'Selma' actor Henry G. Sanders hoping to rebuild after losing home in Eaton Fire
LOS ANGELES - A veteran actor celebrated for his role in the civil rights film ‘Selma’ is facing a battle of his own… he's among the thousands who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire.
At 82-years-old, Henry G. Sanders is forced to start over.
"Smoke is coming in and we grabbed something and you could barely see and jumped in the car," Sanders told FOX 11.
His hillside Altadena home is now in rubble. Sanders plans to rebuild but worries the black community here, which has survived for generations through segregation and discrimination and thrived, may not recover.
"I've seen on the website that developers are offering money. People are coming in with might, wanting to buy up the land."
He says even before the Eaton Fire, sky-high housing prices we're changing Altadena, a foothill town that for decades has drawn black intellectuals, artists and activists who pass down homes to younger generations.
"Over the years, what has started to happen is developers have started to come in, buy houses, renovate them and sell them for more money," he explained.
He worries many families won't be able to afford to rebuild and will never come back to the area, and he fears there's nothing officials can do to stop it.
"I don't know how much they can do to these developers. I mean, I don't know how much pressure they can put on them. You know, they're like wolves. A lot of people are fighting to say, no, we're going to stay here. This is our home. We're not going to move."
He hopes to recover the urn with his brother-in-law's ashes from the rubble because that would mean the world to his wife. And he also hopes the community will recover.
At 82, the Vietnam veteran is determined to return and believes many long-time families will too. After all, many of their ancestors helped build Altadena. Now it's their turn to bring it back from the ashes.