Racial hatred runs African American family out of dream home
_Email Picture_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lat-me-duarte04_kkowtwnc20090603182346,0,5979890,email.photo)
Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times
Ronald Harris, 31, helped clean up the home of his brother's family after
vandals broke in and spray-painted racial epithets across the walls, the
furniture, the floors. They were the only African American family on the
predominantly Latino block of Duarte.
The charming house on a peaceful Duarte street was perfect for Channise
Davy and her children -- until she came home to find the place vandalized,
racial epithets strewn across the walls and furniture
By Corina Knoll
June 4, 2009
The house, a three-bedroom cream-colored residence on a peaceful street,
even had yellow and red roses waving merrily from the front lawn. And while
the backyard was cramped, there was a nectarine tree, a red swing set and a
small gazebo.
This is it, Channise Davy thought. Home.
* _Dozens arrested in crackdown on Latino gang accused of targeting
blacks_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gang-sweep22-2009may22,0,6857156.story)
* _Latino-vs.-black attacks drove hate crime to 5-year high in 2008_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-now-hate-crime-sl,0,3903661.stor
ylink)
Happy to have found a place near her salon in Altadena and close to her
fiance in Pasadena, the 31-year-old hairdresser moved her four children from
North Hollywood into the one-story charmer on Broach Avenue in Duarte last
fall.
Davy never thought about the fact that they would be the only black family
on the mostly Latino block -- until someone reminded her in a way that
still makes her eyes tear and her stomach twist.
On May 8, Davy opened the door to her home and was greeted by a barrage of
spray-painted racial epithets. The hardwood floors, the mirrors, the
televisions, the dressers -- the vandals had turned the entire place into a
canvas for that six-letter word used for decades to scare and scar African
Americans.
Shaken, she immediately left and called police. And aside from one trip
back to pick up some clothes, Davy has refused to return to a scene
authorities believe was created by members of a local Latino gang.
"As far as hate crimes go, it's probably one of the worst ones I've seen
in my career," said Sgt. Tony Haynes of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department's Duarte station. "They trashed the furniture and tossed drawers --
there was pretty much no room left untouched."
The incident has been the talk of Duarte, a predominantly white and Latino
bedroom community of 25,000 in the San Gabriel Valley. Black and Latino
gangs have been active in the area for years, and last year a rash of
interracial shootings occurred in nearby Monrovia.
Since the break-in, Davy and her children have lived in a hotel paid for
by the county, but those funds ran out Saturday and she is struggling to
find a new home in a place that feels safe.
"You can see it in her face, the stress she's going through," said Lynn
Lawrence, who owns the salon where Davy works. "Emotionally it has had quite
an effect on her."
Wary of disclosing the area in which she hopes to settle, Davy said the
last two landlords she spoke with backed out at the last minute. Others have
asked for deposits she can't afford.
"As of now, we really have nowhere to go," Davy said Monday in the
courtyard of Duarte City Hall, where a community meeting had been called to
address the incident. "It's kinda hard to pick up the pieces of what has
transpired for me and my family."
As she spoke, Kenny Johnson was two miles away, lugging green garbage bags
down the sidewalk of the working-class neighborhood where his children
once played. The father of three of Davy's children, he had come to the house
that morning with his brother and two friends to begin clearing away what
belongings could be salvaged.
Johnson said he plans to marry Davy, but he keeps his own apartment so she
can maintain her Section 8 eligibility. They had discovered the Duarte
house together and agreed: Beautiful home. Beautiful neighborhood.
But after the break-in, the 36-year-old barber sees only an intimidating
residence littered with shards of glass. "We were quiet people, man," he
said, shaking his head in disbelief as he picked up children's shoes and toys.
His children haven't seen the vandalism and only know that something bad
happened there.
While his friends pulled a mattress out of the master bedroom, Johnson
stopped to look at a wall calendar of Barack Obama. "This is the only thing
they didn't touch," he said, smiling at the irony of hope hanging on one wall
and hate spray-painted across the rest.
The landlord has encouraged the family to return, but Johnson said their
sense of security has been violated. They won't get their deposit back, but
moving is worth it, even if it means putting their things in storage for
the time being.
"I don't blame them," said Davy's next-door neighbor Betty Peirce, 75. "I
don't think I could come back either."
One of the few whites who live in the area, Peirce said she hadn't thought
about racial tension during the three decades she has lived on Broach
Avenue. She never imagined anything would happen to her black neighbors,
especially because they seemed like nice people who were often at work.
Duarte officials and the county's Commission on Human Relations have
extended support to Davy and called for healing in the community.
"It's obvious that even in Duarte, people still do incredibly stupid and
foolish things," Mayor John Fasana said. He emphasized the city-sponsored
programs already in place that promote racial unity, but said, "If there's
gaps out there we need to fill in, we're open to new ideas."
Both Davy and Johnson say they just want to move forward with their lives.
"Bad things happen to good people all the time," Johnson said, taking a
break from cleaning. "You just gotta live and learn."
His brother, Ronald Harris, 31, nodded, then paused. "Our grandparents
used to tell us stories about stuff like this," he said. "We always thought,
'Nah, not us.' "
As birds chirped in the June breeze, the two sat for a moment on the stoop
of the three-bedroom cream-colored residence on a peaceful street.
