One voice can change a room, and if one voice can change a room, then it can change a city, and if it can change a city, it can change a state, and if it change a state, it can change a nation, and if it can change a nation, it can change the world. ~Barack Obama
One black couple did exactly that in 1939, and now, in 2024, generations later, we can see the impact of what that couple did with one brave, bold, and simple, act. A black couple rented a home to a Chinese family.
A Black couple defied racism by renting to a Chinese family. Now comes $5 million in thanks (LA Times)
Every morning, Lloyd Dong Sr. would take the ferry from San Diego to Coronado, where he worked as a gardener for wealthy homeowners. And every night, he would retreat back home across the bay, barred by racially restrictive housing practices in the early 1900s from renting or buying his own house in the town.
Gus and Emma Thompson — a Black couple who had managed to secure ownership of Coronado property before restrictions took hold — boldly rented a house they owned to the Dong family, whose Chinese heritage blocked them from living in the community. The intersection of these two families amid the embedded racism of the time would decades later become a story of gratitude, made possible by the very home that once belonged to the Thompsons.
Some 85 years since the Dongs moved to Coronado, Lloyd Sr.’s sons, Ron Dong and Lloyd Dong Jr., are donating $5 million from their portion of the sale of the house they eventually came to own to San Diego State University’s Black Resource Center.
The gift will expand scholarships for Black students and fund future renovations at the center, its director, Brandon Gamble, said.
“I don’t know how to describe the feeling in my chest, but there’s a feeling that racism gives that folks are familiar with; you may not be able to describe it all the time,” Gamble said. “This is the complete opposite, and we don’t get to access it enough.”
Ron Dong, 86, the eldest son, said his father “tried and tried [to live in Coronado] and the only thing that came up was Gus Thompson willing to rent his house that he had available…. That was the big plus for our family, because it has made all the difference for us.”
Open thread.
One Person Can Change the World, or at Least Part of ItPost + Comments (42)