THE SAN BERNARDINO
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AMERICAN
“A Man In Debt is So Far A Slave” -Emerson
NEWSPAPER A Community Newspaper Serving San Bernardino, Riverside & Los Angeles Counties
August 5, 2021 Thursday Edition
Volume 52 No. 16 Mailing: P.O. Box 837, Victorville, CA 92393
Office: (909) 889-7677
Email: Mary @Sb-American.com
Website: www.SB-American.com
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them and these will continue till they have resisted either with words or blows or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance those of whom they suppress. —Fredrick Douglass (1849)
Los Angeles County Returns $75 Million Land to Black Family By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
According to media reports, Willa and Charles Bruce fought back legally but received only $14,000 in compensation. (Photo: Visitors to Bruce’s Beach in 1920, featured in the book “Living the California Dream,” by Alison Rose Jefferson.Credit...Miriam Matthews Photograph Collection – UCLA) Nearly a century after the government allegedly used trickery and eminent domain to seize their valuable property, the family of Charles and Willa Bruce are finally receiving justice. Officials in Los Angeles County reportedly have decided to return the family’s Manhattan Beach property that estimates show might be worth as much as $75 million. The beach resort once flourished while welcoming African American visitors in the 1920s – a time when Black people and other minorities weren’t allowed on White beaches. The property famously took on the name “Bruce’s Beach.”
Meanwhile, descendants of Charles and Willa Bruce had fought for years to have the land returned to the family. “It was a very important place because there was no other place along the coast of California where African Americans could actually go and enjoy the water,” Chief Duane Yellow Feather Shepard, the Bruce family historian and spokesperson said in a local interview. Regularly facing threats and intimidation tactics from the Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacists, the Bruce family maintained their property and kept the resort open.
But in 1924, the city council cited eminent domain as a reason to take the land, reportedly under the guise of building a park. “However, the land remained untouched for years,” the Insider reported. According to media reports, Willa and Charles Bruce fought back legally but received only $14,000 in compensation. Now, city officials have placed the value of the property at $75 million. “When I first realized that the county-owned the property that was once Willa and Charles Bruce’s Beach Lodge, I knew that returning it to the Bruce family was the right thing
to do,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn told CBS Los Angeles in a statement. “But this is the first time a government has done anything like this, and there were a lot of questions about how it would work.” For the family and Shepard, there remains more work. “Our next step will be, once we get that land restored to us, is to go after them for the restitution, for the loss of revenue for 96 years of our family from the business, the loss of generational wealth, and the punitive damages for their collusion with the Ku Klux Klan in disenfranchising our family,” Shepard remarked.
The Lookout: As the Pandemic Drags on, Cal Lawmakers Push Bills to Keep Public Meetings Virtual Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media Watching your tax dollars, elected officials and legislation that affects you
The threat of the COVID-19 Delta variant has become more apparent. And what was once the looming possibility of reinstating pandemic public safety guidelines is becoming reality. As this is happening, California lawmakers are pushing
a number of bills to expand the use of various telecommunication options for public meetings. On July 2, Gov. Newsom announced the extension of Executive Order No. N-29-20, through September 30. The goal of the order, which he
issued last year, was to make sure Californians continued to have uninterrupted access to government meetings as the global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the state’s day-to-day operations. It was set to expire June 15. Executive Order No. N-29-20 relaxed provisions in California’s Bagley-Keene and Ralph Brown acts, allowing state, county and city government institutions to take their public meetings online. “A local legislative body or state body is authorized to hold public meetings via teleconferencing and to make public meetings accessible telephonically or otherwise electronically to all members of the public seeking to observe and to address the
local legislative body or state body,” Newsom’s order read. California’s Brown Act of 1953 ensures in-person public participation in county and local government meetings. The BagleyKeene Act guarantees the same for meetings held by state boards, state commissions, and state agencies. Citing inadequate staff or equipment, some California governments -- Lemon Grove, San Diego County and the Carlsbad City Council – have already reduced or removed the option to attend public meetings over Zoom or by phone after returning to in-person meetings earlier this summer. But activists insist the onus is on continued in next 2 columns
The Lookout: As the Pandemic Drags on, Cal Lawmakers Push Bills to Keep Public Meetings Virtual...continued government to make it easier for people to participate in the policy discussions that impact their lives. Last week, the San Diego Democratic Party endorsed a policy initiative called “Boost Democracy” that is the brainchild of the Rev. Shane Harris, a local activist and founder of the People’s Alliance for Justice. It proposes that four of the county’s largest agencies – the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), San Diego County Board of Supervisors, San Diego County Office of Education, and San Diego City Council – adopt a text message notification system to public meetings that alerts the public when their agenda item is up for discussion. “The party backs my proposal because they know that its right and it will make lives easier for everyday people,” Harris said. So far, only SDUSD has endorsed the Harris’s idea. The bills, the California lawmakers are moving through the legislature, are Assembly Bills 703, 361 and 339. Assembly Bill (AB) 703, introduced by Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) would do away with many of the Brown Act restrictions on teleconferencing from various locations, allowing for broader virtual access. "This bill would remove the notice requirements particular to teleconferencing and would revise the requirements of the act to allow for teleconferencing subject to existing provisions regarding the posting of notice of an agenda, provided that the public is allowed to observe the meeting and address the legislative body directly both in person and remotely via a call-in option or internetbased
service option, and that a quorum of members participate in person from a singular physical location clearly identified on the agenda that is open to the public and situated within the jurisdiction," the bill's text reads. AB 703 would remove the cu r rent Brow n Act requirements that each virtual or telephone location be identified and made public. The bill also includes a requirement to streamline the process of reviewing and resolving Americans with Disabilities Act requests for virtual meetings. AB 703 has now been referred to the Assembly Committee on Local Government and is awaiting further action. AB 361, introduced by Assembly member Rober t Rivas (D-Hollister) would allow local agencies to hold remote meetings during a declared state of emergency. "This bill, until January 1, 2024, would authorize a local agency to use teleconferencing without complying with the teleconferencing requirements imposed by the Ralph M. Brown Act when a legislative body of a local agency holds a meeting during a declared state of emergency," the billntest reads. AB 361 passed in the Assembly Committee on Local Government and is currently being reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Finally, AB 339 -- introduced by Assemblymembers Rivas, Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova) and Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) -- would require county supervisors and city councils to allow the public to have access to meetings through continued on page 3
MISSION STATEMENT Clifton Harris /Editor in Chief Investigative Reporter sbamericannews@gmail.com Mary Martin-Harris / Editor Legal /Display Advertising (909) 889-7677 Clifton B. Harris / Audio Engineering Editor Digital Online Banner Advertising (909) 889-7677 The San Bernardino American News was established May 6, 1969. A legally adjudicated newspaper of general circulation on September 30, 1971, case number 15313 by the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. The San Bernardino AMERICAN News subscription rate is $59.00 per year. The San Bernardino AMERICAN News is committed to serving its readers by presenting news unbiased and objective, trusting in the mature judgment of the readers and, in so doing, strive to achieve a united community. News releases appearing in the San Bernardino AMERICAN News do not necessarily express the policy nor the opinion of the publishers. The San Bernardino AMERICAN News reserves the right to edit or rewrite all news releases.