Photos by Grace Mahoney This story was published in partnership with High Country News. Altadena used to disappear under the trees. Adonis Jones’ neighborhood was once defined by thick oaks and pines, their canopy guarding winding trails where Black cowboys rode, shaping his childhood memories. Now, standing on the bare site of his future master […]
wildfires
Posted inExtreme Weather, Money, Wealth Gap
Climate Disasters Are Destroying Black Retirements and the American Dream
Standing in front of the Pasadena, California, City Council in June, Totress Beasley begged for support. After being displaced twice — after previous landlords sold the rental properties she called home — she explained how she thought she should put her life in her own hands and buy her own house. For five years, through the Great Recession, the […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
Why Are Black Neighborhoods Underwater? Science Points to the Wealthy.
In January, a relentless wave of wildfires tore through Los Angeles, reducing a historic Black community to ash and claiming 29 lives. Later that month, a rare winter storm brought heavy snow to the Southeast and the Gulf Coast. Eleven people perished. Then, in March, more than 100 tornadoes ripped through the South in two […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
After a Wildfire Takes Your Home, How Do You Get Your ‘Soul’ Back?
ALTADENA, Calif. — Adonis Jones’ house was gone, but the keys were still in his hand. For weeks after the fire, he carried them out of habit. They jingled in his pocket, and sometimes he twirled them between his fingers. And then, sitting in his car one evening after making the two-hour drive from Los […]
Posted inEducation, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather
Natural Disasters Are Driving a School Crisis. Black Children Are Hit the Hardest
Adrinda Kelly watched from New York as Hurricane Katrina swallowed her hometown of New Orleans in 2005. Floodwaters rose, neighborhoods disappeared underwater, and she felt a familiar ache deepen. Her family was safe, but devastation quickly compounded a painful realization: Black children were portrayed as disposable, and New Orleans’ education system was almost completely privatized. […]
Posted inClimate Change, Housing, Wealth Gap
In Altadena, Black Households Were Most Likely to Burn, Study Finds
The Jones family lost their home of 55 years on Altadena’s foothills. They were far from the only ones. The Eaton Fire that exploded in early January tore through more than 9,000 structures in the heart of Altadena, devastating a historically Black neighborhood that had persevered for generations through discrimination and, more recently, gentrification. A […]
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 inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Health, Money, Public Safety
Generational Black Homes in LA Reduced to Ash Amid Growing Wildfires
Support Black-Led, Nonprofit News Capital B is an independent news organization uncovering important stories — like this one — about how Black people experience America today. But we can’t tell these stories without your help. If you support our mission, please consider becoming a member by making a tax-deductible donation. Sixty-two years burned to ashes for […]
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 inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Ominous Orange Skies Have Subsided – but Threat of Poor Air Quality Isn’t Over
Orange skies in the Northeast and Midwest from the fires burning in Canada may have subsided for now — but the threat of poor air quality is far from over. Just this past weekend, New York City was again under an air quality alert because of wildfire smoke. As the region experiences drier springs and […]