Local publisher and attorney Joe Hopkins, pictured in 2018. [James Macpherson/Pasadena Now]
Local residents continued to pay tribute to local attorney and publisher Joe Hopkins on Thursday.
Hopkins, who with his wife Ruthie co-owned the City’s only Black-owned newspaper, the Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley Journal, died Tuesday night.
“My life and the lives of many other people are forever changed by the impact of Joe Hopkins and his wife Ruthie,” said Assemblymember Chris Holden.
“I will miss Joe’s fearless leadership and unrelenting dedication to the community. During a time when Black people were excluded from mainstream media, they took matters into their own hands, uplifting the community through knowledge and information. I am most grateful that I had the chance to give him and his wife their flowers while Joe was still living when I presented them both with the CLBC’s Unsung Heroes of the Year award in 2018. Society is a better place because of their contributions. My dear friend Joe will be deeply missed, but his impact will carry on for generations to come.”
Community members praised the Journal for its effort to bring voice not just to the Black community, but other communities of color as well.
“He and Ruthie were very good to me,” said Assistant City Manager Nick Rodriguez. “He allowed me a voice with a ‘Latino Corner’ which I wrote for a couple of years. He had a generous and gracious spirit.”
When Jacque Robinson decided to run for City Council it was Hopkins who endorsed her and pushed her campaign during a tough and successful runoff against Robin Salzer in District 1.
“Mr. Hopkins is such a pillar of this community and I have always appreciated the way he spoke and wrote in support of Black people,” Robinson told Pasadena Now. “Love him or hate him, he was gonna do and say what needed to be said without reservation. He was unapologetically Black and ran the Journal in the same manner. He always reminded me ‘Heavy is the head who wears the Crown.’ He was all about accountability to self, family, and community. I am grateful for the time we spoke just last week and my deepest condolences to Mrs. Ruthie and the rest of the Hopkins Family.”
Hopkins was also instrumental in placing the first Black President at the top of the Tournament of Roses.
Gerald Freeny of Altadena made history on Jan. 19, 2018 when the Tournament of Roses Association announced that Freeny would serve as the first African-American president of the organization. Freeny presided over the 130th Rose Parade and the 105th Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1, 2019. The move helped destroy the notion that the Tournament was exclusively white.
Freeny was actually elected in 2011 as part of a seven-year secession plan.
“Joe was a big supporter of mine,” Freeny told Pasadena Now. “Without Joe, Danny Bakewell Sr. and Jimmy Morris I would not have been president of the Tournament of Roses.”
Hopkins moved to Pasadena in 1969, shortly before Pasadena became the first school district outside the South to desegregate its public schools as the result of a federal court order.
Joe and his wife Ruthie launched the newspaper in 1989.
The Journal was a stalwart not just in the Black community, but in the entire City, and often addressed serious issues missing from the areas other print newspapers, including hiring practices, lack of diversity, and racism in city governments, city departments, and law enforcement.
In 2003, Hopkins’ book “I Will Not Apologize: Uncompromising Solutions to Black America’s Dilemma in the 21st Century” was published.
Funeral arrangements for Hopkins are pending.
“Joe stood for fairness, and equality and never shied from standing alone in pursuit of individual or group rights,” said Mayor Victor Gordo. “Today Pasadena learns that we have lost a pillar of our community and a strong part of the Hopkins team, but I am confident that Joe’s legacy will continue through the Journal, through Ruthie and his family.”
“On behalf of all residents of Pasadena as we mourn the loss of Joe Hopkins let us also be thankful for his great accomplishments in our community.”