August 1, 2025 • 50 mins
When flames tore through Altadena on January 7th, they destroyed more than buildings—they revealed deep inequities in how America responds to disasters in Black communities. Against the backdrop of California's fifth deadliest wildfire, this episode brings together two survivors with starkly different recovery experiences.
Tamil, an intergenerational homeowner who operated a braiding business from the house her mother owned for 50 years, woke to find her world literally on fire. "I just sat there for hours as people on the news showed Altadena Drive burning," she recalls. "We left the car and I cried." Sixty miles away from her community and client base, Tamil now struggles with insurance paperwork, mortgage forbearance, and the isolation of starting over without adequate support.
Alongside her sits Shimika Gaskins, president of End Child Poverty California, whose professional connections mobilized immediately after she lost her home. "My place of work was super supportive. My team stepped in to make sure we had everything we needed right away." The contrast between their experiences highlights a troubling reality: disaster recovery systems work better for those already connected to resources.
Both women speak candidly about the failures that endangered lives—no functioning alert systems, fire hydrants without water, and delayed emergency responses compared to more affluent areas. "It's angering when we think about what could have prevented the fire," Shamika notes. "The fact that there was no alert system... it's just unacceptable."
Six months later, their faith remains tested but unbroken. Despite disappointment with some local churches, they've found strength in community and spirituality. "God never makes a mistake," Tamil reflects. "He does send his angels." Their advice for others still struggling resonates beyond disaster recovery: find your supportive people, protect your peace, remember to breathe, and don't be afraid to ask for help.
This powerful conversation reveals both heartbreak and hope—a testament to Black women's resilience and a call for equity in disaster response. Listen now and join us in supporting those still rebuilding their lives after the flames.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Abolitionist Sanctuary podcast,
where we consider criticalconversations at the
intersections of religion,abolition and Black motherhood.
I am your host, reverend DrNakia Smith-Robert, the
Executive Director ofAbolitionist Sanctuary.
We are a national coalitionleading a faith-based
(00:32):
abolitionist movement.
Be sure to visit us and becomea member at
abolitionistsanctuaryorg.
Download our mobile app andjoin our social learning
platform.
Take courses and becomecertified in abolition as social
change at abolitionacademycom.
Check out our new documentaryproject, subscribe to our
newsletter, follow us on socialmedia at Abolitionist Sanctuary
(00:55):
and donate to our organization.
Thank you to Kara SolutionsMultimedia Company and welcome
to all of our audiences joiningus on all streaming platforms.
Please share this podcast andinvite others to listen with you
.
Join me in welcoming ourspecial guests.
So I have with us Truvana,who's affectionately called by
(01:21):
her middle name, tamil.
Tamil is an intergenerationalAltadena native.
She lives in the same home thather mother owned for more than
50 years prior to the EatonCanyon fires, tamil attended
John Muir High School, goMustangs.
Her mother was a charteredmember of Victory Bible Church.
(01:43):
A chartered member of VictoryBible Church, tamil now owns her
own business, braids by True,that she founded over 30 years
ago, serving the Altadenacommunity.
Her purpose is more thancosmetology, but a cosmic
calling to boost women'sself-esteem through care and
holistic aesthetic care.
She is a mother, grandmotherand entrepreneur.
(02:05):
Welcome Tamil, hello, thank you.
Let us also welcome ShamikaGaskins, who is the president
and CEO of In Child PovertyCalifornia.
Powered by Grace, with abackground in law and public
policy, she brings expertise incriminal justice reform,
children's rights and socialequity.
(02:27):
Before leading In Child PovertyCalifornia, shamika served as
the executive director of theChildren's Defense Fund
California, driving statewideinitiatives focused on health
equity, juvenile justice reform,educational access and poverty
alleviation for children andfamilies, especially those from
(02:47):
marginalized communities.
Previously, shamika held keyroles at the US Department of
Justice, including acting DeputyAssistant Attorney General in
the Office of Legal Policy,where she shaped innovative
policy initiatives.
She also practiced civillitigation at Cummington and
Burling LLP and began her careeras a law clerk for the
(03:08):
Honorable Roger L Gregory FourthCircuit in the Honorable
Victoria Roberts EasternDistrict of Michigan Law Center
and graduated cum laude with aBA in philosophy from the
(03:29):
Catholic University of America.
An active leader in thenonprofit sector, she serves on
the boards of Impact Justice,the California Budget and Policy
Center, the Liberty HillFoundation and the Institute for
Success.
She is also a commissioner onthe LA County Commission for
Children and Families, a 2022Rosenberg Foundation Leading
(03:49):
Edge Fellow and Aspen InstituteAscend Fellow.
Shamika's work has beenfeatured in major outlets like
USA Today, sacramento Bee, losAngeles Daily News and
CalMatters.
Welcome Shamika.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Now I'm happy to say that both of you are in my
village, are my people?
Tamil braids my hair and mychildren's hair, and has done so
for as long as we lived inCalifornia, so for about 13
years.
Shamika and I met at HarambeSummer Camp, which is a
Christian-based program servinglocal youth.
(04:27):
Our children both attended thecamp.
I'm excited to have you bothhere to highlight the work
you're doing in the communityand to also solicit support for
the ways in which we canadvocate for you and others who
have been affected by the EatonCanyon wildfires.
So let us hop right into ourtime together.
First tell me your pronouns andgive us a description of how
(04:52):
you are showing up in this space, and then who are your people.
We'll start with Tamil and thenwe'll go to Shamique.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
My pronoun is she, her.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I am showing determined and just trying to
push forward.
This has been a very tryingtime.
My people are like yourself.
I've been able to express how Ifeel and you have connected me
with so many resources.
There's been a change reactioncommunity.
They have really rallied behindus.
(05:25):
I just had to wrap my headaround what happened and push
forward and make myselfavailable for those who wanted
to help.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yes, and describe yourself.
What are you wearing?
What do you look like?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Oh, what I'm wearing.
Okay, well, my daughter doeshair, so I'm laying my tire in
the room and I am located in myshop.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
I was blessed to have a safe space to now service my
clients.
I'm in the city of Upland, soI'm here in my salon.
Just finished applying.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Pinments to go.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Amazing Tavika.
Tell me what are your pronouns.
Give us a visual of how you areshowing up in this space and
who are your people.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Well, good to see you both.
I am she her pronouns are justKavika.
I am wearing glasses and awhite Oxford striped shirt.
I need to go see Camillebecause I want to get my hair
braided all summer and I haven'tyet.
I'm wearing lipstick today,Dressed up for you both and you
are my people.
I feel really blessed to haveso many friendships, many born
(06:28):
out of working relationships,community, so many motherhood
relationships, so I'm justreally very grateful.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Let's talk about the community.
Tell us what was life like foryou in Altadena prior to the
Eaton Canyon fires.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
We'll start with you, Shamika in Altadena prior to
the Eaton Canyon fires.
We'll start with you, shamika.
I really want to call it a way.
I thought about it, and notjust because they're on the
Abolition Sanctuary podcast, butit really was a sanctuary for
me.
I grew up in a very small townin South Carolina 5,000 people,
10,000 people to this day, atown my grandparents grew up in,
(07:04):
great-grandparents going allthe way back to slavery.
For me, I've always been asmall-town girl.
I moved from South Carolina toWashington DC, as you heard in
my career, but my husband's anLA native.
He grew up in South LA andreally wanted to raise our
children in California, so wemoved in 2016 to California.
(07:24):
I really was looking for aplace that felt like home, a
place that felt like there wasnature and, particularly because
our son has asthma, that therewas good air quality, knowing
what LA is like, and Altadenareally was that sanctuary place
for us.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Thank you for sharing that, Trevonna.
How about you?
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I was born and raised in Altadena, from the hospital
to the home.
I lived there.
For sharing that, trevonna, howabout you?
I was born and raised inAltadena, from the hospital to
the home.
I lived there for 47 years.
So it was family, it wascommunity, it was love.
That's what it was for mebefore the virus.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Thank you for sharing that.
January 7th has become a datethat is forever etched into the
hearts of Altadenas.
It is the day that the EatonCanyon wildfires began in the
San Gabriel Valley, killing someand displacing others,
destroying more than 9,000buildings and becoming the fifth
(08:21):
deadliest and second mostdestructive wildfire in
California history.
Can you tell us where were youon January 7th and what do you
remember from that day?
We'll start with you, Trevon.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
On January 7th.
I had a Christmas party monthsbefore I went out of town.
I came back on January 3rd andwas cleaning up January 7th.
I was just spending the wholeday getting ready, excited for
the new year and all that it wasgoing to bring, like taking
down Christmas trees and all thethings.
Then around 7 pm my fiance camehome and he was saying babe,
(08:58):
the winds are really bad.
I'm like yeah, we always getSanta Ana winds, so it's normal.
And out to Dena.
And so we just went on with ourevening and then our power went
out and we just like, oh, we'lljust call it a night.
But he was like no, this windis really bad.
And then we start getting textssaying are you okay?
(09:19):
I'm just like what are theytalking about?
Because I'm thinking it's thewind.
Around 9 pm my daughter'sgrandmother called and she's
like you know it's really bad.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
She's like there's a fire.
So I go to look out my frontwindow and I didn't see anything
.
Again, I'm just like it's justreally windy.
And then I went back to sleepand then we got a call from one
(09:41):
of his co-workers at three inthe morning and was like there's
a fire in Eaton and he keptsaying he's not from Altadena.
So he kept saying Eaton.
And I'm like what are youtalking about?
And I was like wait, eatonCanyon, that's right there.
By that time I looked bad.
We were scrambling, trying tofind things and our house was
engulfed with smoke.
We grabbed some importantpapers and had to close on our
(10:04):
back and evacuate.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Wow, that is devastating and I just want to
acknowledge that this is verydifficult and can be triggering.
To tell these stories, pleaseexercise the boundaries that you
need.
Feel free not to answer thequestion if it's too heavy for
you.
I know that this is verydifficult, shamika.
How would you want to respondto that question?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, I mean, I think about it all the time because
the night before the wind wasreally high and I grew up in
hurricane territory, hurricaneseason, lived through hurricanes
and I kept telling my husband Idon't like this howling.
It's howling like a hurricane.
