The Black Music Action Coalition and GoFundMe recently teamed up with artist Flavor Flav to help Black families that have been affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires in L.A.
In an Instagram post, Flavor Flav announced that the partnership will help Black families displaced by the ongoing fires, emphasizing that not enough is being done for the community in the aftermath of the fires. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than $40,000 has been raised, reaching 40% of the $100,000 goal.
“I’ve partnered up with GoFundMe and the Black Music Action Coalition to create ONE main GoFundMe campaign to immediately help those in need,” said the artist in a post. “I urge not only Black artists and Musicians and creators, but EVERYONE to come together and continue to help those still in desperate need.”
As the fires continue to wage, the destruction has already claimed the neighborhood of Altadena. Although the residents are now allowed back in the area, the Eaton fire claimed a majority of the neighborhood, with 17 pronounced dead in Western Altadena.
Considered a historically Black neighborhood, Altadena was considered a haven for Black families that left for California for a better life starting from the turn of the 20th century. With some leaving the segregated South, the neighborhood offered everyone a chance to own land, going against a majority of the nation’s racist policies against landowners.
As a result, Altadena became a diverse neighborhood, cultivating generational wealth for Black families. To this day, 80% of Black residents in Altadena own their own homes- a rate that is double the national average.
“The Black community in Altadena shares a rich, historic, and resilient legacy, one spanning multiple generations,” said the organizers in the GoFundMe. “They paved a way for themselves through the Great Migration, segregation, redlining and more to establish a community where their families could build, grow and celebrate life together. Now, generations later they face an unimaginable tragedy brought on by the LA county wildfires.”
