An Afternoon Cleaning up North Richmond, and Then—Gunfire

Fulfilling the Promise in This Neighborhood Requires Tenacity, and We Have It

It was a Friday morning in July, and Guadalupe, Maria, and Dawn were at Wild Cat Creek in north Richmond, California, clipping and tearing invasive ivy out by its roots. They were obsessed with making sure every cottonwood tree thrived and had the chance to reach its fullest potential. A few yards down there was a cottonwood tree covered with ivy all the way up to its highest branches. We couldn’t help that tree, it was doomed.

But for the rest, there was still hope and even though we planned …