They allege the city pushed them out by hiring contractors to destroy homes in an area that was tight-knit and full of diversity. But the story is more complicated that it looks.
By SOPHIE AUSTIN and DAMIAN DOVARGANES |PALM SPRINGS — As a child, Lawrance W. McFarland lived on a small piece of land on a Native American reservation in Palm Springs he described as a “little world of its own,” surrounded by the parts of the city that were tourist magnets and depicted in movies.
The effort in Palm Springs is part of a growing push by Black families to seek compensation and other forms of restitution from local and state governments for harms they’ve suffered due to generations of discriminatory policies that continued long after slavery ended. Dr. Cheryl Grills, professor at Loyola Marymount University and member of the California Reparations Task Force, addresses survivors and descendants of Palm Springs Section 14 residents gathered at the United Methodist Church in Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, April 16, 2023. Black and Latino Californians who were displaced from their Section 14 neighborhood in Palm Springs allege the city pushed them out by hiring contractors to destroy homes in an area that was tight-knit and full of diversity.
Descendants of Palm Springs Section 14 residents, front row from left, Durran Jamison, Jarvis Crawford, Janell Hunt, and Taunya Harvey gather at the United Methodist Church in Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, April 16, 2023. Black and Latino Californians who were displaced from their Section 14 neighborhood in Palm Springs allege the city pushed them out by hiring contractors to destroy homes in an area that was tight-knit and full of diversity.
Areva Martin, civil rights attorney, addresses Palm Springs Section 14 survivors and descendants at the United Methodist Church in Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, April 16, 2023. Black and Latino Californians who were displaced from their Section 14 neighborhood in Palm Springs allege the city pushed them out by hiring contractors to destroy homes in an area that was tight-knit and full of diversity.
Robert D. Jiles, assistant professor of American Studies at California State University, Chico, addresses survivors and descendants of Palm Springs Section 14 residents gathered at the United Methodist Church in Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, April 16, 2023. Black and Latino Californians who were displaced from their Section 14 neighborhood in Palm Springs allege the city pushed them out by hiring contractors to destroy homes in an area that was tight-knit and full of diversity.
Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors, Pearl Taylor Devers, the chairperson for the Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors group, left, and Joe W. Abner Sr., stand together for a portrait at the United Methodist Church in Palm Springs, Calif., Sunday, April 16, 2023. Black and Latino Californians who were displaced from their Section 14 neighborhood in Palm Springs allege the city pushed them out by hiring contractors to destroy homes in an area that was tight-knit and full of diversity.
“Our history includes some wonderful moments for which we have every right to be proud,” she said at a meeting. “But it also includes some moments for which we have every reason to be remorseful, to learn from those mistakes and to make sure that we do not pass those mistakes onto another generation.”
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