July 25, 2025 • 17 mins
Episode Summary:
Six months after the devastating Eaton Canyon wildfire that scorched parts of Altadena, journalist James Farr joins Tavis Smiley to reflect on what’s changed—and what hasn’t. Farr, who was evacuated with his family but spared from losing his home, shares his personal and journalistic insights on the community's ongoing struggle. While the flames are gone, the trauma and lack of comprehensive support persist. The conversation underscores a painful truth: despite promises and photo ops, real relief—especially financial—has yet to reach many displaced residents.
The episode dives into the bureaucratic slowdowns surrounding rebuilding permits, the underinsurance crisis, and the emotional toll of displacement. Less than 20 rebuilding permits have been issued in six months, and residents are being asked to pay or defer exorbitant fees just to begin recovery. Farr emphasizes that what’s needed isn’t more platitudes or donated goods—it’s long-term, material investment. As he puts it, this isn’t recovery; it’s a call for relief. The show closes with a powerful meditation on hope as both a responsibility and a survival tactic in the face of systemic neglect.
Key Topics Covered:
-
The emotional and psychological toll of the fire six months later
-
Slow permit processing and costly bureaucratic hurdles
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The difference between “recovery” and “relief”
-
Black generational wealth in Altadena at risk
-
The role of local media and accountability
-
Ongoing displacement and inadequate insurance settlements
-
Grassroots efforts like KBLA’s gift card drive to provide immediate help
-
Reflection on community hope and resilience
💬 Highlight Quote:
“Where we are right now will burn and last far longer than the flames. The pain of it. The sting of it. And so people need resources… People need relief.” — James Farr
Connect with Us:
Host & Executive Producer: Colby "Colb" Tyner
📩 Email: ctyner@radio-one.com
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/colbycolbtyner
📱 Instagram: @officialcolbycolb
🌐 BlueSky: @colbycolb.bsky.social
How to HelpUrban One is supporting the Brotherhood Crusade's Wildfire Relief Fund, which assists Altadena and Pasadena residents affected by the Eaton Fire. Donations provide essential resources such as food, medicine, and necessities to families in need.
To contribute, visit: BrotherhoodCrusade.org
If you have updated information or firsthand stories to share, feel free to reach out directly to Colby.
S
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Believe it or not, it was six months ago today
that the LA wildfires erupted. In this HALFIFI, we'll talk
with James Farr and my colleague and Jonas, who has
pinned a powerful and provocative piece for the LA Progressive
Entitled to have. A year later, the flames are gone,
but so is the help out in the burned Southern California.
(00:31):
Hason sparked it, the system lets us smolder. Before I
get to James, let me just take you back six
months ago and give you some sound what was happening
here in southern California.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Of course, we are covering breaking news right now, the
Palisades Fire. Another fire breaking out right now. This one
is being called the Eden Fire. We know that this
is happening at Pinecrest. This is near Alta Dina. You
can see the fire right there. LA County Fire there
on the scene. Structured defense, they're saying, is being set
up as flames are visible from the freeway. We do
know that we have ground crews that are also en route.
(01:07):
Take a look at some of these pictures right here.
We know again that La County is asking for a
co helicopter to help fight this fire. But again you
can see it. A lot of people are obviously watching
this that are in the Alta Dina area. But again,
this is at Eaton Canyon, at the Kinloa Canyon area,
a hiking trail. We know a lot of people hike
in this area, David, So again, a lot of anxious
(01:30):
wearrors right now.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
It's the worst possible news you can get because so
many resources are moved over to Pacific Palisades, and that's
a desperate situation with so many homes going up in flames.
What if this one continues to increase rapidly and as
we saw, they cannot get air support overhead. So that
(01:52):
is a major catastrophe waiting to happen because they can't
use any of their air assets to get on top
of this fire.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Especially if this fire.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
It's in a place it's hard to get to on
the ground, that we have something that's going to exponentially
make things far, far worse. But we're going to continue
to watch the situation Eating Canyon.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I'm grateful to say that my colleague James Farr and
his family while they were evacuated down six months ago,
they did not lose their home, but so many other
persons who James knows and loves did in fact lose everything.
