Black History

Raging Fires in Pasadena and Altadena Devastate Black Families; Strain Fire Protection Systems

Six historically Black Churches in Pasadena and Altadena have been destroyed and the families of more than 200 of their members have lost their homes. Those churches are: Metropolitan Baptist Church (the Rev. Tyrone Skinner); Lifeline Fellowship Church (Bishop Charles Dorsey); Abounding Grace COGIC (the Rev. Thomas Burrell); Hillside Tabernacle City of Faith (the Rev. G. LaKeith Kennebrew); Community Bible Church of Greater Pasadena (the Rev. Jean Burch); and Morningstar Baptist Church (the Rev. W.H. Trotter).

Published

1 year ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

A lone staircase and a scalloped wall are all that remain of a residence. The Eaton Fire burned down an estimated 200-500 structures. Altadena, Calif. Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. Photo by Solomon O. Smith.

By Solomon O. Smith, California Black Media 

The Eaton Fire has left a devastating mark on Southern California, including the Black and Brown communities of Pasadena and Altadena, where homeowners are grappling with unimaginable loss.

Among them is Ruth Hopkins, publisher of The Pasadena Journal, the area’s only Black newspaper. Hopkins lost her family home and with it, over 60 years of archives documenting the rich history, culture, and lives of Black residents in the Altadena-Pasadena area. Her son, Jamal Dominique Hopkins has set up a GoFundMe campaign, for her and her grandson.

The Eaton fire, fueled by unseasonably strong winds of up to 70 miles per hour, has consumed over 10,000 acres, damaged and destroyed an estimated 7,000 structures, and claimed at least 16 lives. Black and Brown families, many with deep generational ties to the area, are now among the thousands displaced.

So far 24 people have been confirmed dead in all of the fires ongoing in Southern California.

Historically, Altadena has had a significant African American middle-class community compared to other parts of California. Currently, its Black population is 17.9%. Despite redlining policies that restricted Black homeownership in much of California, African Americans in Altadena Meadows, an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, could secure loans to buy homes.

Jasmyne Cannick, an L.A.-based writer, media strategist and political commentator, released a list of Black families affected by the Eaton fire in Altadena and Pasadena. She also provided GoFundMe links the public can use to assist them.

“Those erratic wind gusts were throwing embers multiple miles ahead of the fire,” said Chad Augustin, Pasadena fire chief at a press conference. He said several firefighters from other places, including Sacramento and the state of Oregon, have come to the aid of the city.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that President Biden has approved a state of emergency in California and over 14,500 personnel are actively responding to the fire.

“We are putting all available resources behind fighting these wildfires, including leveraging local and federal assets. California has thousands of boots on the ground working to combat these fires,” said Newsom. “The state is leaving no stone unturned to protect California communities.”

Haywood Micheal Ammons, a filmmaker and father of two boys, stayed behind to protect the only remaining structure on a property his family owns. Surrounding structures had burning gas leaks that could not be put out with water. Ammons and Kevin Bautista, another resident with a deep connection to the property, tried to use a hose to push back embers but there was no water.

Ammons managed to get firefighters to turn off the gas and put out hotspots.

The home remained intact, but the new additional unit built for his two sons and ex-wife is gone.

“The damage is done,” he said.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Alameda County District Attorney’s Office Charges Man for String of Commercial Burglaries

Don't Miss

OPINION: LA’s Fires, Trump’s Felonies, and our Nation’s Burning Divide

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Arts and Culture

COMMENTARY: Black Music is the Sound of Black Freedom: Let Us Reclaim Both This Juneteenth

Black Music Month started when Black Music Association members Ed Wright, Kenny Gamble and his wife, journalist and radio host Dyanna Williams were able to persuade President Jimmy Carter to establish the observation on June 7, 1979.

Published

19 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is thought of as the godfather of blues music, especially Delta blues. The 29 songs recorded by him during his short life have been of massive inspiration to guitarists and musicians over the last 80 years. Public domain photo.

By Wanda Ravernell

Black Music Month and Juneteenth are inextricably linked – Black music is the sound of our freedom.

From the plaintive moans of the enslaved Africans’ ‘sorrow songs,’ to the fields of Civil War battle where Black soldiers picked up abandoned bugles, to the upright piano played in juke joints on Saturday night and churches come Sunday morning, our ancestors’ innovation in the face of want, fear, degradation, and hopelessness has yielded genres of music imitated ’round the world.

In 2000, Congress made it official. In 2009, Pres. Barack Obama changed the name to African American Music Heritage Month and in 2023, Pres. Joe Biden changed it back to Black Music Month, two years after he declared Juneteenth a national holiday, the result of a movement led by Opal Lee.

Our ancestors battle for freedom over these last 400 years and the music that allowed them expression of their humanity deserved to be honored.

But we may be losing sight of the value of their sacrifices.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Faith That the Dark past Has Taught Us…’

Along with the long-known exploitation of Black musicians whose recordings were stolen by record companies, the commercialization of Juneteenth feels like another kind of theft.

I had never heard of Juneteenth until I moved to the Bay Area from my hometown of Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was one of many freedom festivals celebrated by descendants of enslaved people in the United States.

Emancipation Day was Jan. 1 in Pennsylvania, April 16 in Wash., D.C., May 20 in Florida, and Aug. 8 in Kentucky. But Juneteenth, June 19, has the most renown, known in Texas as the ‘colored peoples’ Fourth of July.’

It was marked by parades, beauty pageants, rodeos, backyard barbecues and church picnics.

Yes, church.

The formerly enslaved began the day praying in thanks for their freedom just as they had prayed for Jubilee – the day of freedom – when they had chains on their feet and hands. They ‘testified’ about their past suffering and how they had managed to overcome.

And they sang.

Although, we will not hold it this year, Omnira Institute’s Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance recalled this part of Juneteenth with prayers in the languages of the African captives. In the middle of the ceremony, a soloist would lead us in singing “Many Thousand Gone” while we took turns reciting portions of the Emancipation Proclamation, the news of freedom that took more than two years to reach Texas – two months after the Civil War ended.

“Many Thousand Gone” was famously recorded by Black luminary Paul Robeson in 1947:

“No more auction block for me,

No more, no more

No more auction black for me

Many thousand gone.”

Other verses refer to the ‘pint of salt’ and the ‘driver’s lash,’ the realities of enslavement that they had survived.

‘Sing a Song Full of the Hope That the Present has Brought Us’

All of the genres of African American music have at their root songs like that, the essence being, as Stevie Wonder, wrote, “the joy inside our pain.” So Black music is not just music. It is our story, our history, our very strength.

During the Civil Rights Movement, which peaked 100 years after slavery ended, the people testified that it was the freedom songs – based on spirituals – that gave them the heart to march, face attack dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and shootouts with vigilantes.

The music reminded them that power was in the people. That music, our music, can do so again. We don’t have to accept the commodification of the products of our culture.

The power of those songs is showing a resurgence across the South as we battle again for the right to self-determination through the ballot box.

Those songs are the voices of our ancestors, voices forged in their blood, their sweat, their tears, joy and, above all, faith. Those songs, those prayers live in our blood and our very breath.

This Juneteenth, let us reclaim those holy voices expressed in Black music for ourselves. It is our birthright. It can neither be bought nor sold. No more. Never again.

Wanda Ravernell is the executive director of Omnira Institute, sponsor for 18 years of the Juneteenth Ritual of Remembrance and Oakland’s 11^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, which will take place on Sept. 12.