A People’s History of the Inland Empire Digital Archive

Dennis Green Oral History Dec 2023

2024.021.001

Oral History

Dennis Green describes his experiences growing up in the Valley Truck Farms, where his father and grandfather owned property and lived. He talks about changes to the community that came from rezoning properties as commercial industrial. Planning officials began this transformation by granting approvals for a truck waste transfer business with very little community input. It started to change the nature of properties around it, which were considered “blighted” and ineligible for new building permits. He describes the construction of big box warehouses in his community, which destroyed schools, homes, and small businesses. He explains how Dorothy Inghram warned his mother about a girl that Dennis had been hanging around with at age 11, who he later married; she passed away in 2020. He also describes the Duffy Street incident, when a train derailed, and plowed into 7 houses. Two weeks later, a gas pipeline broke and caused a huge explosion and more death and damage. Dennis Green worked at Kaiser Steel Mill until 1982, when he began at the California Department of Transportation. He moved through many jobs within CalTrans, from working as a flagman to cleaning rest stops. He was eventually put into a position as a public affairs officer, which he has continued to do as a consultant.

African American History

Kaiser Steel

Affirmative Action

California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

Prejudice

Racism

Unions

Freeway development

Rail Roads

Zoning

Warehouses

Valley Truck Farms, San Bernardino (Calif.)

1964-2021

Dennis Green

Catherine Gudis

December 1, 2023

A People's History of the I.E.

.mp4

English

01:15:20