So I guess the proverbial question is, does it feel
like six months?
Speaker 5 (02:28):
First of all, good morning Missus Smiley, Good morning Tavis.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
No it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
It feels like a perpetual twenty four hour cycle that
hasn't stopped.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You say, if it was like a perpetual twenty four cycle,
unpacked that for.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Him, meaning the last six months just seemed like yesterday.
Things are so different that they seem the same, right I. Yes,
we sleep, yes we do other things. We assume our
lives normally. But then every day there's that reminder of
what yesterday held, and it kind of takes you back
into the moment. Like just listening to that sound, I
(03:02):
see myself sitting on the couch watching that very news
broadcast that you just played and imagining what I was,
or not imagining, reliving what I was experiencing in that moment.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
What are those reminders? What are the things that trigger
those memories?
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Well, you realize that, as I wrote in that La
Progressive piece, that we got to save ourselves, we are
on our own. I was waiting for an alert to
come on my phone or someone to tell me on
the television or someone to call me. It didn't happen.
I was lucky, though my family was lucky. The police
came through our neighborhood and said leave now. And I'm
usually a why kind of person when it comes to police, right,
(03:40):
I didn't hesitated. We made a haste and got out
of there right away, only to find out that so
many suffered such a great loss.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Hours later, we did a town hall. As you recall,
you were there and you were a part of it.
We broadcast that town hall for the nation live. We
did a townhall on the one hundredth day, almost a
few weeks ago, now, a couple months ago now. We
went out to Altadena and took the station out there,
the local station here in LA. And this program has
(04:09):
heard across the nation, of course. We took our local
station out to Altadena and did a live remote broadcast
from there, and I had the opportunity to drive around
with James in advance. I went out early that day,
left LA and drove out to Alter Dina earlier in
the day so I could spend a couple of hours
just riding around with him and having him show me
and I could see for myself, and I've been in
(04:31):
TV and radio for thirty plus years. It's what I've
done for my entire career. And I've heard this line
a thousand times. I've used it probably a thousand times,
that the picture's desk didn't do it justice.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
You had to see it up close. And James drove
me around.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
We got out, We walked neighborhoods and I got a
chance to actually see and at this point some of
the hats mad people were out. They were starting to
do some of the cleanup, and so they were the
process was beginning, but at that time they still at
night issuers, I recall a single permit for rebuilding. What's
happening or not happening as we're and I know on
(05:06):
your program that we broadcast here in our station, conversation.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Live out in a rising you.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I don't know how you're doing it, man, but you're
tristing a bunch of arms, because I see the list
of people coming in to talk to you every year,
every week, locally elected officials, some of whom were trying
to avoid these tough questions. But somehow you're squeezing their
arms and you're getting them in this studio which I appreciate.
But what what's that's said? What's happening or not with
their rebuild? What's happening with these permits? Are they being
are they being are they being let? What's what's what's
(05:32):
the story?
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Absolutely that we are now one hundred and eighty days
exactly six months since the Since the event, the permit
process has been very slow. Less than twenty have been
issued to date at this point, less than twenty, less
than twenty in six months, in six months, right, the
county needed to catch up to that process. Supervisor Barger
(05:54):
introduced emotion a couple of weeks ago. At first, they
were requiring folks to have to pay flat out for
the fees for permits. The language in the new motion
is asking that fees the cost of those fees be deferred,
which is very problematic. It almost feels a punitive to
many of the residents that are already making both ends
meet and scrimping and scraping and trying to exist and survive.
