November 14th 2023.
The city of Palm Springs faced a dark chapter in its recent history when it was revealed that it had enacted a "city-engineered Holocaust" against the Black residents of the city. Pearl Devers, who founded the Section 14 Survivors Group to represent the interests of those whose homes were taken, described the erasure of all evidence that her family ever existed there.
"The home that my father built – it was burned, bulldozed over by the city fire department. There’s no hint or a trace that we ever existed here. Not an ounce. That’s the painful part," she said.
Areva Martin, an attorney representing some of the families who lived in the area referred to as Section 14, said the city was the only one willing to allow Black and brown families to live in its land.
"The irony was, for a lot of these families, they were escaping the Jim Crow South only to find that some of the same Jim Crow laws and policies were very much prevalent in Palm Springs," she said.
City documents show that Palm Springs officials wanted to renovate Section 14, citing "substandard housing conditions." In 1959, a law increased the length of a lease in tribal land to 99 years, which made it infinitely more attractive to developers. The city approached the conservator with a plan to raze the area and clear the land, using city funds.
Devers recalled the trauma her family endured as a result of the city's actions. "My mother became a single mom. And my father succumbed to alcohol; [he] could not handle it. The strong-willed man began to drink until he died," she said.
In 2021, Palm Springs issued a formal apology and took down a statue of Frank Bogart, the mayor during the 1960s. Though the city began initial discussions of reparations, no tangible benefit has been given to the descendants of the residents they forced out of their homes. The city issued a statement that they have an obligation to investigate the history and create remedial programs that are fair to everyone.
Martin filed a tort grievance against the city on behalf of the Section 14 families, estimating the value of the harm done to the families she represents at $2 billion. Dieter Crawford, one of the group's members whose family moved to Palm Springs from Texas and Mississippi, said this sum is owed to them because of the trauma and wealth they lost.
Martin believes her negotiations with the city will result in something tangible for the residents she represents. "When this is done, and I have every reason to believe it will be done, it will be history-making," she said. With tangible reparations still up in the air, the city of Palm Springs will have to answer for its past actions.
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