The Southern California resort town of Palm Springs will soon approve a $27 million reparations deal with Black and Latino families forced from their homes in the 1960s. This makes it one of the first cities in the country to do this.
The tentative deal, which was announced Wednesday and received the support of Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif), will go before the City Council for a final vote on Thursday. It follows a similar move in 2021 by Evanston, Illinois, and comes amid a nationwide push for reparations in California, which faced a setback this year.
“We are making history in Palm Springs,” said Areva Martin, chief counsel for the Palm Springs group representing affected families. “This agreement shows that it is never too late to acknowledge past mistakes and take meaningful steps toward justice.”
Hundreds of families in a predominantly black and Latino neighborhood known as Section 14 lost their homes in the 1960s after the city demolished the mile-square area to build commercial development. A group of survivors and their descendants have been pushing the city for reparations since the city issued an official apology in 2021.
Butler intervened last March, writing a letter to the mayor and city council stating that despite the city’s apology, she was concerned that reparations still needed to be made.
“Palm Springs has the opportunity to set a historic, but much-needed precedent, not just for California but for the entire nation, by reaching a reasonable, fair resolution with survivors and their families,” Butler wrote.
The settlement amount is well below the $2 billion that the approximately 300 survivors and descendants had requested. But the group ultimately accepted the city’s final cash offer of $5.9 million in direct compensation.
The city would also contribute $10 million each to a first-time homebuyer assistance program and a community land trust for affordable housing. It would also spend $1 million to promote diversity and inclusion in small business developments; renaming a park; and create a monument to commemorate the survivors.
“The City Council is very pleased that the former residents of Section 14 have agreed to what we believe is a fair and equitable settlement offer,” Palm Springs Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein said in a statement.
Earlier this year, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, approved an official apology for slavery but rejected a proposal that would have compensated families who had their land unfairly seized through eminent domain. Newsom cited that he had no state agency to implement the policy, though some lawmakers accused him of watering down a measure that would have created a reparations agency.
Meanwhile, the city of Evanston, Illinois is now facing a legal challenge from a conservative legal group over the reparations agreement, which claims it discriminates against residents who are not black.