(06:17):
And so this recovery process, Tavis, as many of us
knew in this space, it wasn't going to be a
quick solution. I mean we're talking about years before something
even gets close to normal.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Yeah, the supervisor.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
That he represented, that he referenced to moment to go,
Captain Barger is actually there. She's the president at the
moment of the La County boarder Supervisors. And so after
DNA is in La County for those listening across the country,
we can't talk shorthand that way. So that's Captain Barcher,
she's the president of the La County Supervisors. And that's
the woman he referenced the moment who introduced this motion
to doing to reduce these.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Fees, to wave these fees.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So you don't just have electeds on your show every week,
you also talk to every day people. I love tuning
in every week to hear the every day people that
you talk to. Give me a sense of where people
are now. They're clearly still displaced. Where are they how
are they making it? At our fourth anniversary party, as
you know, we had people. Everybody came to celebrate our
fourth anniversary on Juneteenth, we had people bring food gift cards.
(07:17):
We said, we did a big promotion here in La
I don't care if it's to a grocery store or
to a restaurant, but so many people are still living
in hotels and they don't have food, and so bring
gift cards.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We collected a whole I was so grateful and just that.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
A couple of days later, we were in our staff room,
our coffee room, just counting the gift cards that people
had brought. We collected a lot of gift cards that
we distributed to these persons who've been displaced.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But where are people? How are they making it?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
Well, you know the history of our people, Tavis, is
we make it with less in the first place, Right,
we take what's left over and make it into something
that's not something that's new. People are making it because
they have to make it, you know. We many are struggling,
many are striving, and many are just kind of in limbo.
(08:05):
But this idea that we're in this space of recovery
is a farce, and I wish people would stop it.
Knock it off.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
What's relief? I'm about to ask you, went I love you.
I was about to ask you what word you would
use instead of recovery. The word is relief.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Tell me why, because relief triggers resources. Right, you can't
do anything. Unfortunately without money. Many people, you know, certainly
we've done good things at the station and others have
done great things with give cards, and those are things
that people need. That's a temporary fix, that's a little
bit of relief, right, But when you're looking at being underinsured, right,
(08:42):
when you are looking at the resources, and perhaps you
settle with your insurance adjusters prematurely. Right, folks are in
a space where they're not going to have enough capital
to sustain this long like where we are right now
will burn and last far longer than the flames, the
(09:03):
pain of it, the singing of it, and so people
need resources. I think about Martin Gordon Elder, who you met,
lost everything right in his seventy something year old mind.
He's trying to figure out what's the next best move
for him, rebuilding temporary housing ADU. But all of that
(09:25):
comes down to money.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
When we come forward, spe get the money. I want
to ask whether people are holding of whether they're selling.
That's the ultimate question for many of us. Are they holding?
Are they selling?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
We know their crunch, no question about it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But I quoted my friend James farre I referred to
Altain as the black Waconda and said earlier in this
program that we know they are too wealthy. Black enclaves
in this country, Prince George's County, Maryland, and of course
where I sit here, Ladera, Dara Heights View Park, Baldwin
Hills at Chesa, Chester, the other wealthy black enclave, the
too wealthiest in the country frankly, but neither of them
even had the high rate of Black home ownership that
(09:58):
they had in Altadenas are people selling or are they holding?
We at my home station in La KBLA have the
one and only program that's done every week in southern
California tracking the rebuilt effort or lack thereof in Altadena.
Only one media outlet in this city is holding people
accountable every single week to the best interest of the
(10:22):
African American residence of Altadena. And we are pleased to
say that that show is called Conversation Live Out and
in a Rising, hosted by my colleague James Farr, who
joins me in studio right now for a few more minutes.
But he's the host of this program that tracks all
of this stuff every single week. So if you're an
alter in a fan, or our family and friends in Alta, Dina,
or just fascinated and want to know more about the story,
(10:44):
just check out James Farr Composition live out in and
rising every single week for updates on what's happening and not.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I mean, we did that town hall, you know, weeks
months ago now.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I started with some opening remarks, as you recall, and
I said that was really about just three questions, what
has happened, what hasn't happened, and what needs to happen.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
That was it.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And here we are, you know, almost two undred days later,
now asking those same questions, what has happened, what hasn't happened,
what needs to happen. We'll get to that in a
second here. But my earlier question, are people selling or
are they holding? That's a very binary question, brother Tavis.
