between them and their white counterparts. While that promise was broken and never materialized for many Black Americans, home ownership has been shown to be another path to closing the racial wealth gap for Black families.
In Altadena, a lot of these people didn’t just lose their homes; they lost a vital part of their family’s legacy. “I was looking forward to having the family home, because it was like my safety net in a way,” Lloyd said. “We all knew no matter what, we move, anything happens, we can always go back to grandma’s house. And that’s how she always wanted it for us.”
SEE ALSO:
New Podcast Spotlights Altadena’s Path To Recovery After The Wildfires
Months After the Eaton Fire, 1st Home Rebuild In Altadena Underway