And we woke up the next daythere was lots of debris in our
yard from our oak tree.
Everything seemed fine.
(10:49):
By the time we took the kids toschool, the power was out.
I didn't know anything aboutthe Palisades fire until about
two or three o'clock in theafternoon when I went to pick
the kids up and was listening toNPR, I was like, oh my God,
there's a fire in the Palisades.
I was trying to get them homeearly because we didn't have
power and I wanted to make sureeverybody can get settled in
before the night began.
We did that and that dayactually is etched in our minds
(11:12):
for another reason, becauseduring the middle of the day my
husband, who's a marathon runner, learned that he had gotten
into the Australian Marathon,which is a world marathon, and
it's a lottery.
He'd been trying to get intothe marathon.
So we're like, oh, let'scelebrate, we're going to order
takeout, we don't have power.
His reaction was I'm going fora run.
(11:34):
I was like no, it's too windy.
And so at like 4.30, he wentout running Altadena and got
home about 6.15.
And the same time, like ourfood arrived and everything was
dark but it seemed fine.
I was worried that he'd been upthere running in the wind.
Then we're eating and he getsthis text message from a
colleague who says are you guysokay?
They're under fire.
We're like, there ain't no fire, what are you talking about?
My husband didn't believe thembecause he'd just been outside.
(11:56):
He texted her and was like sendme pictures.
When she sent the picture, weall looked at the picture.
I'm like that looks very close.
Unfortunately, we went to thedoor with my children and opened
the front door and the fire wasthere.
It looked like it was on nextstreet, behind our neighbor's
houses.
It felt apocalyptic, it wascrazy.
And so then, as Tamil said, wejust all panicked.
(12:18):
Thankfully, my husband didn'tpanic as much and tried to
gather our children, who werepanicking, to pull together
everything you know what basicthings we could find in the dark
, because they're alsoscrambling around in the dark
and all our neighbors came out.
Because we're one of the fewfamilies on our street that have
young children.
My children are 10 and 12.
And they came and sat with thechildren in the car because they
(12:41):
were really frightened andscared, until we could have what
we could in the car to read.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It's really difficult and emotional.
It's very difficult to hearthat.
I can't imagine what it's liketo relive it as you're giving
that description.
I just feel led for us to takea moment of silence for those
families and people we lost inthe fires.
Let's close our eyes.
If you know their names, feelfree to speak them.
(13:08):
Let's lift up our hearts andjust be intentional about
creating a moment of silence.
May their memory be a blessing.
Thank you for sharing yourstories.
(13:32):
I am terribly sorry that youendured these challenges without
any warning.
As we are investigating thesituation, there are things that
could have been done better toensure you've had the proper
notice and resources to come outbetter in a situation like this
.
If you are open, perhaps youcan tell me what was the morning
(13:53):
of January 8th like when youwoke up.
How was it different?
Just walk us through with thereality setting in as you
reconcile the loss, the griefand other emotions with all you
needed to do to survive.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Camille, do you want to start?
Yeah, I'll start.
So, like I said, we left atthree, maybe like 3.30 in the
morning.
We were just like we've learnedstop, drop and roll, duck and
cover.
But where do you go whenthere's a week?
So we're like we're just goingto drive to Morovia and sit at
Denny's until we figure this out, because, again, we had no cell
service.
We got to Morovia, denny's wasclosed.
(14:31):
We kept driving until we got toGlendora and we went in Denny's
and it's all over the news.
So now, of course, the furtherwe're driving away, my phone is
blowing up and I'm looking onsocial media and I see it was by
righty on Altadena Drive.
So then, as we're sitting there, my niece and my great nephew,
I reached out to her to see ifthey were okay, and she was at a
(14:52):
family member's house down thestreet and they hadn't been
evacuated.
I was like, well, you know, ourhouse was succumbed with smoke,
so that's why we left.
She said okay.
Then she said she was going togo to the house and get some of
her medications and thingstogether.
And then she called back maybean hour later and said that when
she pulled up to the house, ourneighbor's house was already on
(15:14):
fire and she said it was likeraining fire.
I don't know what we're goingto come back to if anything, but
that was what it was.
But still in my mind I'mthinking like, oh well, the fire
truck is going to come and putit out and we'll be fine.
But unfortunately that was justnot the reality.
So I just sat there for anotherthree hours as people like on
(15:36):
the news it's just showing, likeyou know, watts, flores,
altadena Drive and Mayor Postonand I was like, oh my God, I
live like to the next streetdown, and so it kind of hit and
I just went completely numb.
I started getting phone callsand they're like my grandson's
father was like mom, I'm goingto go up there and try to save
the house and I'm like no, Idon't want anyone in danger, it
(15:59):
is what it is, we'll just praythis isn't happening.
Around six in the morning I gota text with a picture of the
house just gone.
We left out at Denny's and I waslike I need to get some air.
We just sat in the car myfiance guy and we cried.
I called my brother from Texasand he's like are you guys okay?
(16:19):
And I was just like no, Icouldn't talk For the next eight
hours.
I just said no.
My fiance took me to hisbrother's house and he just made
all kind of arrangements for usto go somewhere.
But the first day I was checkedout mentally.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, Wow.
And this is the home.
I brought my two-year-olddaughter into your living room
for you to braid her hair,sitting on the couch right
across the fireplace and seeinggrandchildren in diapers running
around.
It was a home filled with love,a staple in the community,
(17:02):
beautiful residents.
And to see how quickly that canchange in a matter of hours,
the difference a day makes.
How about you, Shamika?
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Well, we made it to my sister house in Pasadena.
So I didn't actually Itechnically never went to sleep.
I just watched the news allnight, praying, trying to
understand the trajectory.
Ironically, when we wereleaving, going down the mountain
, my daughter said we're notcoming back, it's not going to
be there.
I was like, why would you saythat we're all praying?
(17:35):
But I think because we saw itso close, she just had a sense
it wasn't going to be there.
But you know, hoping and prayingthat the firefighters, airdrops
, something was going to put itout before it got further, and
so, anyway, I don't think that Ifell asleep, probably like at
530, and then woke up in a panicbecause my husband kept saying
he wanted to go back and getmore stuff there's pictures he
(17:56):
wanted and I kept saying it wastoo dangerous.
Well, once I fell asleep hewent up there.
I can't imagine what he saw,but at about 6 am he called back
because I was trying to reachhim but there was no cell
service.
Until he got down the mountaincloser to Pasadena he called and
I knew it was gone, justhearing his voice.
(18:17):
He saw it actively burning.
No one around, no water.
The helplessness of that.
No one around no water, thehelplessness of that and yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I'm so sorry.
We were displaced.
We did not lose our home.
We saw the fires.
It did not leap across whatevervalley.
It needed to get to a townnearby where we live, but
smelling the smoke, not knowingif you would be able to return
(18:47):
to your home.
I remember going through myhouse and just taking pictures
of everything.
I thought this might be thelast time I see it, and then I
also thought if we needed anytype of reimbursements or
reports, I would have thesepictures of what it looked like
prior to the fire.
I remember taking valuableassets and packing our car with
garbage bags of things, takingmy son's PS5 and my valuables,
(19:11):
packing up with toilet paper andpillows and blankets, and just
getting on the road not knowingwhere we were going but just
knew we had to get away fromhere.
This is really devastating, andso I'm thinking now that we are
more than six months out.
You told us what life was likeprior to January 7th.
(19:31):
You told us what the morning ofJanuary 8th felt like the
devastation, the numbness.
Tell us now, where are you,more than six months later, in
your recovery process, bothmaterially, spiritually,
emotionally.
Where are you in your recoveryprocess?
I'll start with you, shamika.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
I'll start with materially, and probably easier
than emotionally and spiritually.
Thankfully, we were superblessed.
My sister is in Pasadena and wewere able to stay with her for
several weeks in her family andthe kids had cousins and people
to be around.
And frankly, I think, asTennille said, it was the thing
that saved me, because she fedme, she made sure I stayed
(20:11):
healthy, but it also kept mefrom going into complete despair
because, you know, we had ourchildren around, we had their
cousins around, we had a lot ofpeople around.
It wasn't until we moved intothe apartment in February that I
really felt the weight of itall, but thankfully we were able
to secure an apartment inPasadena.
(20:32):
My place of work, which we'lltalk about later, was super
supportive.
I didn't have to worry.
My team stepped in to make surewe had everything we needed
right away.
I couldn't even wrap my mindaround things, but because of
the community and working withso many nonprofit leaders, they
just showed up the next day withclothes and bags of things.
(20:55):
I definitely felt loved andsupported in that way and didn't
have to worry.
It was still so difficultbecause we're not attuned to
asking for help.
That part was really hard to belike no, I actually need help.
I actually need to hold paperand tissue and toothbrushes and
things that seem really basic.
(21:15):
And, spiritually, I have to say, be 100% honest with you, dasha
and Kia.
This has been the hardest thingin my life.
I felt like I had been throughsome pretty hard things before
this.
I felt like I had a prettystrong faith, but this really
tested.
It continues to test it everyday and I think I'm so grateful
(21:36):
because the times in which Ifelt the most tested, god seemed
to know, and I get a text fromyou or my friend Joseph or
somebody else sending mereminders that God was in
control at us.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So yeah, thank you for sharing that, and I could
see the emotions that you areholding back and how hard it is
to put yourself in thevulnerable space of sharing.
In our Vacation Bible School,we are looking at the story of
the three Hebrew boys, shadrach,meshach and Abednego, and in
(22:09):
our church, about 54 familieswere displaced from the Eaton
Canyon fires, and so we'recontinuing to minister every day
.
We offer free food, workshops,legal clinics, resources and
community, and I think what I'mhearing and what you guys are
saying is the importance ofcommunity.
(22:30):
I really want us to hold on tothat, because community is what
gets us through crisis, but inthe good times, it's what keeps
us encouraged.
Society has a way to conditionus.
It's about individualism.
Right that we do not needcommunity.
We don't need this sense ofmutuality.
Instead, we need competitionand not collaboration.
(22:53):
But what we're hearing is whatsustains you is this deep sense
of community, and that's reallyimportant.
Community is foundational tochurches, so at this Vacation
Bible School and throughout theweek, we gather as a community.