And it's one that is a very individual situation, right,
and I think folks outside of this local space need
(11:29):
to allow folks that personal space to make that decision.
Generational wealth may look different now for some families than
it did or the idea of it later. But to
answer directly to your question, yes, people are selling people.
Some people won't have a choice but to sell. For
some people that may be the best decision that they
(11:50):
need to make for their families. Others are trying to
figure out can they hold out? What does tomorrow look like?
And so I would encourage the audience, the delegation to
allow people the space to make that very very personal decision.
It is personal. That said, though, how concerned are you?
Just be transparent with me as you always are.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
How concern know you? Really? Really?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That al will never look the way it once did.
I'm thinking about New Orleans this weekend. This weekend was
the Essence Festival. I've been in New Orleans a thousand times.
I love Nola. It's not the same Nola that it
was before Katrina.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
No, it's it's gone. Yeah, it won't be the same.
And I think it's not my place because I didn't
lose my home, right, My neighborhood is still standing. So
it's not my place to feel and project what others
should feel and project. But the idea of what was
normal January sixth is a memory.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
What has happened, what has not happened? What needs to happen?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Our remaining question for James fad Journalist Again, a beautiful piece.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
In case you have not seen it, you should get
it and read it. Where's it? I just head of
your James with the piece.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Half a year later, the flames are gone, but so
it's to help out to burned Southern California had us
and sparked it. The system lets us smolder. No matter
where you're listening in the country, you just go to
La Progressive. A brilliant piece of work that's sharing in
h Dicky Dick. Yeah, yeah, Sharon Dick.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I love them and they do great work at the
LA Progressive. That's where the piece can be found. Half
a year later, the flames are gone, but so is
to help. Written by my colleague James far Right, last Streek,
I've been. It's I give to you what has happened,
what has not happened, what needs to happen, What has happened,
what has not happened, and what needs to happen.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Take it as you will.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Well, what has happened is we lost, and not just
the folks in Altadena. I'm talking about collectively as a
black community. Right, We've lost and this place back into
It wasn't a pop culture grab when I said that
if if Wakonda were a real place, Altadena would be
one of his tribes.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
It truly is a place where everybody knows somebody that
knows somebody who knows somebody. Right, that is the connective
tissue of it. Uh, that's what has happened. People have
lost their homes, people have lost their possessions, people have
lost their memory. Is people have lost so much. Let's
go to what needs to happen right. What needs to
happen is the people who are in charge, right are elected.
(14:10):
You know, these high ranking and high six figure salary
corporate executives in these suites need to do their damn
jobs at least one day. Right now is the time
for them to step up to that. What also needs
to happen is people need relief. They need money. They
don't need any more shoes, they don't need any more waters,
no more air purifiers. The gift cards work because they
(14:33):
are a currency that they can spend while they're in
a hotel. But people need resources in order to rebuild
their homes.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
In this moment, six months later, how with all we've
talked about in this half hour, how are you sustaining
your hope given all that's not being done.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
I'm learning something new through this process. Tabs. Before I
used to scoff and laugh at folks that I thought
were hope addicts. Right, I'm learning the discipline of hope.
I'm learning new way to grab on to that like this.
This is what Big Mama used to say about leaning
on your faith.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Right.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
I've seen humanity in people. I've seen predatory behavior in people,
but I recognize that what my agency is that I
have to be hopeful for an entire community, because there's
not a day that goes by that someone isn't calling
email and texting James, what do I do? That's a
lot to hold. These shoulders ain't that big.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
When somebody say, keep over alive, And that's what we
are doing six months later and.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Will as long as we are black.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
James Farr, if you're in southern California, will appear tonight
at seven pm LA time on the Spectrum News one
for another competition. He has a busy day run around
doing interviews because everybody's calling him about his assessment six
months later and why they're calling him because he's the
host of the only program tracking out to din every
(15:58):
single week.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
That program is thankfully on this station.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
It is called Conversation Live Out to Dina Rising. James,
thanks for your working witness for these months hosting this program.
