The Santa Monica Metropolis Council agreed earlier this week to pay a settlement to the household of a Black entrepreneur whose land the town acknowledged was unfairly taken via eminent area throughout the Nineteen Fifties.
Greater than 60 years later, the fee is a component of a bigger reparations effort by the town of Santa Monica.
On Tuesday, the Metropolis Council unanimously authorized in closed session a $350,000 settlement for the household of Silas White, a Black businessman who leased a constructing on Ocean Avenue with the intention of shopping for it to open an completely Black resort and seaside membership. As a substitute, the town took the property beneath the guise of constructing an auditorium close by.
The mediation that led to settling a declare filed by White’s household was finalized in October. Mayor Professional Tempore Caroline Torosis, who labored intently on the case, stated the town is working to arrange different significant reparations for Black residents harmed by its racist previous.
“I hate to say this however the metropolis of Santa Monica took a collection of actions to deprive Black People of the chance of being in Santa Monica. Our historical past books present that systemic racism, oppression and discrimination occurred,” Torosis stated. “We as a council decided, that regardless of the very fact we’re going through a really difficult monetary time, we need to dedicate funding as a result of [a formal apology to the Black community] is nice, however until it comes with cash and significant restore, it’s simply an empty phrase.”
The choice to settle with the White household comes greater than a yr after his household first dropped at gentle how the town crushed Silas’ dream of opening Ebony Seaside Membership at 1811 Ocean Ave. throughout the segregated Nineteen Fifties.
Initially named the Elks Clubhouse, the property was empty 13 years previous to White’s plan for a grand opening, in response to his daughter, Constance “Connie” White. Registered as a nonprofit company, the Ebony Seaside Membership was scheduled to open on Oct. 15, 1958, as marketed on indicators posted exterior the constructing.
The town, nonetheless, intervened, saying the land was wanted as a part of a plan to create the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium across the block, in response to court docket information.
The membership was subjected to a grievance for condemnation, also referred to as eminent area, which permits the town to take non-public property for public use, in response to a report by The Instances in 1958. The parcels surrounding the membership have been empty, the report states.
On the time, White stated the town was discriminating in opposition to his enterprise as a result of “the group was primarily Negro.”
White, who didn’t personal the land, had simply begun making funds on the $200,000 price ticket on the time. The settlement he had with the property proprietor, Bennett Dorsey, was to pay $2,700 monthly for 15 years, with a second 15-year extension choice, in response to the town.
White paid one installment of $2,700 earlier than the land was seized.
The town’s grievance to grab the property on the time named Dorsey because the membership’s proprietor and the Dicksons, a household that loaned Dorsey cash to make enhancements to the property, in response to the town.
In 1959, an L.A. County Superior Courtroom decide awarded Dorsey $74,000 and the Dicksons $19,477, and stated that Ebony Seaside Membership, Inc., had no proper, title, curiosity or property within the property, per court docket information. White by no means obtained any cash for his curiosity within the constructing, his household claimed.
“I’m not doing this due to cash,” Constance White stated in a video posted to Instagram in 2024. “I’m doing this due to justice and for the way forward for all individuals. It’s not solely my case. As you analysis, there’s hundreds of those that have had this occur to them.”
Her father’s proposed membership would have been situated on what’s now Vicente Terrace, a public avenue subsequent to the upscale Viceroy Resort. In accordance with the town, about 5% of the resort’s land sits on property as soon as leased by White.
This isn’t the primary time the town of Santa Monica has launched a reparations-style program. In 2021, the town began Proper to Return, a pilot reasonably priced housing initiative for residents who have been forcibly eliminated because of the development of the I-10 freeway and the civic middle.
About 2,500 households have been displaced from the Pico neighborhood and the Belmar Triangle, a predominantly Black neighborhood, because of the development tasks, Natasha Visitor-Kingscote, administrator for the town of Santa Monica, informed the Santa Monica Day by day Press in 2022.
Nevertheless, the functions for reasonably priced housing have been capped at 100. And solely 11 households certified, in response to the Santa Monica Mirror. Torosis stated this program failed to offer appreciable reparations.
“We have been going to prioritize individuals who needed to get on our below-market reasonably priced housing waitlist if they may present that their descendants have been displaced from Santa Monica,” Torosis stated. “However we didn’t really feel that was sufficient as a result of that’s not giving anybody full monetary restore, and so this [settlement] is the following step as we see it.”
As a part of the settlement settlement, the town of Santa Monica plans to just accept functions for a reparations program for Black residents however just for individuals 90 years outdated and older. The claims can be known as “White Claims,” per court docket information. Particulars about this system are nonetheless being developed, Metropolis Supervisor Oliver Chi informed The Instances.
Chi referred to this initiative because the “restorative justice program,” which can be launched to Metropolis Council in January 2026. If this system is authorized, it will likely be funded by a one-time fee of $3.5 million from a current growth settlement the town made with the Rand Company, he stated.
“There may be going to be particulars on how that cash can be utilized to pursue a restorative justice program and so we’re pondering we have to create some kind of oversight fee, and an expert or mediator of kinds that may assist develop programmatic phrases and information the fee in growing these phrases,” Chi stated. “We’re working via particulars.”
Constance will have the ability to apply for this declare, per the settlement settlement. How the applying course of will work has but to be disclosed.
Torosis stated the town will rename a portion of Vicente Terrace to Silas White Road and set up an exhibit devoted to White inside the town’s Primary Library. White’s household will assist present supplies for the exhibit, per the settlement settlement. Silas White Day can be formally celebrated October 12.
Constance’s protection staff didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark as of Friday.
