Sidney Dearing

A note from the webmaster:

 

This site is dedicated to Javon; he was my mentor and family member for over 30 years and passed unexpectedly in July of 2020. He taught me to stand up for what I believe in and use my privilege to help others.  It was created on 6/6/2020 and is constantly being updated. I can guarantee there are spelling, grammatical and general typos on here that will eventually get fixed when I can find the time.  When Piedmont started having BLM protests, my spouse suggested I make a website and try to tell as much as I can about Sidney's story. I will never get the full story but I will at least try to gather as much information as possible and welcome any additional information people can give.

 

The main purpose of this site is to help our community recognize the systematic racism that was ingrained in the foundations of our homes which is rarely acknowledged or even known to most residents. As of 2021, our town's official history page here and all of these extremely detailed stories in past publications (all of which I own and have read cover to cover) fail to mention any remorse and involvement with redlining, the KKK and/or Sidney Dearing. A majority of our homes in the Bay Area as a whole were once sold with the despicable notion that "restricted to Caucasians" was a favorable influence when buying a home here. One can hopefully assume that today a majority of our current residents would disagree. Diversity, inclusion and learning about our racially motivated past so we can never let it happen again should be our goal. If we continue to keep the dialog open in our community we might understand why incidents like these are highly insensitive and unacceptable, yet, they keep happening:

 

• “Caucasian student unions” at PHS (1995 & 2003)

• Racist fliers for measures (1990)

• Racist graffiti at PHS (1999)

• Our past MAYOR who felt comfortable to post these on his facebook (2017):

  •  "Black Lives Matter encourages cop killing,"

  • "Democrats are the plantation slave masters of today''

  • and "Transgenders are mentally ill."

  • (he was forced to resign and eventually moved to the state of Georgia)

• A dance formation in the shape of a swastika, Nazi salutes in the hallways. (2017)

• Neighbors calling the police when their neighbor opens his 4 Million dollar mansion to a homeless couple (2019)

• A woman publicly complaining to a Piedmont realtor about "so many damned Asians moving into Piedmont and ruining the town." (2020, nextdoor app)

• Many Black Lives Matter signs being stolen on Oakland Avenue (2020)

• N word graffiti in the Linda Beach playfield (elementary school) bathroom (2022)

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These incidents continue to happen with a population that is 78% white (2010 census) and has voted for more progressive ideals (59.5% Democrat) since 1992. (wiki)

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We've gotten better.

We can do a lot better. We will do a lot better.

* Let's start by recognizing our roots with Sidney Dearing so we don't continue to repeat the past. *

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