Thank you for holding people accountable every single week, and
thank you for coming in to see me today.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Thank you for listening to Alta Dina after the Fire.
If you found this episode meaningful, please share it to
help spread awareness. To support those affected by the Eating Fire,
consider donating to the Brotherhood Crusades Wildfire Relief Fund at
Brotherhood Crusade dot org. Your contributions provide essential resources like food, medicine,
(16:36):
and housing assistance to families and need. If you have
updated information or a first hand story to share, we'd
love to hear from you. Contact details are in the
show notes. Alltedna after the Fire is an Urban one podcast.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Executive producer and.
Speaker 6 (16:53):
Host Kobe Cobteyner, Assistant producer Jahi Whitehead, Director of podcast
Sink Dra Smith. Special thanks to the Urban Onecres team
and our founder Kathy Hughes. Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
See you next time,
Believe it or not, it was six months ago today
that the LA wildfires erupted. In this HALFIFI, we'll talk
with James Farr and my colleague and Jonas, who has
pinned a powerful and provocative piece for the LA Progressive
Entitled to have. A year later, the flames are gone,
but so is the help out in the burned Southern California.
(00:31):
Hason sparked it, the system lets us smolder. Before I
get to James, let me just take you back six
months ago and give you some sound what was happening
here in southern California.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Of course, we are covering breaking news right now, the
Palisades Fire. Another fire breaking out right now. This one
is being called the Eden Fire. We know that this
is happening at Pinecrest. This is near Alta Dina. You
can see the fire right there. LA County Fire there
on the scene. Structured defense, they're saying, is being set
up as flames are visible from the freeway. We do
know that we have ground crews that are also en route.
(01:07):
Take a look at some of these pictures right here.
We know again that La County is asking for a
co helicopter to help fight this fire. But again you
can see it. A lot of people are obviously watching
this that are in the Alta Dina area. But again,
this is at Eaton Canyon, at the Kinloa Canyon area,
a hiking trail. We know a lot of people hike
in this area, David, So again, a lot of anxious
(01:30):
wearrors right now.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
It's the worst possible news you can get because so
many resources are moved over to Pacific Palisades, and that's
a desperate situation with so many homes going up in flames.
What if this one continues to increase rapidly and as
we saw, they cannot get air support overhead. So that
(01:52):
is a major catastrophe waiting to happen because they can't
use any of their air assets to get on top
of this fire.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
Especially if this fire.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
It's in a place it's hard to get to on
the ground, that we have something that's going to exponentially
make things far, far worse. But we're going to continue
to watch the situation Eating Canyon.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I'm grateful to say that my colleague James Farr and
his family while they were evacuated down six months ago,
they did not lose their home, but so many other
persons who James knows and loves did in fact lose everything.
So I guess the proverbial question is, does it feel
like six months?
Speaker 5 (02:28):
First of all, good morning Missus Smiley, Good morning Tavis.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
No it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (02:32):
It feels like a perpetual twenty four hour cycle that
hasn't stopped.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You say, if it was like a perpetual twenty four cycle,
unpacked that for.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
Him, meaning the last six months just seemed like yesterday.
Things are so different that they seem the same, right I. Yes,
we sleep, yes we do other things. We assume our
lives normally. But then every day there's that reminder of
what yesterday held, and it kind of takes you back
into the moment. Like just listening to that sound, I
(03:02):
see myself sitting on the couch watching that very news
broadcast that you just played and imagining what I was,
or not imagining, reliving what I was experiencing in that moment.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
What are those reminders? What are the things that trigger
those memories?
Speaker 5 (03:17):
Well, you realize that, as I wrote in that La
Progressive piece, that we got to save ourselves, we are
on our own. I was waiting for an alert to
come on my phone or someone to tell me on
the television or someone to call me. It didn't happen.