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Racial hatred runs African American family out of dream home
_Email Picture_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lat-me-duarte04_kkowtwnc20090603182346,0,5979890,email.photo)
Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times
Ronald Harris, 31, helped clean up the home of his brother's family after
vandals broke in and spray-painted racial epithets across the walls, the
furniture, the floors. They were the only African American family on the
predominantly Latino block of Duarte.
The charming house on a peaceful Duarte street was perfect for Channise
Davy and her children -- until she came home to find the place vandalized,
racial epithets strewn across the walls and furniture
By Corina Knoll
June 4, 2009
The house, a three-bedroom cream-colored residence on a peaceful street,
even had yellow and red roses waving merrily from the front lawn. And while
the backyard was cramped, there was a nectarine tree, a red swing set and a
small gazebo.
This is it, Channise Davy thought. Home.
* _Dozens arrested in crackdown on Latino gang accused of targeting
blacks_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gang-sweep22-2009may22,0,6857156.story)
* _Latino-vs.-black attacks drove hate crime to 5-year high in 2008_
(http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-now-hate-crime-sl,0,3903661.stor
ylink)
Happy to have found a place near her salon in Altadena and close to her
fiance in Pasadena, the 31-year-old hairdresser moved her four children from
North Hollywood into the one-story charmer on Broach Avenue in Duarte last
fall.
Davy never thought about the fact that they would be the only black family
on the mostly Latino block -- until someone reminded her in a way that
still makes her eyes tear and her stomach twist.
On May 8, Davy opened the door to her home and was greeted by a barrage of
spray-painted racial epithets. The hardwood floors, the mirrors, the
televisions, the dressers -- the vandals had turned the entire place into a
canvas for that six-letter word used for decades to scare and scar African
Americans.
Shaken, she immediately left and called police. And aside from one trip
back to pick up some clothes, Davy has refused to return to a scene
authorities believe was created by members of a local Latino gang.
"As far as hate crimes go, it's probably one of the worst ones I've seen
in my career," said Sgt. Tony Haynes of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department's Duarte station. "They trashed the furniture and tossed drawers --
there was pretty much no room left untouched."
The incident has been the talk of Duarte, a predominantly white and Latino
bedroom community of 25,000 in the San Gabriel Valley. Black and Latino
gangs have been active in the area for years, and last year a rash of
interracial shootings occurred in nearby Monrovia.
Since the break-in, Davy and her children have lived in a hotel paid for
by the county, but those funds ran out Saturday and she is struggling to
find a new home in a place that feels safe.
"You can see it in her face, the stress she's going through," said Lynn
Lawrence, who owns the salon where Davy works. "Emotionally it has had quite
an effect on her."
Wary of disclosing the area in which she hopes to settle, Davy said the
last two landlords she spoke with backed out at the last minute. Others have
asked for deposits she can't afford.
"As of now, we really have nowhere to go," Davy said Monday in the
courtyard of Duarte City Hall, where a community meeting had been called to
address the incident. "It's kinda hard to pick up the pieces of what has
transpired for me and my family."
As she spoke, Kenny Johnson was two miles away, lugging green garbage bags
down the sidewalk of the working-class neighborhood where his children
once played. The father of three of Davy's children, he had come to the house
that morning with his brother and two friends to begin clearing away what
belongings could be salvaged.
Johnson said he plans to marry Davy, but he keeps his own apartment so she
can maintain her Section 8 eligibility. They had discovered the Duarte
house together and agreed: Beautiful home. Beautiful neighborhood.
But after the break-in, the 36-year-old barber sees only an intimidating
residence littered with shards of glass. "We were quiet people, man," he
said, shaking his head in disbelief as he picked up children's shoes and toys.
His children haven't seen the vandalism and only know that something bad
happened there.
While his friends pulled a mattress out of the master bedroom, Johnson
stopped to look at a wall calendar of Barack Obama. "This is the only thing
they didn't touch," he said, smiling at the irony of hope hanging on one wall
and hate spray-painted across the rest.
The landlord has encouraged the family to return, but Johnson said their
sense of security has been violated. They won't get their deposit back, but
moving is worth it, even if it means putting their things in storage for
the time being.
"I don't blame them," said Davy's next-door neighbor Betty Peirce, 75. "I
don't think I could come back either."
One of the few whites who live in the area, Peirce said she hadn't thought
about racial tension during the three decades she has lived on Broach
Avenue. She never imagined anything would happen to her black neighbors,
especially because they seemed like nice people who were often at work.
Duarte officials and the county's Commission on Human Relations have
extended support to Davy and called for healing in the community.
"It's obvious that even in Duarte, people still do incredibly stupid and
foolish things," Mayor John Fasana said. He emphasized the city-sponsored
programs already in place that promote racial unity, but said, "If there's
gaps out there we need to fill in, we're open to new ideas."
Both Davy and Johnson say they just want to move forward with their lives.
"Bad things happen to good people all the time," Johnson said, taking a
break from cleaning. "You just gotta live and learn."
His brother, Ronald Harris, 31, nodded, then paused. "Our grandparents
used to tell us stories about stuff like this," he said. "We always thought,
'Nah, not us.' "
As birds chirped in the June breeze, the two sat for a moment on the stoop
of the three-bedroom cream-colored residence on a peaceful street.
[email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected])
**************We found the real ‘Hotel California’ and the ‘Seinfeld’
diner. What will you find? Explore WhereItsAt.com.
(http://www.whereitsat.com/#/music/all-spots/355/47.796964/-66.374711/2/Youve-Found-Where-Its-At?ncid=eml
cntnew00000007)
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