But one of the persons who losttheir homes as we were talking
about this story with Shadrach,meshach and Abednego, they were
sharing how their faith wastested, similarly to the three
(23:16):
Hebrew boys whose faith wastested in the fiery furnace, and
as I hear about this being oneof the most difficult times in
your life and being a test offaith, it reminds me of that
story of the three Hebrew boyswho were thrown into a fiery
furnace, refusing to bow down tothe God of the oppressor right,
refusing to submit to the namesand relinquish their culture,
(23:40):
but held on to their deep senseof community.
And as they were in this fieryfurnace, they were not alone.
There was another presencethere, and that was the presence
of God, and they were able tocome out of the fiery furnace
unscathed and unconsumed.
Now, that's not everyone'stestimony.
Some people come out with somescars and some burns, but I
(24:02):
think what we can take from thatstory and what maybe you feel
in your experiences is that,through this test of faith, we
have the blessed assurance toknow that God is with us and
that not only is God with us,but our community is as well.
Tamil.
Please tell us about yourrecovery process which, based on
my relationship with you, Iunderstand is very different
than what others are sharing.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
So please tell me about your recovery process, my
recovery process has definitelybeen a struggle because we are
relocated in Rancho Cucamonga.
As you said, I had a home-basedbusiness where I braided hair
as well.
So being in the community andhaving a steady clientele over
30 years to be way in RanchoCucamonga, I just felt so
(24:47):
isolated.
My clients, thank God.
They were very understanding,but there was a huge disconnect
In the beginning.
I was ripping and running fromRancho to Pasadena where all the
resources were, and it wasamazing.
But because I'm so used tobeing in my community, the
commute alone was driving mecrazy.
That part has definitely been astruggle, as things have slowed
(25:10):
.
I feel like I'm lost in thisalone because the majority of my
peers are helping their parentswith this.
I'm the youngest but my mother,when she passed, she left the
house to me.
My siblings don't live in thetown, so I'm navigating this by
myself.
Things like forbearance, thejargon dealing with the
(25:32):
insurance I've never had to callthe insurance company.
They're telling me all thesethings because this was a home
inheritance to me.
It's not like I went throughthe whole buying process and I
was familiar with all the things, so I just got overwhelmed.
Being in this town all bymyself, trying to navigate
through everyone's lovely textmessages, all this information.
(25:56):
It was just overwhelming.
For the first three months Iwas really showing up to the
resource center but not reallyknowing what I'm doing with the
tax papers and all the things.
It's very hard because I am thestrong person in my family, so
even asking for help was I'mgoing to figure it out, and
because I was raised by a strongwoman who figured it out.
(26:20):
She was a single mother.
My father passed when I wasseven, so she always figured it
out.
That's where my faith comesfrom, because she just did it.
Now I'm just trying to learnhow to ask for help and receive
the help.
That's what's keeping me going,is my faith and the foundation
that my mother taught me therelationship with God, because
(26:43):
outside of the church, that wasa little disappointing for me.
In this process it was toughnot getting support from who you
think you would, but God nevermakes a mistake, so he does send
his angels, like you guys, tohave just a space to talk about
this because it's in my head.
My peers don't understand.
So that, like I said, it's beentrying.
(27:06):
But we're six months in and nowI'm like, okay, I call it the
fire fall.
I'm getting out the fall, let'sget into it.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that.
So God placed both of you on myheart and I see that there are
similarities in your stories andthe ways that you're rooted in
the value of community, that youare rooted in the values of
your home and family and theways in which faith helps you to
(27:34):
cope and navigate crises, butalso the strong Black woman
syndrome that we often inheritfrom our mothers, particularly
mothers who were raised inpoverty or mothers who raised
their children single-handedly,and that context presents a
unique circumstance for Blackwomen and mothers who are
(27:56):
navigating this process rightthat we don't always have access
to the resources, we're notalways conditioned to ask for
help, particularly in a societythat constructs us as unworthy
of help.
When we do ask for help, wemeet the narrative of you're
lazy, you're welfare queen,you're you know all these things
(28:16):
, you're cheating the system,and so we retreat and say we'll
do it on our own.
But this situation was sosevere that could not happen.
You needed lifelong, and I'mglad that Ablish the Sanctuary
and myself were there to reachout to you not just as an
organization, but as yourcommunity, as your friend, as
your sister and Tamil.
When I heard how isolated youwere.
(28:37):
I remember saying why didn'tyou say something?
And it's because that wasn'tyour comfort, right?
You're very private.
You were suffering alone.
I'm so glad you trusted me totell your story and I'm trying
my best to go public with yourstory.
We spoke with reporters.
We're trying to get youcoverage because your story is
(28:59):
unique and different from a lotof other survivors, and so what
I want to shed light here to allof our listeners is that there
is a population affected by theEaton Canyon fires who are
overlooked and disconnected fromresources.
The media coverage we see onlyincludes people successfully
(29:20):
connected to resources, butthere are still people who are
locked out, who aredisenfranchised.
If we were to pathologize whothose populations are, there are
seniors, youth and there areother vulnerable populations and
I think where Tamil fits in,it's the population of people
who need a type of financialliteracy and training to
(29:44):
understand how to negotiate withcontractors, how to advocate
for themselves with insuranceclaims and how to navigate the
paperwork, fill out applicationsand understand the terms and
agreements and so forth.
That may not have that type ofbusiness acumen because they
were intergenerational in theirhomes.
(30:04):
So Tamil said the only thingher mother taught her was to pay
the mortgage on time and not tosell Right.
He didn't get the education asan intergenerational homeowner.
The other part of Tamil's storythat disenfranchises her is the
people who had a type ofeconomic volatility prior to the
(30:25):
fire.
So the people who may not haveand I'm not saying this applies
to mail, but the people who maynot have reported their income
right, the people who may havewent here in the back of their
house, the people who don't knowhow to file their tax return,
those people who may be engagedin underground economies to
survive have to suddenly comeabove the table, and in order to
(30:52):
get the resources they need,they need to show proof of
income, they need to show W-2sbank statements.
Some people were still savingtheir money underneath a
mattress right.
Vulnerable communities aregetting left out and we have to
advocate for and amplify theirvoices so that no one's left
behind and they have equitableaccess to cover.
(31:12):
So for that reason, it's prettyimportant that we highlight
Camille's story and do so inrelationship with Shamika's
story, so we can see what theholistic process looks like,
from the best case scenario tothe not so good scenario, as we
help people recover during theseEden Canyon fires.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
And can I add, I think what you just touched on
is so important because, as yousaid, there are many stories
about Altadena, right after thefires, where people said, oh
well, I never knew this aboutAltadena, I didn't know about
the Black community and theintergenerational transfers of
wealth and homeownership, and Ithink what gets lost is people
(31:53):
may not be living technicallybelow the poverty line, but
because you don't have amortgage and or you've never had
to have a mortgage and yourfamily passed your home down to
you, like, your economicsituation is just very different
.
And now to think about havingto pay for an apartment and
rebuild a home, there's just alot that is unique and important
for people to understand, evenwhen I think about the type of
(32:16):
assistance people might need, asyou said, navigating the
paperwork, but alsounderstanding particular
circumstances of each person.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
We have to also be mindful that there is systemic
racism, classism and structuralinequities at play.
We think about how long it tookfor Northwest Altadena to be
informed compared to SoutheastPasadena, or the way people in
the palisades received earlierinterventions, including a visit
from the president, that EatonCanyon survivors did not receive
(32:46):
.
Talk to us about how you feelabout these disparities and why
are they significant?
Shemika, do you want to start?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
It's angering when we think about what could have
prevented the fire.
Part of that is recognizingclimate catastrophes.
Can we prevent the Santa Anawinds?
Probably not.
But can we not have overheadpower lines and folks
complaining about that for manyyears and nothing ever happening
?
Yes, particularly around thenotification of people.
(33:15):
The fact that there was no alertsystem I remember being up in
the middle of the night and itwas still saying the fire was
not near my home and apps,watchdogs or whatever the fact
that people weren't being toldget out, leave now, like that,
it's okay for you to stay inyour home is just unacceptable.
We saw a totally differentdisplay of how people were
(33:36):
pushed to get out so much thatit was traffic jams and
disruptive.
When we look back and do deeperdives, you will see that it
wasn't just about thecircumstances of having two
climate catastrophes happen atone time, but these fake
inequities where you don't feellike it's important to have as
much needed in particularcommunities.
Having that analysis of whythings played out the way they
(33:58):
did and oftentimes people don'twant to admit implicit bias and
all the other things are thereasons why things could have
looked differently Tamil.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Do you want to add anything?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
No, and what she said .
I was very devastated because Iwas taking the fire department,
three blocks from my house,would come and then to later
find out there was no water inthe hydrants doesn't sit well
because it's checks and balances.
So what happened?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah, it's extremely, extremely, extremely
disheartening.
This is a middle class,affluent, historically Black
community and again it's thisnarrative that we are not worthy
of help.
We're not worthy of equalprotection of our life, our
civil and human rights rightthat our lives matter.
(34:44):
It was a tale of two fires thatwe saw between the Palisades
and Altadena and within Altadena.
At our church we had a pressconference.
Attorney Benjamin Crump and AlSharpton attended and led a
memorial service for victims wholost their loved ones.
Other neighboring churches havealso hosted press conferences
(35:08):
and organizations to shed lighton these injustices.
Tell me about two things whattype of support have you
received?
One from churches and two fromother organizations Tamil, can
you start?
Or lack of support.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
This is the same space and I'm just going to be
honest the lack of support fromthe churches in my community.
It's crazy because I didresearch one time just the
amount of churches just on mymain street, all the fair works,
there's a church on every blockand our community is so small.
(35:45):
I know pastors by name, by face, and a lack of support in my
community.
It wasn't there.
Outside of the community I havebeen getting so much support
Now that I've been connected.
It's very disheartening.
Once you connect me with FirstAMV, they welcomed me with open
(36:08):
arms and it was just a lot ofgood information.
That part has been amazing,just the turnaround.
But to be born and raised in acommunity and see other people
getting all of the resources isvery disheartening.
