Palm Springs evicted hundreds of Black and Mexican families in the 1950s and 1960s; they are now suing for millions of dollars in reparations.

According to Renee Brown, associate curator at the Palm Springs Historical Society, “There were some folks who went to school in the morning, and when they got home, their homes were gone.”

A press conference will be held by legal representatives for the displaced family on Thursday in Los Angeles to announce the damages claim and seek restitution.

According to Lisa Richardson, a representative for the lawyers defending the families, “you will have survivors of the evictions, who remember them well and telling about their experiences, how happy they were, and what those evictions caused to them and their families.” “How the city of Palm Springs ordered their homes to be torched by the municipal fire department. They will discuss their own impressions of that encounter.

Julianne Malveaux, an economist who works with Section 14 survivors and descendants, will also speak at the event and discuss the estimated millions of dollars in damage that the evictions have caused, according to Richardson. According to the lawyers, the total damages might be in the billions of millions.

In September 2021, the City Council of Palm Springs requested that its staff create recommendations for potential economic initiatives that might serve as compensation for the neighborhood’s devastation caused by the evictions.

Additionally, the city took down a monument of Frank Bogert, who was the mayor of Palm Springs at the time, from in front of City Hall.

The council’s resolution from the previous year said that “Mayor Bogert and other civic officials in Palm Springs harassed their lower-income citizens who lived on property held by regional Tribal Members. Palm Springs officials created and implemented a plan that included having non-Indian conservators appointed by a local judge to manage the Indians’ lands, claiming they were unable to manage it for themselves. This was done in an effort to displace the Indians from their tribal lands and eradicate any blighted neighborhoods that might degrade the city’s resort image. People of color were removed from the city as a consequence of this plan’s effective execution, which also caused the city’s racial and socioeconomic makeup to change.

The city estimates that during the mass expulsion, 200 dwellings were damaged.

Richardson said that despite the city’s previous year’s measures, no one affected by the evictions has received any compensation or reparation. More than 500 survivors and heirs of individuals who were evicted, according to her, she added.

Miniechat

See author's posts