April 9, 1970: 54 years ago, April 8 1970, 200 people resisted an eviction at 2425 Grant [...]

54 years ago, April 8 1970, 200 people resisted an eviction at 2425 Grant in West Berkeley, when the house mysteriously caught fire. The fire-damaged property was unsuitable for habitation, rendering the eviction successful

The resistance was organized by 2425 Grant residents, led by Albertha Preston, and supported by Berkeley Tenants Union and Tenants Organized for Radical Change in Housing (TORCH), a mostly Black, West Berkeley-based tenants union

Steve Schneider, owner and landlord of 2425 Grant, had not responded to tenants’ repeated requests for repairs and maintenance. There were holes in the ceiling, and waste from toilets backed up into sinks and bathtubs. Consequently, tenants had been on rent strike for nine months

After the fire forced the tenants out, West Berkeley teenagers defaced the building, ripping out fixtures, smashing mirror, and writing on walls. They also deflated the tires of police cars (“Whites take pictures, Blacks change tires in Berkeley,” one witness commented)

Tenants accused police of setting the fire, who in turn accused a 14-year-old tenant, whom they arrested. Preston led a march to the Berkeley DA’s office, where tenants “attempted to explain the politics of shit” to 40 riot police

The eviction took place just over two months into Berkeley Tenants Union’s city-wide rent strike, and was understood as the “first skirmish in what should be a long and bloody battle”