Different nonprofits haveopened the door and have been
(36:28):
navigating this process.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Do you want to be specific about the church that
you were connected to that youdid not get resources from?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
My mother was a charter member of Victory Bible
Church.
I was baptized in that churchunder Bishop Henry, bishop
Milton White and just thesupport, I will say Bishop
White's wife, lady White.
She did reach out to me insupport, but that's just as far
as the support went.
I just felt like the ball wasdropped Myself and my mother,
(36:59):
like in our household it waslike you guys have to go to
church, so we brought so manymembers to that church and just
to see them drop the ball wasvery hurtful see them drop the
ball was very hurtful.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I'm sorry to hear that.
I think that is a growing edgefor churches, particularly the
evangelical tradition.
We could be so heavily boundand no earthly good that we
over-spiritualize, even incrisis, to say God is going to
handle it, god is going toprovide which may be true, and
we have the responsibility tomake sure that we are God's
hands, god's feet, that we arehelping each other and helping
(37:38):
ourselves and the church, Ithink, can also get lost in
optics.
It seems that some churches aremore concerned about the press
and the publicity than thepeople.
It's not enough to show up onSundays and ask people to tithe
and then not give them theresources they need to survive.
I know how hurt they were to seesome people get in shiny new
(38:02):
cars and all this assistancewhile you were struggling to get
from Altadena, where yourclient base was, to Upland
without any resources, living inan Airbnb, having to pay rent
while paying mortgage on a housethat no longer exists and
having lost all of yourclientele in Altadena and having
(38:22):
to start over again 60 milesaway in a new town where you
have no community, noconnections, is extremely hard,
and you would think theinstitutions that you are most
familiar with would be there tohelp you, like the church.
I'm glad that you did find someresources at Ritvme, pasadena,
under the leadership of PastorLarry E Campbell, and that you
(38:44):
felt that you were received withopen arms.
That shows you that it's notall churches what churches can
do better.
How about you, shamika?
How has your experience hasbeen with recovery?
Speaker 3 (38:53):
If you could name particular churches,
organizations and how your faithhas grounded you in this crisis
, I think I know because of mywork and community and working
at Children's Defense Center andthen also in Child Poverty,
california, I've had theopportunity to work with so many
other faith groups andcommunity and coalition with
(39:14):
folks in terms of being able toorganize around anti-poverty
issues more, and so for me,those are the people who showed
up, whether it's with clothes orcash, once Neil was saying
you're in the fog.
They were the ones texting melike apply for FEMA, the FEMA
application is open, and I'mlike I don't even know how to
you just loom all sense ofanything you know, and so it the
one's texting me like apply forFEMA, the FEMA application is
open, and I'm like I don't evenknow how to you just loom all
(39:35):
sense of anything you know, andso it's just, and times, I think
, stand still.
Those are the folks who aremaking sure that I did the
things that needed to be donefor me and my family, and so I
feel really blessed.
Brotherhood Crusade my sister,cherise Weaver, showed up on my
couch and was like you know,this is what you need to do, and
(39:56):
so many others probably toomany to name.
I'm so blessed that so manypeople, through my work, saw
themselves as taking ownershipof making sure me and my family
were safe and taken care of.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Thank you for mentioning that.
I think that's another piece tomake a distinction that the
population that's getting leftbehind are the people who
weren't connected to communitiesprior to the Eaton Canyon fires
.
If you just went to workbraiding hair and then you went
home and you weren't involved ina church or a member of Jack
and Jill or a sorority oranother organization, I could
(40:28):
see how it would be isolatingand difficult to get the
information that often came wordof mouth.
You had to have your ear to theground, so if you weren't
connected to the community, youweren't getting that.
Did you reach out to FEMA?
Did you apply for that $600?
Did you see the link that getsall the available rentals?
This community is what keeps usalive.
So I just have a couple of morequestions before we conclude
(40:51):
our time together For those whoare still perhaps left behind or
have access to what they need,but they want to make sure that
they are caught up and doingeverything they need to do.
If you were to lead a trainingand it was the last slide that
said here are the things thatyou need to do what would your
advice be to people of what theyneed to do, to what would your
(41:13):
advice be to people of what theyneed to do to get the resources
they need to recover?
Speaker 3 (41:19):
I think part of it is getting networked and it's
really hard.
It feels like so much extrawork on top of all the things
that you have to keep up withjust rebuilding your life.
But as draining as it can be toget over the hump, being in
community is also life-giving.
My first piece of advice isfind your people.
It might be new people to getconnected with.
(41:41):
There's just too much to knowand we can't, with our daily
lives, keep up, and it's helpfulto have folks who are, you know
, may have more time or they'rejust better at staying organized
.
And, on top of things, I have aperson who sends me do you know
?
This is what's happening in thecounty next and I'm like no, I
haven't read that email.
I don't check my email.
They're keeping you informed.
So I think that's number one.
(42:02):
But I also want to say which ismost important because this is
grief is to protect your peace.
If being in certain spaces istoo much or too triggering, find
the space that works for you,and it may take longer to get to
where you need to be, but thereare people who are out there
who want to help, who aren'tlooking for anything in return.
(42:26):
You know I have a 89-year-oldwoman in our apartment building.
She has been in several Airbnbs, very similar to Tamir.
I love this woman.
She said to me a couple ofweeks ago she's navigating most
of this on her own too.
She was like I have you and God.
And I was like, yeah, me too,cause I need you.
She's my community in thisbuilding of somebody who's
(42:48):
connected to home, who sharesthe same values, who shows love
in a way that people in Ossidinashould love each other.
So I think that's the mostimportant thing Try your best to
get connected and learn whatwas going on, but also find the
people that are life-giving toyou and stick with that.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Thank you for that.
Tamio, I would say number oneremember to breathe.
Simple stuff like that becauseyou're on autopilot.
Be willing to ask for help.
Find your village and don'tfocus on those who aren't
healthy.
Allow those who want to help tohelp to try to get organized,
(43:29):
because it's overwhelming Evenwhen you're getting the
information.
Sometimes the forms were justlooking like it was in a foreign
language.
I looked at my insurance papersfor three months, had no clue.
Delegate that to someone elseand then they can read it to you
.
No, it takes time.
Don't beat yourself up if youdidn't check your emails into
(43:49):
all those things, because thisis a lot.
Just really honor the process.
This is grief on so manydifferent levels.
Allow yourself to process that.
That's been the hardest thingfor me because I watched my
mother pass away, but this is amillion times harder.
Never in a trillion years wouldI have thought our childhood
(44:13):
home, our legacy, everythingwould just be gone and they have
to fight to get back.
Just give yourself grace andstand on faith, whatever that
looks like for you.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
For those who are listening.
In summary, find your peoplewho are life-giving Community
matters.
Connect to portals and peoplewith information.
Protect your peace withboundaries.
Remember to breathe, Ask forhelp, Take it one step at a time
, Get organized and get thetraining and education you need
(44:49):
to understand technicalprocesses, delegate, give
yourself grace, honor theprocess and stand on faith.
Thank you both so much.
As we are heading to close, Iwant you to tell us about your
business, ways in which we cansupport your organizations and
(45:10):
the ways in which people canstay in contact with you and
support your organizations andthe ways in which people can
stay in contact with you.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
You can book your hair appointments.
Yes, my name is Brayne.
Let us know if you're warmingup.
I'm sensitive.
My true thanks to see on socialmedia platforms.
Speaker 4 (45:24):
Feel free to DM me.
I need the support.
I love grading hair.
It's a passion, it is in me, itis everything, it's a whole
experience and you won't bedisappointed.
So yes, check out Grades byTrue 6 to 6 on all social media
platforms Book your hairappointment.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Samil is professional , reliable, timely, and this is
more than just doing your hair.
She braids hair in a way thatshe wants to uplift your soul.
I have a 15-year-old D'Arstindaughter.
In these predominantly whitespaces where it's hard to hold
on to, your self-esteem Mildredmy daughter's hair and for about
(46:04):
six hours my daughter's backwas to the mirror and when she
turned that chair around andlooked in that mirror, that
validation and instantgratification she saw when she
loved who she saw in that mirrorbrought all of us to tears.
We literally cried in Tamil'sshop and Tamil said this is why
(46:26):
I do it Book your appointmentwith Tamil today.
Sis Shemika, tell us about yourorganization and the work we
can do to support you.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Well, first I'm going to go book my appointment.
My organization is In ChildParty California.
Our focus is on policy advocacyto support children and
families experiencing poverty,but our work is rooted in the
voices and experiences ofCalifornians and families,
particularly Black, indigenous,aapi and immigrant communities
(46:55):
impacted as you talked about thestructural inequities, and so
please follow us at In ChildParty California, but also you
can follow me on Instagram atShanika Speaks.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
This podcast episode is brought to you by my friend,
mark Philpott and the BlackFreedom Fund, who has been a
phenomenal support in organizingcommunity organizations to
support Black families affectedby the Eaton Canyon fires.
On behalf of the Black FreedomFund and Abolitionist Sanctuary,
(47:27):
we want to gift each of you onemonth of mortgage assistance to
assist you in your recoveryprocess.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
Now you really want to make us cry, thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Now you're going to make me get these lashes about
to come off.
It is the least we can do and Ihope other organization will
match us and do even better toensure that Black mothers and
their families and others aresupported during this Eaton
Canyon.
This is the final question andit is my favorite.
It's called the rapid round, soI'm going to mention about 10
(48:05):
words.
When I mention one, you saywhat comes to your mind
immediately, so you can do ittogether at once or alternately.
We'll do it together, let'swork together.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Okay, we'll work together.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Altadena Love Love, washington Boulevard, the
bookstore.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
If you keep going, you're not going to get nothing
to eat.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
That's not good.
Get nothing to eat, that's agood one, norma Alta.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Oh, the park.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
So many memories Good childhood memories, beauty and
ashes Strong.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Our community Alta Vina.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
Yes, Restoration House of Vina yes.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Restoration.
Imagine my home.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
Kendrick Lamar, they not like Exactly, they not like
us.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Faith Deeply rooted.
And the last one,abolitionolitionist.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
Sanctuary, a safe space.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
And a observable world.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
Thank, you both for joining us for this episode of
Beauty and Ashes.
