Activism

After Losing All, Black Fire Victims File a Lawsuit; Seek a Way Forward

Zo Williams, an author, radio host and of Altadena told California Black Media (CBM), “My childhood is gone. The city will forever be changed by this horrific event.” Like Williams, many of Altadena’s Black residents are confronting the devastating loss they’ve just experienced and exploring what steps they need to take to move forward.

Published

3 months ago

January 28, 2025

Oakland Post

NAACP logo. The NAACP and Singleton Schreiber have filed a lawsuit against the power company Southern California Edison. The complaint accuses the power utility of starting the fire due to the company’s failure to take “adequate precautions” and improper maintenance and management of electrical equipment it owns.

By Reginald S. Webb, Jr., California Black Media

On Jan. 7, when the Eaton fire ignited in the foothills of Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. Fueled by wind gusts of 80 to 100 miles per hour and dry weather conditions, the fire forced the evacuation of most of Altadena’s 43,000 residents.

Among them were thousands of Black families and individuals who have lived in the racially diverse hillside suburb for generations. Blacks make up about 18% of Altadena’s population and their homeownership rate of more than 80% far outpaces other places in the state and country.

A few days later, many of the Altadena evacuees returned to smoldering or completely burned down remains of their homes destroyed in raging fires that have killed 17 people, charred over 14,000 acres, and damaged 9,300 homes, businesses, places of worship and more.

Zo Williams, an author, radio host and former resident of Altadena told California Black Media (CBM), “My childhood is gone. The city will forever be changed by this horrific event.”

Like Williams, many of Altadena’s Black residents are confronting the devastating loss they’ve just experienced and exploring what steps they need to take to move forward.

On Jan. 14, the California-Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP held a virtual town hall to advise fire victims on their legal options. The event was organized in partnership with the law firm Singleton Schreiber.

The NAACP and Singleton Schreiber have filed a lawsuit against the power company Southern California Edison. The complaint accuses the power utility of starting the fire due to the company’s failure to take “adequate precautions” and improper maintenance and management of electrical equipment it owns.

Gerald Singleton, Managing Partner of the law firm, told CBM, “After a disaster occurs sometimes, people don’t know where to go for resources. The NAACP is on the ground guiding people in the right direction.

The NAACP and Singleton Schreiber, the nation’s leading and largest fire litigation practice, have scheduled a second town hall for fire victims on Jan. 21.

On Jan. 17, a town hall was held at a Pasadena Church in Pasadena. Political and civic leaders, businessowners, grieving residents and more came together to share information, reflect on the past, talk about the way forward and assess the damage from the blaze that CalFire has described as the second most destructive wildfire in California’s history. The deadliest and most destructive fire in California history was the Camp Fire, which broke out in Butte County in 2018, claimed 85 lives and caused damage totaling $16.65 billion.

The Eaton fire destroyed important pieces of Southern California’s Black history. The city of Altadena was one of the first places in Southern California where Black families were allowed to buy homes in the Los Angeles area.

Pastor Kerwin Manning of Pasadena Church says he didn’t sustain damage to his church or his house but, he and his wife have not been able to return home since they evacuated on Jan. 7. Other members of his congregation were not so fortunate. Seventeen of them lost their homes.

Manning says he’s unofficially calling the recovery process, “Operation Beauty Will Rise.”

He quotes Isiah 61:3, “To provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.”

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Activism

Gov. Newsom Approves $170 Million to Fast Track Wildfire Resilience

AB 100 approves major investments in regional conservancies across the state, including over $30 million each for the Sierra Nevada, Santa Monica Mountains, State Coastal, and San Gabriel/Lower LA Rivers and Mountains conservancies. An additional $10 million will support wildfire response and resilience efforts.

Published

21 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Courtesy of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Facebook page.

By Bo Tefu
California Black Media

With wildfire season approaching, last week Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 100, unlocking $170 million to fast-track wildfire prevention and forest management projects — many of which directly protect communities of color, who are often hardest hit by climate-driven disasters.

“With this latest round of funding, we’re continuing to increase the speed and size of forest and vegetation management essential to protecting communities,” said Newsom when he announced the funding on April 14.

“We are leaving no stone unturned — including cutting red tape — in our mission to ensure our neighborhoods are protected from destructive wildfires,” he said.

Newsom also signed an executive order suspending certain regulations to allow urgent work to move forward faster.

This funding builds on California’s broader Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, a $2.7 billion effort to reduce fuel loads, increase prescribed burning, and harden communities. The state has also launched new dashboards to keep the public informed and hold agencies accountable.

California has also committed to continue investing $200 million annually through 2028 to expand this effort, ensuring long-term resilience, particularly in vulnerable communities.

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Activism

California Rideshare Drivers and Supporters Step Up Push to Unionize

Today in California, over 600,000 rideshare drivers want the ability to form or join unions for the sole purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection. It’s a right, and recently at the State Capitol, a large number of people, including some rideshare drivers and others working in the gig economy, reaffirmed that they want to exercise it.

