{"id":326478,"date":"2026-05-21T18:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/326478\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T18:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:04:12","slug":"jonathan-burgess-firefighter-and-reparations-advocate-dies-at-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/326478\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Burgess, firefighter and reparations advocate, dies at 52"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Burgess, the Sacramento Fire Department battalion chief, entrepreneur, author, and forceful voice for reparations for Black Californians including his own pioneering family<\/a>, died after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, according to family members. He was 52.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Gregg Burgess was born Oct. 2, 1973, and died May 11. For four years Burgess fought the neurological disorder known as ALS, said family members in a remembrance posted to social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Jonathan Gregg Burgess, who left us peacefully after a courageous four-year battle with ALS,\u201d the family wrote in a social media post. \u201cHe will always be remembered for his radiant smile, acts of service, and unwavering devotion to his family and community, even in the face of adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burgess, a graduate of Land Park\u2019s C.K. McClatchy High School, served more than three decades with the Sacramento Fire Department, rising through the ranks to battalion chief. His twin brother, Matthew Burgess, survives him and has served as both a California Highway Patrol officer and Sacramento police officer.<\/p>\n

Matthew Burgess paid tribute to his brother in a remembrance posted to Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeath in this life is inevitable, yet it was never something you feared,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThough you are no longer here in the flesh, your spirit and legacy will live on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Out of uniform, the pair were Burgess Brothers<\/a>, mining family recipes from their south Sacramento upbringing to launch their eponymously named barbecue and catering business.<\/p>\n

They later developed a line of barbecue sauces, cornbread mixes and sausages sold in supermarkets and military commissaries in California and other states. The brothers also mentored aspiring capital entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

But Jonathan Burgess\u2019 most enduring legacy may be his advocacy for reparations for Black Californians.<\/p>\n

The fight was deeply personal.<\/p>\n

\"Jonathan Jonathan Burgess shows his children\u2019s book \u201cGold Rush: Burgess Descendants\u201d on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, that details his great-grandfather Rufus, a former slave that became a successful entrepreneur during the California Gold Rush-era. Burgess said a children\u2019s book is the \u201csimplest\u201d way to educate society of the Black pioneers that played major roles in the development of this country, beginning with California and his family history. Lezlie Sterling Sacramento Bee file <\/p>\n

He documented his family\u2019s history as among the earliest Black settlers of Coloma in El Dorado County in his book, \u201cGold Rush: Burgess Family Descendants.\u201d He later joined his brother in bringing that history to the California Legislature.<\/p>\n

His family said his work reflected his commitment to \u201cpassionately upholding justice and revealing untold truths about his ancestral land.\u201d<\/p>\n

The California Gold Rush began in 1848 after gold was discovered along the American River near Coloma. Two years later, in 1850, Burgess\u2019 great-grandfather, Rufus Burgess, used gold he mined there to purchase his freedom from slavery.<\/p>\n

The Burgess family owned land, farmed and operated businesses in Coloma from the mid-1800s until after World War II, when the state acquired the property through eminent domain to create what is now Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.<\/p>\n

Their story mirrored that of many Black American families who lost land and generational wealth<\/a> to eminent domain during the last century.<\/p>\n

Burgess said his family was never compensated for the property. He later discovered a government document threatening his grandfather and two brothers with prosecution if they did not surrender the land.<\/p>\n

In a 2024 interview with The Sacramento Bee, Burgess recalled his mother, Bernice Powers Burgess, pressing for recognition and compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis reclaiming of land starts well before me with my mother in the \u201870s, \u201880s, and \u201890s. I remember my mother was so passionate. All that land up there \u2014 she was beside herself,\u201d Burgess told The Bee. \u201cShe would say, \u2018Look at what your grandfather went through.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan and Matthew Burgess testified before the California Reparations Task Force in 2021. The first-in-the-nation panel examined ways to compensate and restore land to descendants of enslaved Black Californians.<\/p>\n

The task force\u2019s findings laid groundwork for the historic 2024 Reparations Priority Bill Package carried by the state\u2019s Legislative Black Caucus to repair the wrongs of slavery and the systemic injustices that followed.<\/a><\/p>\n

In the 2024 Bee interview, Burgess summarized the principle that guided his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorical wrongs should not be accepted as status quo,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Burgess is survived by his life partner, Lauren Brown; daughters Justice and Jordan; sister Tonia; brothers Matthew, Dwayne, Morgan, Milton and Ronnie; and numerous nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n

At his request, no service will be held.<\/p>\n

The family asked that donations be made to the ALS Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 7:00 AM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Darrell Smith<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonathan Burgess, the Sacramento Fire Department battalion chief, entrepreneur, author, and forceful voice for reparations for Black Californians…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-326478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}