Thank you for joining thisconversation on the Abolitionist
Sanctuary podcast.
For those who are listening,please download and share on all
platforms.
Again, I am your host, ReverendDr Nakia Smith-Robert, the
founder and executive directorof Abolitionist Sanctuary.
(49:40):
You can find us on YouTube,Instagram, Facebook and download
our social media app, bringingtogether abolitionists and
people who love freedom.
Also, enroll in our courses andbecome certified in
abolitionacitionAcademycom.
Don't forget to become a memberand join our mailing list at
AbolitionSanctuaryorg.
As we conclude this episode,remember that abolition is not
(50:03):
only a practice, but it is a wayof life, and for me, it is my
religion.
Thank you.
Welcome to the Abolitionist Sanctuary podcast,
where we consider criticalconversations at the
intersections of religion,abolition and Black motherhood.
I am your host, reverend DrNakia Smith-Robert, the
Executive Director ofAbolitionist Sanctuary.
We are a national coalitionleading a faith-based
(00:32):
abolitionist movement.
Be sure to visit us and becomea member at
abolitionistsanctuaryorg.
Download our mobile app andjoin our social learning
platform.
Take courses and becomecertified in abolition as social
change at abolitionacademycom.
Check out our new documentaryproject, subscribe to our
newsletter, follow us on socialmedia at Abolitionist Sanctuary
(00:55):
and donate to our organization.
Thank you to Kara SolutionsMultimedia Company and welcome
to all of our audiences joiningus on all streaming platforms.
Please share this podcast andinvite others to listen with you
.
Join me in welcoming ourspecial guests.
So I have with us Truvana,who's affectionately called by
(01:21):
her middle name, tamil.
Tamil is an intergenerationalAltadena native.
She lives in the same home thather mother owned for more than
50 years prior to the EatonCanyon fires, tamil attended
John Muir High School, goMustangs.
Her mother was a charteredmember of Victory Bible Church.
(01:43):
A chartered member of VictoryBible Church, tamil now owns her
own business, braids by True,that she founded over 30 years
ago, serving the Altadenacommunity.
Her purpose is more thancosmetology, but a cosmic
calling to boost women'sself-esteem through care and
holistic aesthetic care.
She is a mother, grandmotherand entrepreneur.
(02:05):
Welcome Tamil, hello, thank you.
Let us also welcome ShamikaGaskins, who is the president
and CEO of In Child PovertyCalifornia.
Powered by Grace, with abackground in law and public
policy, she brings expertise incriminal justice reform,
children's rights and socialequity.
(02:27):
Before leading In Child PovertyCalifornia, shamika served as
the executive director of theChildren's Defense Fund
California, driving statewideinitiatives focused on health
equity, juvenile justice reform,educational access and poverty
alleviation for children andfamilies, especially those from
(02:47):
marginalized communities.
Previously, shamika held keyroles at the US Department of
Justice, including acting DeputyAssistant Attorney General in
the Office of Legal Policy,where she shaped innovative
policy initiatives.
She also practiced civillitigation at Cummington and
Burling LLP and began her careeras a law clerk for the
(03:08):
Honorable Roger L Gregory FourthCircuit in the Honorable
Victoria Roberts EasternDistrict of Michigan Law Center
and graduated cum laude with aBA in philosophy from the
(03:29):
Catholic University of America.
An active leader in thenonprofit sector, she serves on
the boards of Impact Justice,the California Budget and Policy
Center, the Liberty HillFoundation and the Institute for
Success.
She is also a commissioner onthe LA County Commission for
Children and Families, a 2022Rosenberg Foundation Leading
(03:49):
Edge Fellow and Aspen InstituteAscend Fellow.
Shamika's work has beenfeatured in major outlets like
USA Today, sacramento Bee, losAngeles Daily News and
CalMatters.
Welcome Shamika.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Now I'm happy to say that both of you are in my
village, are my people?
Tamil braids my hair and mychildren's hair, and has done so
for as long as we lived inCalifornia, so for about 13
years.
Shamika and I met at HarambeSummer Camp, which is a
Christian-based program servinglocal youth.
(04:27):
Our children both attended thecamp.
I'm excited to have you bothhere to highlight the work
you're doing in the communityand to also solicit support for
the ways in which we canadvocate for you and others who
have been affected by the EatonCanyon wildfires.
So let us hop right into ourtime together.
First tell me your pronouns andgive us a description of how
(04:52):
you are showing up in this space, and then who are your people.
We'll start with Tamil and thenwe'll go to Shamique.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
My pronoun is she, her.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
I am showing determined and just trying to
push forward.
This has been a very tryingtime.
My people are like yourself.
I've been able to express how Ifeel and you have connected me
with so many resources.
There's been a change reactioncommunity.
They have really rallied behindus.
(05:25):
I just had to wrap my headaround what happened and push
forward and make myselfavailable for those who wanted
to help.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yes, and describe yourself.
What are you wearing?
What do you look like?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Oh, what I'm wearing.
Okay, well, my daughter doeshair, so I'm laying my tire in
the room and I am located in myshop.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
I was blessed to have a safe space to now service my
clients.
I'm in the city of Upland, soI'm here in my salon.
Just finished applying.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Pinments to go.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Amazing Tavika.
Tell me what are your pronouns.
Give us a visual of how you areshowing up in this space and
who are your people.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Well, good to see you both.
I am she her pronouns are justKavika.
I am wearing glasses and awhite Oxford striped shirt.
I need to go see Camillebecause I want to get my hair
braided all summer and I haven'tyet.
I'm wearing lipstick today,Dressed up for you both and you
are my people.
I feel really blessed to haveso many friendships, many born
(06:28):
out of working relationships,community, so many motherhood
relationships, so I'm justreally very grateful.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Let's talk about the community.
Tell us what was life like foryou in Altadena prior to the
Eaton Canyon fires.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
We'll start with you, Shamika in Altadena prior to
the Eaton Canyon fires.
We'll start with you, shamika.
I really want to call it a way.
I thought about it, and notjust because they're on the
Abolition Sanctuary podcast, butit really was a sanctuary for
me.
I grew up in a very small townin South Carolina 5,000 people,
10,000 people to this day, atown my grandparents grew up in,
(07:04):
great-grandparents going allthe way back to slavery.
For me, I've always been asmall-town girl.
I moved from South Carolina toWashington DC, as you heard in
my career, but my husband's anLA native.
He grew up in South LA andreally wanted to raise our
children in California, so wemoved in 2016 to California.
(07:24):
I really was looking for aplace that felt like home, a
place that felt like there wasnature and, particularly because
our son has asthma, that therewas good air quality, knowing
what LA is like, and Altadenareally was that sanctuary place
for us.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Thank you for sharing that, Trevonna.
How about you?
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I was born and raised in Altadena, from the hospital
to the home.
I lived there.
For sharing that, trevonna, howabout you?
I was born and raised inAltadena, from the hospital to
the home.
I lived there for 47 years.
So it was family, it wascommunity, it was love.
That's what it was for mebefore the virus.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Thank you for sharing that.
January 7th has become a datethat is forever etched into the
hearts of Altadenas.
It is the day that the EatonCanyon wildfires began in the
San Gabriel Valley, killing someand displacing others,
destroying more than 9,000buildings and becoming the fifth
(08:21):
deadliest and second mostdestructive wildfire in
California history.
Can you tell us where were youon January 7th and what do you
remember from that day?
We'll start with you, Trevon.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
On January 7th.
I had a Christmas party monthsbefore I went out of town.
I came back on January 3rd andwas cleaning up January 7th.
I was just spending the wholeday getting ready, excited for
the new year and all that it wasgoing to bring, like taking
down Christmas trees and all thethings.
Then around 7 pm my fiance camehome and he was saying babe,
(08:58):
the winds are really bad.
I'm like yeah, we always getSanta Ana winds, so it's normal.
And out to Dena.
And so we just went on with ourevening and then our power went
out and we just like, oh, we'lljust call it a night.
But he was like no, this windis really bad.
And then we start getting textssaying are you okay?
(09:19):
I'm just like what are theytalking about?
Because I'm thinking it's thewind.
Around 9 pm my daughter'sgrandmother called and she's
like you know it's really bad.
I'm like what are you talkingabout?
She's like there's a fire.
So I go to look out my frontwindow and I didn't see anything
.
Again, I'm just like it's justreally windy.
And then I went back to sleepand then we got a call from one
(09:41):
of his co-workers at three inthe morning and was like there's
a fire in Eaton and he keptsaying he's not from Altadena.
So he kept saying Eaton.
And I'm like what are youtalking about?
And I was like wait, eatonCanyon, that's right there.
By that time I looked bad.
We were scrambling, trying tofind things and our house was
engulfed with smoke.
We grabbed some importantpapers and had to close on our
(10:04):
back and evacuate.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Wow, that is devastating and I just want to
acknowledge that this is verydifficult and can be triggering.
To tell these stories, pleaseexercise the boundaries that you
need.
Feel free not to answer thequestion if it's too heavy for
you.
I know that this is verydifficult, shamika.
How would you want to respondto that question?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah, I mean, I think about it all the time because
the night before the wind wasreally high and I grew up in
hurricane territory, hurricaneseason, lived through hurricanes
and I kept telling my husband Idon't like this howling.
It's howling like a hurricane.
And we woke up the next daythere was lots of debris in our
yard from our oak tree.
Everything seemed fine.
(10:49):
By the time we took the kids toschool, the power was out.
I didn't know anything aboutthe Palisades fire until about
two or three o'clock in theafternoon when I went to pick
the kids up and was listening toNPR, I was like, oh my God,
there's a fire in the Palisades.
I was trying to get them homeearly because we didn't have
power and I wanted to make sureeverybody can get settled in
before the night began.
We did that and that dayactually is etched in our minds
(11:12):
for another reason, becauseduring the middle of the day my
husband, who's a marathon runner, learned that he had gotten
into the Australian Marathon,which is a world marathon, and
it's a lottery.
He'd been trying to get intothe marathon.
So we're like, oh, let'scelebrate, we're going to order
takeout, we don't have power.
His reaction was I'm going fora run.
(11:34):
I was like no, it's too windy.
And so at like 4.30, he wentout running Altadena and got
home about 6.15.
