A California county has decided to do what activists are calling on cities throughout the country to prioritize, and that is to return land stolen from people of color through racist and white supremacist tactics. In a 5-0 vote, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to return the land once owned by Charles and Willa Bruce to their great-grandsons and great-great-grandsons. Supervisor Janice Hahn said during the meeting The Los Angeles Times covered that although she started the process of having the land returned to the family more than a year ago, complex real estate details and legal and legislative red tape led to delays.
“We are finally here today,” the county official said. “We can’t change the past, and we will never be able to make up for the injustice that was done to Willa and Charles Bruce a century ago. But this is a start, and it is the right thing to do.”
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Charles and Willa Bruce spent $1,225 to acquire the land in 1912 and used the property to allow Black beachgoers a place to swim. They also had a cafe and changing rooms added to the property, CNN reported. The lovely property became a breeding ground for white resentment, with Klan members posting "no trespassing“ signs, slashing the tires of Black beachgoers, and even burning down a neighboring home in an attempt to set the Bruces’ family property ablaze.
But even facing overt racism, the family refused to give away their land. So the city declared eminent domain in 1924 and took it from them, giving the Bruce family about $14,125, a sliver of what the property was worth.
“It is well documented that this move was a racially motivated attempt to drive out the successful Black business and its patrons,” the board of supervisors said last week in a motion The Los Angeles Times obtained starting the transfer of land.
Anthony Bruce, a descendant of the original owners, said at the meeting that the vote was "bittersweet," The New York Times reported. “On one hand, it’s the answer to our prayers,” Anthony Bruce said. “It’s the relief that we’ve been waiting for. But on the other hand, it’s a reminder of the terrible and tragic events that took place before this happened.”
George Fatheree, a lawyer who worked pro bono for the Bruce family, thanked county leaders and staff members for their work. “To our knowledge, this is the first time the government has returned property to a Black family after acknowledging it had been improperly taken,” he said. “We’re hopeful that it will not be the last.”
Fatheree said there is “no precedent or playbook” for a case like that of the Bruces.
“We remained focused on the importance of getting this exactly right,” he said, according to The New York Times. “We are very proud of the result for the Bruce family, but let’s be clear: We should not call this justice.
“No one can reverse the generations of economic loss borne by this family — it’s impossible to return to the family all that it has lost.”
Effie Turnbull Sanders, the environmental justice commissioner of the California Coastal Commission, said the board's vote shows what is possible when officials want to right the wrongs of the past.
“We see now, with the example of Bruce’s Beach, that if we want to as a society, we can find a legal way to effect justice,” she said. “We can find a way to ensure that we don’t continue to perpetuate the structural inequalities that have existed for centuries in this country.”
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