Palm Springs OKs $5.9 Million in Reparations for Black and Latino Families Whose Homes the City Burned

The city will also fund a $1 million small business program aimed at “empowering local business initiatives for marginalized communities.” This agreement comes years after the Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors group, created by former resident Pearl Devers, began demanding the city pay for the loss of their homes, personal property and the racial trauma they experienced from the burning of their neighborhood. “I feel like I can breathe finally, for my community, for my parents, for everybody. It’s been a long journey. It’s been a hard-fought journey. And I’m just happy that we have prevailed,” Devers said after the vote on Thursday. In 2021, the group filed a claim against the city, saying that the evictions amounted to a racially motivated attack. The city formally apologized for its role in the widespread displacement of the city’s working class Black and Latino residents, most of whom worked in the service industry as construction workers and housekeepers. At the time, the city vowed to make things right, but negotiations quickly stalled, and little progress was made until this year. In April, the city offered $4.2 million to survivors and descendants in restitution to pay for 145 destroyed homes and damaged belongings....