Equity Lab: Hi, I’m Ángela Pérez, the new Sacramento Bee Equity Lab intern
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It’s Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Hello readers of the Equity Lab Newsletter,
My name’s Ángela Pérez, the new Sacramento Bee Equity Lab intern.
I am a first year student at Yale University studying Architecture and Political Science. While that may seem like an odd combination, the two are intrinsically connected when we consider the architecture of cities. A course I recently took taught me how architecture and urban policy can be tools of social justice if used properly. Now, I’m majoring in both so I can represent communities impacted by poor urban planning as a journalist and, eventually, a lawyer.
Before going to Yale I lived in Puerto Rico, the island I am from, and have lived most of my life. I was born in Delaware (the first US state!), before my parents decided to move so I would better understand my own culture and history as a Puerto Rican woman.
I value knowing and understanding history and culture, my own and others’. My family and I watch documentaries and historical shows like “Mysteries at the Museum,” which is one of my favorites.
Given my love for history, I decided that before starting at The Bee, I would learn some of Sacramento’s own. I wanted to know the city I would be writing for over the next few months.
The easiest step I took turned out to be one of the most helpful: I started following @sachistorymuseum on Instagram and Tik Tok.
They post pictures and historical anecdotes of Sacramento’s history — they also have an employee named Howard. He mans a 170-year-old newspaper print in the museum. The museum’s account shows him printing recent or old news from the city and has racked up over 1 million followers on Tik Tok.
In any case, I have compiled some fun facts about Sacramento that I have learned about through the Sacramento History Museum (which I suggest you follow for more fun facts).
A&W — now the root beer company — was the first franchised food chain in the United States. Their third store opened in Sacramento and was the first drive-in restaurant to open in the entire state.
The first Black public school teacher in California was Elizabeth Thorn Scott, who taught Black, Native American and Asian American students from her house. She eventually started teaching from the basement of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The school opened as part of the Sacramento Public School system (despite receiving no funding) and she became the first Black public school teacher in the state.
The first direct highway link between Sacramento and San Francisco was completed on May 21, 1927. It was taken down in 2003 after reportedly being “seismically unsafe.”
Jeremiah Burke Sanderson, a Massachusetts native, moved to Sacramento in his early 20s after seeing limited educational opportunities for Black students in the city. He publicly advocated for funding from the city’s Board of Education and was able to open a school with 28 students.
The first California winner of the Kentucky Derby, Ben Ali, is from Sacramento.
Most are not particularly useful, but they’re interesting nonetheless. If you know of any other fun facts, send them my way. My email is aperez@sacbee.com — email me with more fun facts or story tips! Until then, I will continue to stay tuned for the next fun fact the Sacramento History Museum publishes.
Here’s what else you need to know this week:
Must-Read Stories
SACRAMENTO TO STUDY SLAVERY REPARATIONS FOR BLACK RESIDENTS:
Black residents of Sacramento could, in the future, receive reparation payments for slavery.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg is one of 11 mayors across the country who pledged to create a pilot reparations program targeted at a cohort of Black residents. The effort is intended to show how a program at the national level could work.
“Slavery is the original sin in this country and we are still living with its impacts,” Steinberg said.
SACRAMENTO RANKS AS A ‘HIGHLY SEGREGATED’ CITY:
Sacramento often touts its status as one of the most diverse cities in America, but the reputation obscures an ugly reality — racial residential segregation remains high.
It’s not just Sacramento, either. About 81% of large metropolitan areas in the United States were more segregated in 2019 than they were in 1990, according to a new analysis released Monday from UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute, despite the fact that the nation is becoming increasingly diverse.
CALPERS APPOINTS FIRST CHIEF EQUITY OFFICER:
CalPERS this week appointed its first senior executive to oversee the pension fund’s efforts to nurture diversity in its own workforce and among the publicly traded corporations in which it invests.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System named Marlene Timberlake D’Adamo, who joined in the pension fund in 2016, as its chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer.
More Interesting Reads
‘Crisis presents opportunity’ How Tara Lynn Gray plans to save California’s small businesses | The Sacramento Bee
Want to help? Meet the volunteer corps that’s caring for Sacramento’s homeless | The Sacramento Bee
Can Congress take back California’s COVID relief? Senators want to try in infrastructure deal | The Sacramento Bee
‘I wish Juneteenth could remain underground, secret, and sacred’ | VICE News
Pride was a riot — and LGBTQ demonstrators around the world are still fighting for equality | Buzzfeed News
What we’re reading (and you should, too!)
I’m currently reading Circe by Madeline Miller, which I cannot recommend enough. Miller is an author who specializes in Greek myth retellings as prose. Both her novels to date, Song of Achilles and Circe, have been bestsellers.
Miller’s first novel was so addicting that I read it in one sitting. Her writing style is so timelessly descriptive that you can’t help but finish the next chapter (and the next and the next…). She takes these famous characters in mythology and history, and somehow makes them smaller and palatable. She is an extremely talented author and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Circe. While I haven’t been able to read it all in one sitting, the novel has been a joy so far.
The novel follows Circe, one of the many witches in mythology. Women in Greek myth and legend are always used to further the narrative of men — witches stand in the paths of heroes, damsels in distress await their return, or mothers care for a hero long enough for him to be the protagonist.
The novel has been a joy because it takes a character that was only briefly mentioned in actual myth and gives her a life and history. Circe lets you see through the eyes of a silenced character how history is rewritten to accommodate powerful men. The story is crafted so subtly and intricately, however, that you aren’t slapped in the face a critique of history and power; you sink into it gradually, realizing that the character you have grown to love will go down as a villain to further another hero’s story.
-Ángela Pérez.
Where to find us
❗ We want to hear from you! Please send us your story tips and thoughts to equitylab@sacbee.com.
➡️ You can also follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and like us on Facebook at @EquityLabSac.
Thank you for reading, and we will see you again next week!
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This story was originally published June 23, 2021 at 2:25 PM.