I was lucky, though my family was lucky. The police
came through our neighborhood and said leave now. And I'm
usually a why kind of person when it comes to police, right,
(03:40):
I didn't hesitated. We made a haste and got out
of there right away, only to find out that so
many suffered such a great loss.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Hours later, we did a town hall. As you recall,
you were there and you were a part of it.
We broadcast that town hall for the nation live. We
did a townhall on the one hundredth day, almost a
few weeks ago, now, a couple months ago now. We
went out to Altadena and took the station out there,
the local station here in LA. And this program has
(04:09):
heard across the nation, of course. We took our local
station out to Altadena and did a live remote broadcast
from there, and I had the opportunity to drive around
with James in advance. I went out early that day,
left LA and drove out to Alter Dina earlier in
the day so I could spend a couple of hours
just riding around with him and having him show me
and I could see for myself, and I've been in
(04:31):
TV and radio for thirty plus years. It's what I've
done for my entire career. And I've heard this line
a thousand times. I've used it probably a thousand times,
that the picture's desk didn't do it justice.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
You had to see it up close. And James drove
me around.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
We got out, We walked neighborhoods and I got a
chance to actually see and at this point some of
the hats mad people were out. They were starting to
do some of the cleanup, and so they were the
process was beginning, but at that time they still at
night issuers, I recall a single permit for rebuilding. What's
happening or not happening as we're and I know on
(05:06):
your program that we broadcast here in our station, conversation.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Live out in a rising you.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I don't know how you're doing it, man, but you're
tristing a bunch of arms, because I see the list
of people coming in to talk to you every year,
every week, locally elected officials, some of whom were trying
to avoid these tough questions. But somehow you're squeezing their
arms and you're getting them in this studio which I appreciate.
But what what's that's said? What's happening or not with
their rebuild? What's happening with these permits? Are they being
are they being are they being let? What's what's what's
(05:32):
the story?
Speaker 5 (05:32):
Absolutely that we are now one hundred and eighty days
exactly six months since the Since the event, the permit
process has been very slow. Less than twenty have been
issued to date at this point, less than twenty, less
than twenty in six months, in six months, right, the
county needed to catch up to that process. Supervisor Barger
(05:54):
introduced emotion a couple of weeks ago. At first, they
were requiring folks to have to pay flat out for
the fees for permits. The language in the new motion
is asking that fees the cost of those fees be deferred,
which is very problematic. It almost feels a punitive to
many of the residents that are already making both ends
meet and scrimping and scraping and trying to exist and survive.
(06:17):
And so this recovery process, Tavis, as many of us
knew in this space, it wasn't going to be a
quick solution. I mean we're talking about years before something
even gets close to normal.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Yeah, the supervisor.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
That he represented, that he referenced to moment to go,
Captain Barger is actually there. She's the president at the
moment of the La County boarder Supervisors. And so after
DNA is in La County for those listening across the country,
we can't talk shorthand that way. So that's Captain Barcher,
she's the president of the La County Supervisors. And that's
the woman he referenced the moment who introduced this motion
to doing to reduce these.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Fees, to wave these fees.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So you don't just have electeds on your show every week,
you also talk to every day people. I love tuning
in every week to hear the every day people that
you talk to. Give me a sense of where people
are now. They're clearly still displaced. Where are they how
are they making it? At our fourth anniversary party, as
you know, we had people. Everybody came to celebrate our
fourth anniversary on Juneteenth, we had people bring food gift cards.
(07:17):
We said, we did a big promotion here in La
I don't care if it's to a grocery store or
to a restaurant, but so many people are still living
in hotels and they don't have food, and so bring
gift cards.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We collected a whole I was so grateful and just that.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
A couple of days later, we were in our staff room,
our coffee room, just counting the gift cards that people
had brought. We collected a lot of gift cards that
we distributed to these persons who've been displaced.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But where are people? How are they making it?
