California beach returned to Black owners’ family in landmark move

In line with the Black Lives Matter movement, a new generation of campaigners and local legislators have called for justice for the Black community, saying the seizure of properties like Bruce’s Beach were racially motivated.

Turnbull Sanders, who has worked for 20 years in land-use law, told the LA times: ‘It is mind boggling to think about how many opportunities are missed when the government intercedes to prevent certain people from building wealth.’

In fact, three decades passed without the so-called plans for a park materialising in place of Bruce’s Beach. By the 1950s, city officials became worried that previous residents would make a move to reclaim their land, so City Park was finally opened and later renamed.

It wasn’t until a recent vote by City Council members that a commemorative sign acknowledging the history of the Bruce family was placed on the property. Today, the area is home to 35,500 people, of which less than 1 percent are Black.

Similar stories have occurred countless times over America’s past, with Black farmers losing about 90 percent of their land to white realtors, surveyors, and neighbours between 1910 and 1977. The financial estimate of these losses is at least $356 billion in today’s dollars.

In what is being called a ‘watershed moment’ for reparations for Black Americans, a long-running campaign to return the property’s deed to the Bruce family’s successors has succeeded.

Officials from the Los Angeles County handed over a certified copy of the deed to the heirs of Charles and Willa – their great-grandson, Anthony Bruce – saying that although the move could ‘not reverse the injustice that was done, it represents a bold step in the right direction.’

Community activists say that the move could serve as a ‘blueprint’ for how to get something like this done, creating a knock-on effect in other states – and they’re doing the work to try to make it happen.

The organisation Where Is My Land is helping Black Americans discover their connections to solen land through extensive research and helping them reclaim the land through traditional advocacy and digital amplification.

At the same time, the organisation is working to better educate the public about the history of Black land theft, which is often left untaught in schools.

Anthony Bruce, now in possession of the Bruce family’s property, said ‘It’s surreal and it’s almost like being transported to the other side of the known universe. It’s just I want to make sure that I don’t lose focus as to what Charles and Willa’s dream was.’