Published

21 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Shutterstock

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌
California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

On July 5, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into federal law the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Also known as the “Wagner Act,” the law paved the way for employees to have “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,” and “to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, according to the legislation’s language.

On April 8, the rideshare drivers held a rally with lawmakers to garner support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1340, the “Transportation Network Company Drivers (TNC) Labor Relations Act.”

Authored by Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), AB 1340 would allow drivers to create a union and negotiate contracts with industry leaders like Uber and Lyft.

“All work has dignity, and every worker deserves a voice — especially in these uncertain times,” Wicks said at the rally. “AB 1340 empowers drivers with the choice to join a union and negotiate for better wages, benefits, and protections. When workers stand together, they are one of the most powerful forces for justice in California.”

Wicks and Berman were joined by three members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC): Assemblymembers Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), and Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights).

Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Tia Orr, Executive Director of SEIU; and a host of others participated in the demonstration on the grounds of the state capitol.

“This is not a gig. This is your life. This is your job,” Bryan said at the rally. “When we organize and fight for our collective needs, it pulls from the people who have so much that they don’t know what to do with it and puts it in the hands of people who are struggling every single day.”

Existing law, the “Protect App-Based Drivers and Services Act,” created by Proposition (Prop) 22, a ballot initiative, categorizes app-based drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft as independent contractors.

Prop 22 was approved by voters in the November 2020 statewide general election. Since then, Prop 22 has been in court facing challenges from groups trying to overturn it.

However, last July, Prop 22 was upheld by the California Supreme Court last July.

In a 2024, statement after the ruling, Lyft stated that 80% of the rideshare drivers they surveyed acknowledged that Prop 22 “was good for them” and “median hourly earnings of drivers on the Lyft platform in California were 22% higher in 2023 than in 2019.”

Wicks and Berman crafted AB 1340 to circumvent Prop 22.

“With AB 1340, we are putting power in the hands of hundreds of thousands of workers to raise the bar in their industry and create a model for an equitable and innovative partnership in the tech sector,” Berman said.

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Activism

California Holds the Line on DEI as Trump Administration Threatens School Funding

The conflict began on Feb. 14, when Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), issued a “Dear Colleague” letter warning that DEI-related programs in public schools could violate federal civil rights law. The letter, which cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ended race-conscious admissions, ordered schools to eliminate race-based considerations in areas such as admissions, scholarships, hiring, discipline, and student programming.

Published

22 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

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By Joe W. Bowers Jr
California Black Media

California education leaders are pushing back against the Trump administration’s directive to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in its K-12 public schools — despite threats to take away billions in federal funding.

The conflict began on Feb. 14, when Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), issued a “Dear Colleague” letter warning that DEI-related programs in public schools could violate federal civil rights law. The letter, which cited Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ended race-conscious admissions, ordered schools to eliminate race-based considerations in areas such as admissions, scholarships, hiring, discipline, and student programming.

According to Trainor, “DEI programs discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another.”

On April 3, the DOE escalated the pressure, sending a follow-up letter to states demanding that every local educational agency (LEA) certify — within 10 business days — that they were not using federal funds to support “illegal DEI.” The certification requirement, tied to continued federal aid, raised the stakes for California, which receives more than $16 billion annually in federal education funding.

So far, California has refused to comply with the DOE order.

“There is nothing in state or federal law that outlaws the broad concepts of ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ or ‘inclusion,’” wrote David Schapira, California’s Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, in an April 4 letter to superintendents and charter school administrators. Schapira noted that all of California’s more than 1,000 traditional public school districts submit Title VI compliance assurances annually and are subject to regular oversight by the state and the federal government.

In a formal response to the DOE on April 11, the California Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond collectively rejected the certification demand, calling it vague, legally unsupported, and procedurally improper.

“California and its nearly 2,000 LEAs (including traditional public schools and charter schools) have already provided the requisite guarantee that its programs and services are, and will be, in compliance with Title VI and its implementing regulation,” the letter says.

Thurmond added in a statement, “Today, California affirmed existing and continued compliance with federal laws while we stay the course to move the needle for all students. As our responses to the United States Department of Education state and as the plain text of state and federal laws affirm, there is nothing unlawful about broad core values such as diversity, equity and inclusion. I am proud of our students, educators and school communities who continue to focus on teaching and learning, despite federal actions intended to distract and disrupt.”

California officials say that the federal government cannot change existing civil rights enforcement standards without going through formal rule-making procedures, which require public notice and comment.

Other states are taking a similar approach. In a letter to the DOE, Daniel Morton-Bentley, deputy commissioner and counsel for the New York State Education Department, wrote, “We understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion.’ But there are no federal or State laws prohibiting the principles of DEI.”