Speaker 5 (07:44):
Well, you know the history of our people, Tavis, is
we make it with less in the first place, Right,
we take what's left over and make it into something
that's not something that's new. People are making it because
they have to make it, you know. We many are struggling,
many are striving, and many are just kind of in limbo.
(08:05):
But this idea that we're in this space of recovery
is a farce, and I wish people would stop it.
Knock it off.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
What's relief? I'm about to ask you, went I love you.
I was about to ask you what word you would
use instead of recovery. The word is relief.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Tell me why, because relief triggers resources. Right, you can't
do anything. Unfortunately without money. Many people, you know, certainly
we've done good things at the station and others have
done great things with give cards, and those are things
that people need. That's a temporary fix, that's a little
bit of relief, right, But when you're looking at being underinsured, right,
(08:42):
when you are looking at the resources, and perhaps you
settle with your insurance adjusters prematurely. Right, folks are in
a space where they're not going to have enough capital
to sustain this long like where we are right now
will burn and last far longer than the flames, the
(09:03):
pain of it, the singing of it, and so people
need resources. I think about Martin Gordon Elder, who you met,
lost everything right in his seventy something year old mind.
He's trying to figure out what's the next best move
for him, rebuilding temporary housing ADU. But all of that
(09:25):
comes down to money.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
When we come forward, spe get the money. I want
to ask whether people are holding of whether they're selling.
That's the ultimate question for many of us. Are they holding?
Are they selling?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
We know their crunch, no question about it.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
But I quoted my friend James farre I referred to
Altain as the black Waconda and said earlier in this
program that we know they are too wealthy. Black enclaves
in this country, Prince George's County, Maryland, and of course
where I sit here, Ladera, Dara Heights View Park, Baldwin
Hills at Chesa, Chester, the other wealthy black enclave, the
too wealthiest in the country frankly, but neither of them
even had the high rate of Black home ownership that
(09:58):
they had in Altadenas are people selling or are they holding?
We at my home station in La KBLA have the
one and only program that's done every week in southern
California tracking the rebuilt effort or lack thereof in Altadena.
Only one media outlet in this city is holding people
accountable every single week to the best interest of the
(10:22):
African American residence of Altadena. And we are pleased to
say that that show is called Conversation Live Out and
in a Rising, hosted by my colleague James Farr, who
joins me in studio right now for a few more minutes.
But he's the host of this program that tracks all
of this stuff every single week. So if you're an
alter in a fan, or our family and friends in Alta, Dina,
or just fascinated and want to know more about the story,
(10:44):
just check out James Farr Composition live out in and
rising every single week for updates on what's happening and not.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
I mean, we did that town hall, you know, weeks
months ago now.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I started with some opening remarks, as you recall, and
I said that was really about just three questions, what
has happened, what hasn't happened, and what needs to happen.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
That was it.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And here we are, you know, almost two undred days later,
now asking those same questions, what has happened, what hasn't happened,
what needs to happen. We'll get to that in a
second here. But my earlier question, are people selling or
are they holding? That's a very binary question, brother Tavis.
And it's one that is a very individual situation, right,
and I think folks outside of this local space need
(11:29):
to allow folks that personal space to make that decision.
Generational wealth may look different now for some families than
it did or the idea of it later. But to
answer directly to your question, yes, people are selling people.
Some people won't have a choice but to sell. For
some people that may be the best decision that they
(11:50):
need to make for their families. Others are trying to
figure out can they hold out? What does tomorrow look like?
And so I would encourage the audience, the delegation to
allow people the space to make that very very personal decision.
It is personal. That said, though, how concerned are you?
Just be transparent with me as you always are.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
How concern know you? Really? Really?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That al will never look the way it once did.
I'm thinking about New Orleans this weekend. This weekend was
the Essence Festival. I've been in New Orleans a thousand times.
I love Nola. It's not the same Nola that it
was before Katrina.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
No, it's it's gone. Yeah, it won't be the same.
