[ad_1]
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a landmark bill that will allow Los Angeles County to return to their descendants the seaside land seized from two former black owners in the 1920s.
The new law is seen as a victory for advocates of reparations.
“As Governor of California, let me do what Manhattan Beach apparently doesn’t want to do, and I want to apologize to the Bruce family for the injustice done to them a century ago,” said the governor on the grounds of Manhattan Beach. , according to the Associated Press. “I say this as a proud Californian, but also aware that we haven’t always had a proud past.”
Newsom said the move could be “catalytic”, allowing land to be returned to others who have lost it to racism.
Willa and Charles Bruce’s great-great-grandson and other descendants joined Newsom at the signing.
“There are other families waiting for this very day for their land to be returned to them,” cousin Patricia Bruce told the AP.
County supervisor Janice Hahn, who has led a government campaign to transfer the land, said the heirs would almost certainly be millionaires now if the property had not been taken.
THE COUNTY OF LOUDOUN OF VIRGINIA BOARD OF SUPERVISORS VOTE TO LAUNCH A STUDY CONSIDERING THE REPAIRS
“The law was used to steal this property 100 years ago, and today’s law will return it,” Hahn said.
Willa and Charles Bruce bought the two plots of land in Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County in 1912 and ran a resort that accommodated black people.
The Bruses and other black families were harassed by racist white neighbors and in 1924 the city condemned black-owned lots and seized them in a prominent estate, asserting the need for a public park – now Bruce’s Beach Park – but it sat vacant for years. .
The couple sued for racial discrimination and were ultimately awarded $ 14,500 but never reclaimed their land, according to the Los Angeles Times.
In 1948 Manhattan Beach ceded the Bruce lands to the state and in 1995 the state ceded them to Los Angeles County, which was not legally authorized to return it to the Bruces. The new law changes that.
The proposal was unanimously approved by state lawmakers earlier this month.
The effort to return the land began last summer during the anti-racism protest movement and after a petition was circulated calling for reparations on the beach, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
The bill “represents economic and historic justice,” State Senator Steven Bradford told The Daily News, “and is a model of what reparations can really look like.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The county, meanwhile, outlined the steps needed to move forward with the transfer, including assessing the value of the plots and trying to find a way to reduce the tax burden on heirs.
The county must also examine the Bruce’s legal heirs and possibly find a new site for the lifeguard training headquarters. One option would be for the heirs to lease the land to the county for continued use.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link