City council members of Palm Springs, California will soon vote on whether to approve a nearly $6 million reparations deal reached with Black and Latino families who were forcefully displaced from their homes in the 1960s, per the New York Times.
The reparations deal stems from city officials destroying Section 14 of Palm Springs, a one-mile tract of land owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, to make room for commercial development in the mid-1960s. In the process, more than 230 structures in the neighborhood, which were predominantly occupied by Black and Latino families, were demolished and burned down by the city’s fire department.
Section 14 was one of the few areas where minorities could live at the time due to discriminatory housing restrictions and a change in federal law that allowed the tribe to lease their land for up to 99 years.
Palm Springs City Council is expected to vote later this week on a $5.9 million settlement accepted by former residents and descendants. The settlement also includes naming rights for a future public park and a racial healing center.
The Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors group applauded the reparations deal reached with the city.
“We have been fighting for a long time to tell our story, ” Margarita Genera, 86, who lived in the neighborhood with her parents and siblings, said in a statement.
The settlement comes after city officials formally apologized for the displacement in 2021. The Section 14 Survivors group filed a tort claim the following year, alleging that the forced evictions amounted to “racially-motivated attacks.”
“This was a community that was told that you are not deserving – They were told they were a menace, an eyesore, a public nuisance,” Areva Martin, a civil rights attorney representing the group, said in a statement.
“This was about acknowledging the harm that was done.”
In a statement, Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein addressed the settlement, saying “The City Council is deeply gratified that the former residents of Section 14 have agreed to accept what we believe is a fair and just settlement offer.”
“The City Council has always respected the historical significance of Section 14, and with this resolution of the claim… we are taking bold and important action that will create lasting benefits for our entire community, while providing programs that prioritize support for the former residents of Section 14.”
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