And I think it's not my place because I didn't
lose my home, right, My neighborhood is still standing. So
it's not my place to feel and project what others
should feel and project. But the idea of what was
normal January sixth is a memory.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
What has happened, what has not happened? What needs to happen?
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Our remaining question for James fad Journalist Again, a beautiful piece.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
In case you have not seen it, you should get
it and read it. Where's it? I just head of
your James with the piece.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Half a year later, the flames are gone, but so
it's to help out to burned Southern California had us
and sparked it. The system lets us smolder. No matter
where you're listening in the country, you just go to
La Progressive. A brilliant piece of work that's sharing in
h Dicky Dick. Yeah, yeah, Sharon Dick.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I love them and they do great work at the
LA Progressive. That's where the piece can be found. Half
a year later, the flames are gone, but so is
to help. Written by my colleague James far Right, last Streek,
I've been. It's I give to you what has happened,
what has not happened, what needs to happen, What has happened,
what has not happened, and what needs to happen.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Take it as you will.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Well, what has happened is we lost, and not just
the folks in Altadena. I'm talking about collectively as a
black community. Right, We've lost and this place back into
It wasn't a pop culture grab when I said that
if if Wakonda were a real place, Altadena would be
one of his tribes.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Right.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
It truly is a place where everybody knows somebody that
knows somebody who knows somebody. Right, that is the connective
tissue of it. Uh, that's what has happened. People have
lost their homes, people have lost their possessions, people have
lost their memory. Is people have lost so much. Let's
go to what needs to happen right. What needs to
happen is the people who are in charge, right are elected.
(14:10):
You know, these high ranking and high six figure salary
corporate executives in these suites need to do their damn
jobs at least one day. Right now is the time
for them to step up to that. What also needs
to happen is people need relief. They need money. They
don't need any more shoes, they don't need any more waters,
no more air purifiers. The gift cards work because they
(14:33):
are a currency that they can spend while they're in
a hotel. But people need resources in order to rebuild
their homes.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
In this moment, six months later, how with all we've
talked about in this half hour, how are you sustaining
your hope given all that's not being done.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
I'm learning something new through this process. Tabs. Before I
used to scoff and laugh at folks that I thought
were hope addicts. Right, I'm learning the discipline of hope.
I'm learning new way to grab on to that like this.
This is what Big Mama used to say about leaning
on your faith.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Right.
Speaker 5 (15:07):
I've seen humanity in people. I've seen predatory behavior in people,
but I recognize that what my agency is that I
have to be hopeful for an entire community, because there's
not a day that goes by that someone isn't calling
email and texting James, what do I do? That's a
lot to hold. These shoulders ain't that big.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
When somebody say, keep over alive, And that's what we
are doing six months later and.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Will as long as we are black.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
James Farr, if you're in southern California, will appear tonight
at seven pm LA time on the Spectrum News one
for another competition. He has a busy day run around
doing interviews because everybody's calling him about his assessment six
months later and why they're calling him because he's the
host of the only program tracking out to din every
(15:58):
single week.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
That program is thankfully on this station.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
It is called Conversation Live Out to Dina Rising. James,
thanks for your working witness for these months hosting this program.
Thank you for holding people accountable every single week, and
thank you for coming in to see me today.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Thank you for listening to Alta Dina after the Fire.
If you found this episode meaningful, please share it to
help spread awareness. To support those affected by the Eating Fire,
consider donating to the Brotherhood Crusades Wildfire Relief Fund at
Brotherhood Crusade dot org. Your contributions provide essential resources like food, medicine,
(16:36):
and housing assistance to families and need. If you have
updated information or a first hand story to share, we'd
love to hear from you. Contact details are in the
show notes. Alltedna after the Fire is an Urban one podcast.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Executive producer and.
Speaker 6 (16:53):
Host Kobe Cobteyner, Assistant producer Jahi Whitehead, Director of podcast
Sink Dra Smith. Special thanks to the Urban Onecres team
and our founder Kathy Hughes. Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
See you next time,
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