And the same time, like ourfood arrived and everything was
dark but it seemed fine.
I was worried that he'd been upthere running in the wind.
Then we're eating and he getsthis text message from a
colleague who says are you guysokay?
They're under fire.
We're like, there ain't no fire, what are you talking about?
My husband didn't believe thembecause he'd just been outside.
(11:56):
He texted her and was like sendme pictures.
When she sent the picture, weall looked at the picture.
I'm like that looks very close.
Unfortunately, we went to thedoor with my children and opened
the front door and the fire wasthere.
It looked like it was on nextstreet, behind our neighbor's
houses.
It felt apocalyptic, it wascrazy.
And so then, as Tamil said, wejust all panicked.
(12:18):
Thankfully, my husband didn'tpanic as much and tried to
gather our children, who werepanicking, to pull together
everything you know what basicthings we could find in the dark
, because they're alsoscrambling around in the dark
and all our neighbors came out.
Because we're one of the fewfamilies on our street that have
young children.
My children are 10 and 12.
And they came and sat with thechildren in the car because they
(12:41):
were really frightened andscared, until we could have what
we could in the car to read.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
It's really difficult and emotional.
It's very difficult to hearthat.
I can't imagine what it's liketo relive it as you're giving
that description.
I just feel led for us to takea moment of silence for those
families and people we lost inthe fires.
Let's close our eyes.
If you know their names, feelfree to speak them.
(13:08):
Let's lift up our hearts andjust be intentional about
creating a moment of silence.
May their memory be a blessing.
Thank you for sharing yourstories.
(13:32):
I am terribly sorry that youendured these challenges without
any warning.
As we are investigating thesituation, there are things that
could have been done better toensure you've had the proper
notice and resources to come outbetter in a situation like this
.
If you are open, perhaps youcan tell me what was the morning
(13:53):
of January 8th like when youwoke up.
How was it different?
Just walk us through with thereality setting in as you
reconcile the loss, the griefand other emotions with all you
needed to do to survive.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
Camille, do you want to start?
Yeah, I'll start.
So, like I said, we left atthree, maybe like 3.30 in the
morning.
We were just like we've learnedstop, drop and roll, duck and
cover.
But where do you go whenthere's a week?
So we're like we're just goingto drive to Morovia and sit at
Denny's until we figure this out, because, again, we had no cell
service.
We got to Morovia, denny's wasclosed.
(14:31):
We kept driving until we got toGlendora and we went in Denny's
and it's all over the news.
So now, of course, the furtherwe're driving away, my phone is
blowing up and I'm looking onsocial media and I see it was by
righty on Altadena Drive.
So then, as we're sitting there, my niece and my great nephew,
I reached out to her to see ifthey were okay, and she was at a
(14:52):
family member's house down thestreet and they hadn't been
evacuated.
I was like, well, you know, ourhouse was succumbed with smoke,
so that's why we left.
She said okay.
Then she said she was going togo to the house and get some of
her medications and thingstogether.
And then she called back maybean hour later and said that when
she pulled up to the house, ourneighbor's house was already on
(15:14):
fire and she said it was likeraining fire.
I don't know what we're goingto come back to if anything, but
that was what it was.
But still in my mind I'mthinking like, oh well, the fire
truck is going to come and putit out and we'll be fine.
But unfortunately that was justnot the reality.
So I just sat there for anotherthree hours as people like on
(15:36):
the news it's just showing, likeyou know, watts, flores,
altadena Drive and Mayor Postonand I was like, oh my God, I
live like to the next streetdown, and so it kind of hit and
I just went completely numb.
I started getting phone callsand they're like my grandson's
father was like mom, I'm goingto go up there and try to save
the house and I'm like no, Idon't want anyone in danger, it
(15:59):
is what it is, we'll just praythis isn't happening.
Around six in the morning I gota text with a picture of the
house just gone.
We left out at Denny's and I waslike I need to get some air.
We just sat in the car myfiance guy and we cried.
I called my brother from Texasand he's like are you guys okay?
(16:19):
And I was just like no, Icouldn't talk For the next eight
hours.
I just said no.
My fiance took me to hisbrother's house and he just made
all kind of arrangements for usto go somewhere.
But the first day I was checkedout mentally.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, Wow.
And this is the home.
I brought my two-year-olddaughter into your living room
for you to braid her hair,sitting on the couch right
across the fireplace and seeinggrandchildren in diapers running
around.
It was a home filled with love,a staple in the community,
(17:02):
beautiful residents.
And to see how quickly that canchange in a matter of hours,
the difference a day makes.
How about you, Shamika?
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Well, we made it to my sister house in Pasadena.
So I didn't actually Itechnically never went to sleep.
I just watched the news allnight, praying, trying to
understand the trajectory.
Ironically, when we wereleaving, going down the mountain
, my daughter said we're notcoming back, it's not going to
be there.
I was like, why would you saythat we're all praying?
(17:35):
But I think because we saw itso close, she just had a sense
it wasn't going to be there.
But you know, hoping and prayingthat the firefighters, airdrops
, something was going to put itout before it got further, and
so, anyway, I don't think that Ifell asleep, probably like at
530, and then woke up in a panicbecause my husband kept saying
he wanted to go back and getmore stuff there's pictures he
(17:56):
wanted and I kept saying it wastoo dangerous.
Well, once I fell asleep hewent up there.
I can't imagine what he saw,but at about 6 am he called back
because I was trying to reachhim but there was no cell
service.
Until he got down the mountaincloser to Pasadena he called and
I knew it was gone, justhearing his voice.
(18:17):
He saw it actively burning.
No one around, no water.
The helplessness of that.
No one around no water, thehelplessness of that and yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I'm so sorry.
We were displaced.
We did not lose our home.
We saw the fires.
It did not leap across whatevervalley.
It needed to get to a townnearby where we live, but
smelling the smoke, not knowingif you would be able to return
(18:47):
to your home.
I remember going through myhouse and just taking pictures
of everything.
I thought this might be thelast time I see it, and then I
also thought if we needed anytype of reimbursements or
reports, I would have thesepictures of what it looked like
prior to the fire.
I remember taking valuableassets and packing our car with
garbage bags of things, takingmy son's PS5 and my valuables,
(19:11):
packing up with toilet paper andpillows and blankets, and just
getting on the road not knowingwhere we were going but just
knew we had to get away fromhere.
This is really devastating, andso I'm thinking now that we are
more than six months out.
You told us what life was likeprior to January 7th.
(19:31):
You told us what the morning ofJanuary 8th felt like the
devastation, the numbness.
Tell us now, where are you,more than six months later, in
your recovery process, bothmaterially, spiritually,
emotionally.
Where are you in your recoveryprocess?
I'll start with you, shamika.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
I'll start with materially, and probably easier
than emotionally and spiritually.
Thankfully, we were superblessed.
My sister is in Pasadena and wewere able to stay with her for
several weeks in her family andthe kids had cousins and people
to be around.
And frankly, I think, asTennille said, it was the thing
that saved me, because she fedme, she made sure I stayed
(20:11):
healthy, but it also kept mefrom going into complete despair
because, you know, we had ourchildren around, we had their
cousins around, we had a lot ofpeople around.
It wasn't until we moved intothe apartment in February that I
really felt the weight of itall, but thankfully we were able
to secure an apartment inPasadena.
(20:32):
My place of work, which we'lltalk about later, was super
supportive.
I didn't have to worry.
My team stepped in to make surewe had everything we needed
right away.
I couldn't even wrap my mindaround things, but because of
the community and working withso many nonprofit leaders, they
just showed up the next day withclothes and bags of things.
(20:55):
I definitely felt loved andsupported in that way and didn't
have to worry.
It was still so difficultbecause we're not attuned to
asking for help.
That part was really hard to belike no, I actually need help.
I actually need to hold paperand tissue and toothbrushes and
things that seem really basic.
(21:15):
And, spiritually, I have to say, be 100% honest with you, dasha
and Kia.
This has been the hardest thingin my life.
I felt like I had been throughsome pretty hard things before
this.
I felt like I had a prettystrong faith, but this really
tested.
It continues to test it everyday and I think I'm so grateful
(21:36):
because the times in which Ifelt the most tested, god seemed
to know, and I get a text fromyou or my friend Joseph or
somebody else sending mereminders that God was in
control at us.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So yeah, thank you for sharing that, and I could
see the emotions that you areholding back and how hard it is
to put yourself in thevulnerable space of sharing.
In our Vacation Bible School,we are looking at the story of
the three Hebrew boys, shadrach,meshach and Abednego, and in
(22:09):
our church, about 54 familieswere displaced from the Eaton
Canyon fires, and so we'recontinuing to minister every day
.
We offer free food, workshops,legal clinics, resources and
community, and I think what I'mhearing and what you guys are
saying is the importance ofcommunity.
(22:30):
I really want us to hold on tothat, because community is what
gets us through crisis, but inthe good times, it's what keeps
us encouraged.
Society has a way to conditionus.
It's about individualism.
Right that we do not needcommunity.
We don't need this sense ofmutuality.
Instead, we need competitionand not collaboration.
(22:53):
But what we're hearing is whatsustains you is this deep sense
of community, and that's reallyimportant.
Community is foundational tochurches, so at this Vacation
Bible School and throughout theweek, we gather as a community.
But one of the persons who losttheir homes as we were talking
about this story with Shadrach,meshach and Abednego, they were
sharing how their faith wastested, similarly to the three
(23:16):
Hebrew boys whose faith wastested in the fiery furnace, and
as I hear about this being oneof the most difficult times in
your life and being a test offaith, it reminds me of that
story of the three Hebrew boyswho were thrown into a fiery
furnace, refusing to bow down tothe God of the oppressor right,
refusing to submit to the namesand relinquish their culture,
(23:40):
but held on to their deep senseof community.
And as they were in this fieryfurnace, they were not alone.
There was another presencethere, and that was the presence
of God, and they were able tocome out of the fiery furnace
unscathed and unconsumed.
Now, that's not everyone'stestimony.
Some people come out with somescars and some burns, but I
(24:02):
think what we can take from thatstory and what maybe you feel
in your experiences is that,through this test of faith, we
have the blessed assurance toknow that God is with us and
that not only is God with us,but our community is as well.
