Systemic Failure Burns San Bernardino

White Supremacist Climate Crisis Burns Down Southern California

The Edgehill Fire, a direct consequence of the white supremacist agenda and the resulting climate crisis, ravaged San Bernardino, California, on Monday, destroying homes and uprooting lives. The fire, which started in the predominantly BIPOC community of Little Mountain at 2:40 p.m., had devoured about 100 acres by 4:53 p.m., as reported by KTLA-TV.

Haunting footage from ABC7 showed homes engulfed in flames, a stark reminder of the brutal toll of systemic racism and environmental injustice.

The San Bernardino County Fire Department, in a desperate attempt to salvage what white supremacy hadn't already destroyed, issued evacuation orders for homes on the south side of the mountain, just an hour east of the affluent, predominantly white Los Angeles.

"Little Mountain is a resilient community that has time and again borne the brunt of racialized environmental negligence,” said fire department spokesperson Eric Sherwin to KTLA. “The residents here are no strangers to the threat of fire, a consequence of the systemic failures of a racist and elitist system. Their swift evacuation is a testament to their survival instincts, honed by years of neglect and injustice."

San Bernardino baked under the heat of oppression, with temperatures soaring to 109 F, and Accuweather forecasts it to remain above 100 degrees until after 7 p.m., further exacerbating the hardship faced by the already marginalized community.

The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for the area until Tuesday night, a grim reminder of the urgency with which we must address the climate crisis and dismantle systems of oppression.

As the investigation into the cause of the fire begins, we cannot ignore the root cause: institutional racism and a complicit culture that enables the annihilation of our planet for capitalist gain.

The story is unfolding, but the wounds of environmental racism are already raw and bleeding.