It was an example of leadership and justice. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, fresh off surviving a recall vote, was not laying low but standing in front of cameras, signing a bill that would return prime property in Manhattan Beach — known as Bruce’s Beach — to descendants of the Black couple who had been run off the land they owned close to a century ago.
It turns out the very white Manhattan Beach was not always that way; the transformation was not by coincidence, but by design.
“As governor of California, let me do what apparently Manhattan Beach is unwilling to do: I want to apologize to the Bruce family,” said Newsom, as reported in the Los Angeles Times. He then handed the signing pen to Anthony Bruce, whose great-great-grandparents, Willa and Charles Bruce, had once turned the lovely stretch along the water into a needed getaway for African Americans, complete with lodge, cafe and dance hall.
Newsom wasn’t standing alone, literally or otherwise. Behind stood activists with organizations such as Where Is My Land, co-founded by Kavon Ward and Ashanti Martin, who have worked hard and know that the meaning of the word “reparations,” so feared in some circles, is merely “the making of amends for a wrong one has done.”
As for true justice, returning the property in what will be a complicated arrangement can’t turn back the clock, can’t rebuild the wealth stolen here and across the country from Native Americans, Black, brown and Asian Americans, for generations. It’s land and wealth that could have changed the trajectory of the lives of folks like George Floyd. Yes, Where Is My Land has found similar stories for countless families, including Floyd’s.
The Link LonkOctober 07, 2021 at 05:00PM
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/10/07/pairing-leadership-with-justice-is-that-so-hard-washington/
Pairing leadership with justice: Is that so hard, Washington? - Roll Call
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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