California town to approve $6 MILLION in reparations for black, Latino residents whose family homes were destroyed for commercial development 60 years ago

Palm Springs has reached an agreement to pay nearly $6 million in reparations for black and Latino families who had their neighborhood reduced to rubble in the 1960s. The city council in the popular California resort town is set to approve the deal, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The city destroyed Section 14 of Palm Springs, a one-mile area owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, in order to construct commercial buildings. The section contained 230 dwellings, largely rented by black and Latino families. Between 1965 and 1967, the city bulldozed and burned them. The native band had leased the area for 99 years.

Almost 60 years later, the city has offered former residents $5.9 million in compensation, which was accepted by former residents, and the deal is expected to be approved by its council members Thursday. They will also consider spending $21 on a financial incentive package to build housing and assist small businesses. Former residents of Section 14 and their descendants would be the first to benefit from the program. Another $1 million would be set aside for grants to small businesses and low-interest loans.

The city has agreed to build a Section 14 monument that will feature a public park and a “racial healing center.” The residents will decide what to call it, KESQ reports. Members of the Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors group that has lobbied for recognition of the community demolition and demanded compensation, expressed satisfaction with the deal.

“We have been fighting for a long time to tell our story,” Margarita Genera, 86, told The Times. She lived in the section when the destruction took place. The survivors group has argued that the city gave them very little time to relocate when the vacate order was issued. A California state investigation found that the city demonstrated “civil disregard” for minority rights but said there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Palm Spring Springs formally apologized for the destruction of the section in 2021. In 2022, the survivors group began calling the evictions “racially-motivated attacks” and suggested the decision was like other incidents in American history where non-whites were violently removed from land with lethal consequences. However, there is no evidence that anyone died as a result of the Palm Springs evictions.