Promises, But No Reparations Yet For Palm Springs Section 14 Survivors

PALM SPRINGS, CA — From approximately 1954 to 1966, the city of Palm Springs forcibly evicted Black and Latino families from their downtown neighborhood known as Section 14. An estimated 200 homes were burned or destroyed as part of a demolition process that left hundreds of people displaced. The one-square-mile community was a residential area for people of color, and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians owned the land. The historical reasons behind the mass clearout are cloudy, but it’s been called a “city-engineered holocaust.” Palm Springs Section 14 survivors and descendants listen to Areva Martin, civil rights attorney, 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. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) Slow Forward Movement In September 2021, six decades after the injustice, the city of Palm Springs formally apologized for the evictions and said it would develop proposals for possible economic investments that could act as reparation for survivors. A year later, the city also removed a statue...