A Devastating Inside Look at Race, Class, Politics, and Tragedy in the L.A. Wildfires

LOS ANGELES - Feb. 18, 2025 - PRLog -- In A Tale of Two Los Angeles Wildfires—Separate and Unequal, political analyst and Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson takes a biting, provocative look at how race, class and politics rammed its way into the monumental Los Angeles wildfire calamity.

Hutchinson says that the L.A. fires were another classic tale of two disasters, separate and unequal. The plight of the residents of West Altadena, often labeled Black Altadena, testified to that. When asked whether they expected a presidential visit from President Trump to their devastated neighborhood the residents almost uniformly answered "no."

He assesses the massive challenges of recovery and rebuilding faced by predominantly Black West Altadena.

He demolishes the myth of equitable relief for Blacks and Hispanics and the poor when disaster strikes. He attacks the ruthless playing of politics with disasters such as the L.A. fires.

He cites the blame game savagely played by Trump and others at the expense of California Governor Gavin Newsom and most notably Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, an African American female. He contends that the fires offered a unique possibility and a promise for a renaissance of recovery and rebuilding for Black Altadena.

Hutchinson has written a revealing, poignant cautionary tale for public officials of what could and should have been done during and in the aftermath of the L.A. wildfires—and the future.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJ5XFB6F