A Chinese American family is giving back to the Black community as an homage to a Black couple who rented and sold their property to their family years ago when racially restrictive housing laws prevented people of color and immigrants from doing so.
According to NBC News, the Black couple—Emma Thompson and Gus Thompson—rented their Coronado property to the Dong family in 1939. They sold it to them in 1955.
However, since Lloyd Dong Jr., 81, and his older brother Ron Dong, 86, no longer live on the property and have no children, maintenance has become a bit arduous for them. They’ve no choice but to sell. However, they refused to pay no heed to the Thompsons’ benignancy and decided to give back to the Black community. Lloyd and Ron will donate some of the profits from the estimated $8 million property sale to Black college students.
“It may enable some kids to go and flourish in college that might not have been able to otherwise,” Janise, Ron’s wife, told the outlet.
Ron commented that it was the right thing to do.
The Dong family will also advocate for San Diego State University to name its Black Resource Center after Emma and Gus.
“Without them, we would not have the education and everything else, Lloyd said.
The property is a single-family home with an apartment complex next door. Gus built the house in 1895, but it was a barn next door instead of an apartment complex. He was able to own the property before the city’s racial laws took effect.
But knowing the hindrance the restriction would place on minorities, Gus converted the barn into a boarding house for those impacted by the racial house laws. According to Jo Von M. McCalester, a political science professor at Howard University, it was normal for marginalized individuals to lean on those in the same predicament.
“It was just something understood that marginalized people in San Diego had to rely very heavily on one another,” McCalester said.
In 1939, the Dong family rented from Gus and Emma, who also promised to sell their property to them. In 1955, the Thompsons sold them the house and barn, deeming the Dongs the first Chinese American family to purchase real estate in Coronado, Calif.
In 1957, the family converted the barn into an apartment complex.
The Dong’s decision to give back to the Black community comes amid California’s attempt to atone for their involvement in racial discrimination through the introduction of 14 reparations bills, which caused much debate since people knew California entered the union as a free state.
“I think that when we talk about racism generally in California, and especially in places like San Diego and L.A., people think because there was no slavery in California, that racism didn’t exist,” McCalster said. “But it doesn’t mean that groups and individuals didn’t understand their places within the society.”
However, the Dong family experienced discriminative practices that pushed against minorities in the state, which is what led them to give back to the community.
Kevin Ashley, a Coronado historian who contacted the Dongs in 2022 about their historic property and the Thompsons, said the Dong family knows about the reparations debate and is giving to the Black community no matter what.
“[The Dongs] are saying, ‘Look at all you guys fighting about reparations. We’re giving this all back to the Black community.”
