By Tevon Blair ·Updated April 7, 2026 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… After California’s Eaton Fire destroyed neighborhoods across Los Angeles County, fire survivors from the historic African American community of West Altadena spent the last year demanding accountability for the negligence that led to the loss of 19 residents. Now, the state’s attorney general has announced an investigation into the emergency evacuation response.
“This is going to give us the grounding to advocate and fight even more,” said Ash Level, a long-time resident of the Pasadena and Altadena community and the co-founder of the Black-led group known as Altadena for Accountability.
On January 7, 2025, the Altadena Rising, founded by Level to support the full recovery of Altadena’s Black and most vulnerable families impacted by the fire, Essie Justice Group and California Black Power Network.
“We found each other and immediately saw that we had something in common – not just in terms of the justice and outcomes we wanted for our community but how the work gets done,” said Clayton-Johnson, founder and executive director of Essie Justice Group, an organization advocating for women with incarcerated loved ones.
Before the Eaton Fire, many of the women who lead the work today have built careers in civil rights, community organizing and public policy. Unknowingly, their individual experiences made them the ideal group to advocate for the West Altadena community.
While the fire brought them together in a more official capacity, many have already been working simultaneously through their political and organizing backgrounds. Even so, Clayton-Johnson and Jahnna Morehouse, another member of Altadena for Accountability and policy director for California Black Power Network, were leading canvassing efforts, knocking on more than 8,000 doors leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election.
“It felt sacred to be doing this work with these women, pushing each other to grow in so many different ways while we were dealing with insurmountable grief,” said Shimica Gaskins, president and CEO at End Child Poverty California. Gaskins, another member of the group who lost her home in the fire, brought two decades of public service and legal experience to the year-long campaign as a former deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice.
After months of being met with silence or being told that their approach to securing justice for their community was not right, the announcement from Bonta “felt like vindication,” Gaskins told ESSENCE. “We indicated that what we were doing was important and how we were doing it was the way it had to be done, so our community could be seen and heard.”
As history unfolds, we continue to learn of the countless Black women whose stories were forgotten after building the grassroots organizing and structural foundation of the Civil Rights Movement we know today. The Black women leading Altadena for Accountability have been intentional in how they advocate for change knowing that patriarchy and racism have historically created roadblocks.
After years of racial segregation and redlining that prevented Black families from purchasing homes across California, many laid roots in West Altadena. For the past six decades, Black families have chose Altadena to raise their families and become homeowners, largely located on the west part of the unincorporated community.
While the Black population has decreased over the years due to rising housing costs, 81 percent of Black residents continued to own their homes in 2023. Members of Altadena for Accountability are working to ensure that Black residents can return to the community that is woven into their families’ heritage, as many lived in family homes passed down from the late 1960s.
“West Altadena has always been a place where I instantly feel comfort,” said Larsuel. She continued by describing the sense of community that neighbors provided to each other, lending support for basic household needs and participating in holiday Christmas caroling together. “It’s really just a place where people care about each other and where you’re seen as a person – not just someone who happens to live nearby or next door.”
From the Old Fashioned Days Parade to Buffalo Soldiers and the many Black artists and musicians, Morehouse reflects on the moments and the people who made up Altadena. “That is what’s at risk of being lost if the Black community [of Altadena] is not able to return and rebuild. That’s the Altadena I want future generations to be able to experience.”
Rebuilding West Altadena is not just about developing new homes but preserving the culture, legacy and generations of people who built the historic African American community. “I was taught the foundation of organizing and caring for our community through elders and folks who have stayed here to make sure that we’re still keeping Altadena together,” said Level. She emphasized that preservation looks like “keeping Altadena Black and passing down our history.”
For some, a campaign focused solely on the experiences of Black people would be labeled as “divisive,” but Morehouse believes the launch of the investigation “will benefit everyone that lives in Altadena for years to come.” The 20-year strategist and community builder says that “campaigns like this are not divisive – in fact, they show that you can have a strong win for an entire community while still prioritizing the most vulnerable.”
Altadena for Accountability hopes the findings from this investigation sets a precedent for future survivors of disasters like the Eaton Fire.
“They deserve civil rights investigations the next time this happens,” says Clayton-Johnson. “We don’t have to accept that it’s a natural disaster and that some people will be treated fairly and some won’t.”
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