Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer
Helpful Village logo
Add me to your mailing list
Youtube channel Facebook page
Header image for Pasadena Village showing nearby mountains and the logo of the Pasadena Village

Blog archive

October 2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

A DIfferent Perspective

By Lora Harrington-Pride
Posted: 09/10/2023
Tags: racism, history, lora harrington pride

Racism is ugly. There are some stories that provide a different view of the world. Here is a story from one of our Villagers and a personal experience that took place in a definitely open and racist environment. This is the kind of story that gives one hope and that we need to remember as we deal with the issue. Here is her story:

 

December 31, 1968, I burned our Christmas Tree in the fireplace, ultimately burning off the roof of the house I was renting.

 My 5 children and I wound up in L.A., piled into my brother and his wife’s one bedroom apartment.

No neighbor, friend, nor parishioner from the A.M.E. Church I attended, came forward to offer me any means of support or help.

I am not one to ask for help, so I can only assume that they didn’t know, didn’t care or were unable to offer me anything. 

The student teacher from one of my children’s classes at Pacific Oaks, where 3 of my children were attending on scholarship for the purpose of offering diversity to the school by exposing a class of white children to a class of Black children whose paths would otherwise never cross.

This young woman gathered me on the evening of the fire, after my brother collected my children, and took me home with her.

 She too, a single parent, put her 2 kids to bed, ran bath water for me, lit incense and candles in her living room, where she sat quietly with me, expecting me, she later said, to go into shock.

 After 3 days on my brother’s couch and floors, on pallets, the young woman informed me that she had rallied Pacific Oaks, which was now offering 5 families, each willing to take a child, while, with their help, did find suitable living quarters for us.

 My 12-year-old daughter went to the head kindergartener’s home.  My 9-year-old son and 8-year-old son went to the homes of 2 different sets of parents whose children were students at the school.

 My 4-year-old baby went to his preschool teacher, who, along with her daughter, the same age, loved him dearly.  I felt so relieved.

My 6 year old, who was not a well-adjusted child, clinging to me, thus came to live with the family who took me in.

We lived with these families for 3 weeks, with someone coming almost daily to take me house hunting.  I had no car.

One  day the head kindergarten teacher with whom my daughter stayed, told me that her husband was a professor at Cal Tech, and that Cal Tech had spoken many time about integrating the neighborhood where they owned many houses, and that now was a good time to do so, and help a young Black woman with 5 kids and in need of a home.

They got me into a 3 bedroom house and when they, the parents at Pacific Oaks, learned that I had no washer, dryer, or dishwasher, they presented me with all 3.

Nothing that I received, did I ask for, nor could I ever repay anyone for what they did for me.  I have over the past 30 years been paying it forward.

These people, every one of them who helped me, unsolicited by me – not even knowing me, came to my rescue, opening their homes and their hearts to my Black family.  They were White.

 

Lora Harrington-Pride

 

Other contributions by Lora can be found in our "Meanderings" topic and is this "Racism Now" topic. 

Blogs Topics Posts about this Topic