Bruce’s Beach can return to descendants of Black family in landmark move signed by Newsom
From left, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, Sen. Steven Bradford, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and Anthony Bruce, great-great grandson of Charles and Willa Bruce, during Newsom’s signing of SB 796, authorizing the return of ocean-front land to the Bruce family.
In a history-making move celebrated by reparations advocates and social justice leaders across California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has authorized the return of property known as Bruce’s Beach to the descendants of a Black couple that had been run out of Manhattan Beach almost a century ago.
Senate Bill 796, signed into law Thursday by Newsom before an excited crowd that had gathered on the property, confirms that the city’s taking of this shorefront land — on which the Bruces ran a thriving resort for Black beachgoers — was racially motivated and done under false and unlawful pretenses.
“The land in the City of Manhattan Beach, which was wrongfully taken from Willa and Charles Bruce, should be returned to their living descendants,” the legislation declares, “and it is in the public interest of the State of California, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Manhattan Beach, and the People of the State of California to do so.”
The bill had passed unanimously this month in the state Legislature and includes an urgency clause that allows Los Angeles County, which currently owns the property, to immediately begin the process of transferring the land.
State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), who authored the bill, said this is a first step toward correcting the many injustices that continue to haunt the state’s — and nation’s — history.
“This bill sets the tone for the future of reparations in California,” said Bradford, who is a member of California’s recently formed reparations task force. “If you can inherit generational wealth, you can inherit generational debt. The city of Manhattan Beach owes a debt to the Bruce family. The state of California owes a debt to the Bruce family, and the county of Los Angeles owes a debt to the Bruce family — and our governor today is here to fix his signature to this bill to pay that debt to the Bruce family.”
The story of Bruce’s Beach attracted increasing attention this last year — and stirred quite a bit of controversy in the very white city of Manhattan Beach. (Black residents to this day make up less than 1% of the population.) Some longtime community leaders have pushed back on the notion that people today should be on the hook for injustices committed 100 years ago, while others have called for restitution.
Anthony Bruce, the great-great grandson of Charles and Willa Bruce, removes his mask before speaking at a press conference where California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 796, authorizing the return of ocean-front land to the Bruce family in Manhattan Beach.
Having county and state officials — and now the governor — take action marks a watershed moment for the state and nation. Many say Bruce’s Beach could forge a path for those seeking ways to reckon with our country’s history of violently dispossessing Indigenous people and blocking Black people, Japanese Americans, Latinos and many others from building generational wealth.
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Bruce’s Beach can return to descendants of Black family in landmark move signed by Newsom
A year or two ago that nigga was worse. I had to stop listening for a bit that nigga was so rude to callers. I even got my feelings hurt a couple times.