Tamil.
Please tell us about yourrecovery process which, based on
my relationship with you, Iunderstand is very different
than what others are sharing.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
So please tell me about your recovery process, my
recovery process has definitelybeen a struggle because we are
relocated in Rancho Cucamonga.
As you said, I had a home-basedbusiness where I braided hair
as well.
So being in the community andhaving a steady clientele over
30 years to be way in RanchoCucamonga, I just felt so
(24:47):
isolated.
My clients, thank God.
They were very understanding,but there was a huge disconnect
In the beginning.
I was ripping and running fromRancho to Pasadena where all the
resources were, and it wasamazing.
But because I'm so used tobeing in my community, the
commute alone was driving mecrazy.
That part has definitely been astruggle, as things have slowed
(25:10):
.
I feel like I'm lost in thisalone because the majority of my
peers are helping their parentswith this.
I'm the youngest but my mother,when she passed, she left the
house to me.
My siblings don't live in thetown, so I'm navigating this by
myself.
Things like forbearance, thejargon dealing with the
(25:32):
insurance I've never had to callthe insurance company.
They're telling me all thesethings because this was a home
inheritance to me.
It's not like I went throughthe whole buying process and I
was familiar with all the things, so I just got overwhelmed.
Being in this town all bymyself, trying to navigate
through everyone's lovely textmessages, all this information.
(25:56):
It was just overwhelming.
For the first three months Iwas really showing up to the
resource center but not reallyknowing what I'm doing with the
tax papers and all the things.
It's very hard because I am thestrong person in my family, so
even asking for help was I'mgoing to figure it out, and
because I was raised by a strongwoman who figured it out.
(26:20):
She was a single mother.
My father passed when I wasseven, so she always figured it
out.
That's where my faith comesfrom, because she just did it.
Now I'm just trying to learnhow to ask for help and receive
the help.
That's what's keeping me going,is my faith and the foundation
that my mother taught me therelationship with God, because
(26:43):
outside of the church, that wasa little disappointing for me.
In this process it was toughnot getting support from who you
think you would, but God nevermakes a mistake, so he does send
his angels, like you guys, tohave just a space to talk about
this because it's in my head.
My peers don't understand.
So that, like I said, it's beentrying.
(27:06):
But we're six months in and nowI'm like, okay, I call it the
fire fall.
I'm getting out the fall, let'sget into it.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that.
So God placed both of you on myheart and I see that there are
similarities in your stories andthe ways that you're rooted in
the value of community, that youare rooted in the values of
your home and family and theways in which faith helps you to
(27:34):
cope and navigate crises, butalso the strong Black woman
syndrome that we often inheritfrom our mothers, particularly
mothers who were raised inpoverty or mothers who raised
their children single-handedly,and that context presents a
unique circumstance for Blackwomen and mothers who are
(27:56):
navigating this process rightthat we don't always have access
to the resources, we're notalways conditioned to ask for
help, particularly in a societythat constructs us as unworthy
of help.
When we do ask for help, wemeet the narrative of you're
lazy, you're welfare queen,you're you know all these things
(28:16):
, you're cheating the system,and so we retreat and say we'll
do it on our own.
But this situation was sosevere that could not happen.
You needed lifelong, and I'mglad that Ablish the Sanctuary
and myself were there to reachout to you not just as an
organization, but as yourcommunity, as your friend, as
your sister and Tamil.
When I heard how isolated youwere.
(28:37):
I remember saying why didn'tyou say something?
And it's because that wasn'tyour comfort, right?
You're very private.
You were suffering alone.
I'm so glad you trusted me totell your story and I'm trying
my best to go public with yourstory.
We spoke with reporters.
We're trying to get youcoverage because your story is
(28:59):
unique and different from a lotof other survivors, and so what
I want to shed light here to allof our listeners is that there
is a population affected by theEaton Canyon fires who are
overlooked and disconnected fromresources.
The media coverage we see onlyincludes people successfully
(29:20):
connected to resources, butthere are still people who are
locked out, who aredisenfranchised.
If we were to pathologize whothose populations are, there are
seniors, youth and there areother vulnerable populations and
I think where Tamil fits in,it's the population of people
who need a type of financialliteracy and training to
(29:44):
understand how to negotiate withcontractors, how to advocate
for themselves with insuranceclaims and how to navigate the
paperwork, fill out applicationsand understand the terms and
agreements and so forth.
That may not have that type ofbusiness acumen because they
were intergenerational in theirhomes.
(30:04):
So Tamil said the only thingher mother taught her was to pay
the mortgage on time and not tosell Right.
He didn't get the education asan intergenerational homeowner.
The other part of Tamil's storythat disenfranchises her is the
people who had a type ofeconomic volatility prior to the
(30:25):
fire.
So the people who may not haveand I'm not saying this applies
to mail, but the people who maynot have reported their income
right, the people who may havewent here in the back of their
house, the people who don't knowhow to file their tax return,
those people who may be engagedin underground economies to
survive have to suddenly comeabove the table, and in order to
(30:52):
get the resources they need,they need to show proof of
income, they need to show W-2sbank statements.
Some people were still savingtheir money underneath a
mattress right.
Vulnerable communities aregetting left out and we have to
advocate for and amplify theirvoices so that no one's left
behind and they have equitableaccess to cover.
(31:12):
So for that reason, it's prettyimportant that we highlight
Camille's story and do so inrelationship with Shamika's
story, so we can see what theholistic process looks like,
from the best case scenario tothe not so good scenario, as we
help people recover during theseEden Canyon fires.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
And can I add, I think what you just touched on
is so important because, as yousaid, there are many stories
about Altadena, right after thefires, where people said, oh
well, I never knew this aboutAltadena, I didn't know about
the Black community and theintergenerational transfers of
wealth and homeownership, and Ithink what gets lost is people
(31:53):
may not be living technicallybelow the poverty line, but
because you don't have amortgage and or you've never had
to have a mortgage and yourfamily passed your home down to
you, like, your economicsituation is just very different
.
And now to think about havingto pay for an apartment and
rebuild a home, there's just alot that is unique and important
for people to understand, evenwhen I think about the type of
(32:16):
assistance people might need, asyou said, navigating the
paperwork, but alsounderstanding particular
circumstances of each person.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
We have to also be mindful that there is systemic
racism, classism and structuralinequities at play.
We think about how long it tookfor Northwest Altadena to be
informed compared to SoutheastPasadena, or the way people in
the palisades received earlierinterventions, including a visit
from the president, that EatonCanyon survivors did not receive
(32:46):
.
Talk to us about how you feelabout these disparities and why
are they significant?
Shemika, do you want to start?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
It's angering when we think about what could have
prevented the fire.
Part of that is recognizingclimate catastrophes.
Can we prevent the Santa Anawinds?
Probably not.
But can we not have overheadpower lines and folks
complaining about that for manyyears and nothing ever happening
?
Yes, particularly around thenotification of people.
(33:15):
The fact that there was no alertsystem I remember being up in
the middle of the night and itwas still saying the fire was
not near my home and apps,watchdogs or whatever the fact
that people weren't being toldget out, leave now, like that,
it's okay for you to stay inyour home is just unacceptable.
We saw a totally differentdisplay of how people were
(33:36):
pushed to get out so much thatit was traffic jams and
disruptive.
When we look back and do deeperdives, you will see that it
wasn't just about thecircumstances of having two
climate catastrophes happen atone time, but these fake
inequities where you don't feellike it's important to have as
much needed in particularcommunities.
Having that analysis of whythings played out the way they
(33:58):
did and oftentimes people don'twant to admit implicit bias and
all the other things are thereasons why things could have
looked differently Tamil.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Do you want to add anything?
Speaker 4 (34:06):
No, and what she said .
I was very devastated because Iwas taking the fire department,
three blocks from my house,would come and then to later
find out there was no water inthe hydrants doesn't sit well
because it's checks and balances.
So what happened?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Yeah, it's extremely, extremely, extremely
disheartening.
This is a middle class,affluent, historically Black
community and again it's thisnarrative that we are not worthy
of help.
We're not worthy of equalprotection of our life, our
civil and human rights rightthat our lives matter.
(34:44):
It was a tale of two fires thatwe saw between the Palisades
and Altadena and within Altadena.
At our church we had a pressconference.
Attorney Benjamin Crump and AlSharpton attended and led a
memorial service for victims wholost their loved ones.
Other neighboring churches havealso hosted press conferences
(35:08):
and organizations to shed lighton these injustices.
Tell me about two things whattype of support have you
received?
One from churches and two fromother organizations Tamil, can
you start?
Or lack of support.
Speaker 4 (35:25):
This is the same space and I'm just going to be
honest the lack of support fromthe churches in my community.
It's crazy because I didresearch one time just the
amount of churches just on mymain street, all the fair works,
there's a church on every blockand our community is so small.
(35:45):
I know pastors by name, by face, and a lack of support in my
community.
It wasn't there.
Outside of the community I havebeen getting so much support
Now that I've been connected.
It's very disheartening.
Once you connect me with FirstAMV, they welcomed me with open
(36:08):
arms and it was just a lot ofgood information.
That part has been amazing,just the turnaround.
But to be born and raised in acommunity and see other people
getting all of the resources isvery disheartening.
Different nonprofits haveopened the door and have been
(36:28):
navigating this process.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Do you want to be specific about the church that
you were connected to that youdid not get resources from?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
My mother was a charter member of Victory Bible
Church.
I was baptized in that churchunder Bishop Henry, bishop
Milton White and just thesupport, I will say Bishop
White's wife, lady White.
She did reach out to me insupport, but that's just as far
as the support went.
I just felt like the ball wasdropped Myself and my mother,
(36:59):
like in our household it waslike you guys have to go to
church, so we brought so manymembers to that church and just
to see them drop the ball wasvery hurtful see them drop the
ball was very hurtful.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I'm sorry to hear that.
I think that is a growing edgefor churches, particularly the
evangelical tradition.
We could be so heavily boundand no earthly good that we
over-spiritualize, even incrisis, to say God is going to
handle it, god is going toprovide which may be true, and
we have the responsibility tomake sure that we are God's
hands, god's feet, that we arehelping each other and helping
(37:38):
ourselves and the church, Ithink, can also get lost in
optics.
