Gina Yashere Instagram – Ninja & I had never heard of #altadena when we were house hunting at the end of 2020. A member of my @bobheartsabishola writer’s room mentioned that it might be a good fit for us.
My first question was ‘ How many black people live there!?’
We took a drive down, & saw black people living their best lives. Jogging without fear, walking their dogs & generally living the American dream.
We immediately fell in love, narrowed down our search & were able to join this special community in December 2020.
We bought our home, spent a significant amount upgrading it, & made it a centre for all our friends and family. We had a keyless lock, so our friends could let themselves in and jump in the pool or hot tub when we were out of town.
Epic parties were thrown there, dinner parties, and friendsgivings.
We loved our local eateries, and mom & pop stores like @1rhythmsofthevillage.
Our house & the majority of these small businesses were consumed by the fires. We are absolutely devastated.
My fear now is that many legacy black & brown families being screwed by their devil insurance companies, will be driven out of the area, unable to rebuild, and our beautiful town will be descended on by vulture developers, who will replace our wonderful architecture with glass box condos for rich tech bros, & trust fund babies, the spirit of #altadena gone for ever. I hope I’m wrong. But I’m probably not.
PLEASE DONATE to all the gofundmes of vulnerable families in the neighborhood when you see them.
As for me, all those friends I gave spare glasses & sneaks to, I’ll be coming to get some of those shits back!😜
Credit to @kahlil.greene
#altadena #beautifulaltadena #altadenastrong | Posted on 13/Jan/2025 21:06:09
