For two months, hundreds of workers have cleared smoldering, toxic ashes in Altadena, California, removing what remains of a historic Black neighborhood. All the while, many don’t know how much longer they’ll be in the country. Since Hurricane Katrina, undocumented immigrants have been the backbone of America’s disaster recovery system, trailing nature’s fury from hurricanes […]
California
Posted inClimate Change, Public Safety
Why Were Black Altadena Residents Not Warned to Evacuate in Time?
A faint glow flickered behind the canyon ridges, and at first, it felt like a threat no different from fires past. Inside one home, Erliene Kelley, an 83-year-old grandmother, believed, as it had always gone over her 57 years in Altadena, that it would never roll down the hill toward homes. This time, however, the […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Incarceration
‘We Need Everyone’: How Two Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Are Building a Movement
This story originally published in 2022, but has been updated to reflect the recent fires ravaging neighborhoods across Los Angeles County. On Jan. 8, 2025, deadly fires tore through Los Angeles County, fueled by hurricane-force winds. The Eaton and Palisades Fires, two of the most destructive in California’s history, burned about 60 square miles within […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Wealth Gap
The Struggle for Land, Reparations, and Belonging in California
This story was produced in partnership with High Country News. Like many residents of Southern California’s San Bernardino Mountains, Jacques Powers wears clothes and boots painted with dirt and mud and gets around in a humming monster truck. But no matter where he goes, whether in these mountains or elsewhere in the state, Powers rarely […]
Posted inCourts, Housing, Policing, Politics & Policy
Black Unhoused Communities Targeted After Supreme Court Ruling
LOS ANGELES – On a dirt pocket between a sidewalk and freeway in the Wilmington neighborhood in South Los Angeles, roughly half a dozen people lived in tents for most of the summer. But by 7 a.m. on Sept. 24, three police SUVs and a bright orange truck lined the street next to the freeway […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Wealth Gap
‘As Goes California, Goes The Rest Of The Country,’ Except On Black Reparations
Through a series of films in the 1990s, from Boyz n the Hood to Menace II Society and Friday, the perception of Black Los Angeles became ingrained in the minds of people of all backgrounds across the nation. Palm trees and hood politics became synonymous with the neighborhoods. But in a rarity, the films also […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Kamala Harris’ ‘Top Cop’ Legacy Is Complicated
Five years ago, when Kamala Harris was running for president, she labeled herself the “top cop” and “progressive prosecutor” that was “tough on crime.” With that came backlash from some criminal justice reform advocates and even those in law enforcement. In 2024, it’s unclear where she stands ideologically as vice president. Yet in her first […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Public Safety
The Lawmakers Fighting the Epidemic of Missing and Murdered Black People
Four years ago, as the six members of Minnesota’s United Black Legislative Caucus gathered for one of their first meetings, Ruth Richardson proposed a novel idea to create a task force to investigate the root causes of violence against Black women. Richardson said she was in her first term as a state representative when she […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Laphonza Butler Will Be Just the 3rd Black Woman Senator in U.S. History
Laphonza Butler’s appointment to the U.S. Senate to replace the late Dianne Feinstein of California will increase the number of Black senators serving at the same time to a record four. But Black Americans are still woefully underrepresented in Congress. The number of Black senators would need to at least triple to get to a […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
Racism’s Relentless Toll on Black Health in America
This story was produced in partnership with Vox as part of the discrimination issue of The Highlight. OAKLAND, Calif. — On most warm days, Stephanie McWoods catches the California breeze with the bubble wand she keeps on her patio. Sometimes, the bubbles float, then burst midair. Other times, when they don’t pop, it is unclear how many miles […]