It seems that some churches aremore concerned about the press
and the publicity than thepeople.
It's not enough to show up onSundays and ask people to tithe
and then not give them theresources they need to survive.
I know how hurt they were to seesome people get in shiny new
(38:02):
cars and all this assistancewhile you were struggling to get
from Altadena, where yourclient base was, to Upland
without any resources, living inan Airbnb, having to pay rent
while paying mortgage on a housethat no longer exists and
having lost all of yourclientele in Altadena and having
(38:22):
to start over again 60 milesaway in a new town where you
have no community, noconnections, is extremely hard,
and you would think theinstitutions that you are most
familiar with would be there tohelp you, like the church.
I'm glad that you did find someresources at Ritvme, pasadena,
under the leadership of PastorLarry E Campbell, and that you
(38:44):
felt that you were received withopen arms.
That shows you that it's notall churches what churches can
do better.
How about you, shamika?
How has your experience hasbeen with recovery?
Speaker 3 (38:53):
If you could name particular churches,
organizations and how your faithhas grounded you in this crisis
, I think I know because of mywork and community and working
at Children's Defense Center andthen also in Child Poverty,
california, I've had theopportunity to work with so many
other faith groups andcommunity and coalition with
(39:14):
folks in terms of being able toorganize around anti-poverty
issues more, and so for me,those are the people who showed
up, whether it's with clothes orcash, once Neil was saying
you're in the fog.
They were the ones texting melike apply for FEMA, the FEMA
application is open, and I'mlike I don't even know how to
you just loom all sense ofanything you know, and so it the
one's texting me like apply forFEMA, the FEMA application is
open, and I'm like I don't evenknow how to you just loom all
(39:35):
sense of anything you know, andso it's just, and times, I think
, stand still.
Those are the folks who aremaking sure that I did the
things that needed to be donefor me and my family, and so I
feel really blessed.
Brotherhood Crusade my sister,cherise Weaver, showed up on my
couch and was like you know,this is what you need to do, and
(39:56):
so many others probably toomany to name.
I'm so blessed that so manypeople, through my work, saw
themselves as taking ownershipof making sure me and my family
were safe and taken care of.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Thank you for mentioning that.
I think that's another piece tomake a distinction that the
population that's getting leftbehind are the people who
weren't connected to communitiesprior to the Eaton Canyon fires
.
If you just went to workbraiding hair and then you went
home and you weren't involved ina church or a member of Jack
and Jill or a sorority oranother organization, I could
(40:28):
see how it would be isolatingand difficult to get the
information that often came wordof mouth.
You had to have your ear to theground, so if you weren't
connected to the community, youweren't getting that.
Did you reach out to FEMA?
Did you apply for that $600?
Did you see the link that getsall the available rentals?
This community is what keeps usalive.
So I just have a couple of morequestions before we conclude
(40:51):
our time together For those whoare still perhaps left behind or
have access to what they need,but they want to make sure that
they are caught up and doingeverything they need to do.
If you were to lead a trainingand it was the last slide that
said here are the things thatyou need to do what would your
advice be to people of what theyneed to do, to what would your
(41:13):
advice be to people of what theyneed to do to get the resources
they need to recover?
Speaker 3 (41:19):
I think part of it is getting networked and it's
really hard.
It feels like so much extrawork on top of all the things
that you have to keep up withjust rebuilding your life.
But as draining as it can be toget over the hump, being in
community is also life-giving.
My first piece of advice isfind your people.
It might be new people to getconnected with.
(41:41):
There's just too much to knowand we can't, with our daily
lives, keep up, and it's helpfulto have folks who are, you know
, may have more time or they'rejust better at staying organized
.
And, on top of things, I have aperson who sends me do you know
?
This is what's happening in thecounty next and I'm like no, I
haven't read that email.
I don't check my email.
They're keeping you informed.
So I think that's number one.
(42:02):
But I also want to say which ismost important because this is
grief is to protect your peace.
If being in certain spaces istoo much or too triggering, find
the space that works for you,and it may take longer to get to
where you need to be, but thereare people who are out there
who want to help, who aren'tlooking for anything in return.
(42:26):
You know I have a 89-year-oldwoman in our apartment building.
She has been in several Airbnbs, very similar to Tamir.
I love this woman.
She said to me a couple ofweeks ago she's navigating most
of this on her own too.
She was like I have you and God.
And I was like, yeah, me too,cause I need you.
She's my community in thisbuilding of somebody who's
(42:48):
connected to home, who sharesthe same values, who shows love
in a way that people in Ossidinashould love each other.
So I think that's the mostimportant thing Try your best to
get connected and learn whatwas going on, but also find the
people that are life-giving toyou and stick with that.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Thank you for that.
Tamio, I would say number oneremember to breathe.
Simple stuff like that becauseyou're on autopilot.
Be willing to ask for help.
Find your village and don'tfocus on those who aren't
healthy.
Allow those who want to help tohelp to try to get organized,
(43:29):
because it's overwhelming Evenwhen you're getting the
information.
Sometimes the forms were justlooking like it was in a foreign
language.
I looked at my insurance papersfor three months, had no clue.
Delegate that to someone elseand then they can read it to you
.
No, it takes time.
Don't beat yourself up if youdidn't check your emails into
(43:49):
all those things, because thisis a lot.
Just really honor the process.
This is grief on so manydifferent levels.
Allow yourself to process that.
That's been the hardest thingfor me because I watched my
mother pass away, but this is amillion times harder.
Never in a trillion years wouldI have thought our childhood
(44:13):
home, our legacy, everythingwould just be gone and they have
to fight to get back.
Just give yourself grace andstand on faith, whatever that
looks like for you.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
For those who are listening.
In summary, find your peoplewho are life-giving Community
matters.
Connect to portals and peoplewith information.
Protect your peace withboundaries.
Remember to breathe, Ask forhelp, Take it one step at a time
, Get organized and get thetraining and education you need
(44:49):
to understand technicalprocesses, delegate, give
yourself grace, honor theprocess and stand on faith.
Thank you both so much.
As we are heading to close, Iwant you to tell us about your
business, ways in which we cansupport your organizations and
(45:10):
the ways in which people canstay in contact with you and
support your organizations andthe ways in which people can
stay in contact with you.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
You can book your hair appointments.
Yes, my name is Brayne.
Let us know if you're warmingup.
I'm sensitive.
My true thanks to see on socialmedia platforms.
Speaker 4 (45:24):
Feel free to DM me.
I need the support.
I love grading hair.
It's a passion, it is in me, itis everything, it's a whole
experience and you won't bedisappointed.
So yes, check out Grades byTrue 6 to 6 on all social media
platforms Book your hairappointment.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
Samil is professional , reliable, timely, and this is
more than just doing your hair.
She braids hair in a way thatshe wants to uplift your soul.
I have a 15-year-old D'Arstindaughter.
In these predominantly whitespaces where it's hard to hold
on to, your self-esteem Mildredmy daughter's hair and for about
(46:04):
six hours my daughter's backwas to the mirror and when she
turned that chair around andlooked in that mirror, that
validation and instantgratification she saw when she
loved who she saw in that mirrorbrought all of us to tears.
We literally cried in Tamil'sshop and Tamil said this is why
(46:26):
I do it Book your appointmentwith Tamil today.
Sis Shemika, tell us about yourorganization and the work we
can do to support you.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Well, first I'm going to go book my appointment.
My organization is In ChildParty California.
Our focus is on policy advocacyto support children and
families experiencing poverty,but our work is rooted in the
voices and experiences ofCalifornians and families,
particularly Black, indigenous,aapi and immigrant communities
(46:55):
impacted as you talked about thestructural inequities, and so
please follow us at In ChildParty California, but also you
can follow me on Instagram atShanika Speaks.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
This podcast episode is brought to you by my friend,
mark Philpott and the BlackFreedom Fund, who has been a
phenomenal support in organizingcommunity organizations to
support Black families affectedby the Eaton Canyon fires.
On behalf of the Black FreedomFund and Abolitionist Sanctuary,
(47:27):
we want to gift each of you onemonth of mortgage assistance to
assist you in your recoveryprocess.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
Now you really want to make us cry, thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
Now you're going to make me get these lashes about
to come off.
It is the least we can do and Ihope other organization will
match us and do even better toensure that Black mothers and
their families and others aresupported during this Eaton
Canyon.
This is the final question andit is my favorite.
It's called the rapid round, soI'm going to mention about 10
(48:05):
words.
When I mention one, you saywhat comes to your mind
immediately, so you can do ittogether at once or alternately.
We'll do it together, let'swork together.
Speaker 2 (48:16):
Okay, we'll work together.
Speaker 1 (48:18):
Altadena Love Love, washington Boulevard, the
bookstore.
Speaker 4 (48:29):
If you keep going, you're not going to get nothing
to eat.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
That's not good.
Get nothing to eat, that's agood one, norma Alta.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Oh, the park.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
So many memories Good childhood memories, beauty and
ashes Strong.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Our community Alta Vina.
Speaker 1 (48:50):
Yes, Restoration House of Vina yes.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
Restoration.
Imagine my home.
Speaker 2 (49:00):
Kendrick Lamar, they not like Exactly, they not like
us.
Speaker 1 (49:06):
Faith Deeply rooted.
And the last one,abolitionolitionist.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
Sanctuary, a safe space.
Speaker 2 (49:16):
And a observable world.
Speaker 1 (49:19):
Thank, you both for joining us for this episode of
Beauty and Ashes.
Thank you for joining thisconversation on the Abolitionist
Sanctuary podcast.
For those who are listening,please download and share on all
platforms.
Again, I am your host, ReverendDr Nakia Smith-Robert, the
founder and executive directorof Abolitionist Sanctuary.
(49:40):
You can find us on YouTube,Instagram, Facebook and download
our social media app, bringingtogether abolitionists and
people who love freedom.
Also, enroll in our courses andbecome certified in
abolitionacitionAcademycom.
Don't forget to become a memberand join our mailing list at
AbolitionSanctuaryorg.
As we conclude this episode,remember that abolition is not
(50:03):
only a practice, but it is a wayof life, and for me, it is my
religion.
Thank you.
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