TMZ.com
L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn says the rest of the country needs to get on board with righting obvious wrongs … just as L.A. is by returning a Black family’s beachfront property, which was stolen from them almost 100 years ago.
Hahn joined “TMZ Live” Friday and explained why she led the effort to return the land — known as Bruce’s Beach in the city of Manhattan Beach — to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce. The couple owned and operated a beach resort there in the 1920s.
A little history lesson first … Willa and Charles bought the land in 1912 and created a beach resort catering to Black residents. Fast-forward to 1924, when the city used eminent domain to seize the property and force the resort out of business by 1929.
The land sat dormant for decades … until a park was finally built in 1960 and eventually renamed Bruce’s Beach. The Bruce family sued claiming they were victims of a racially motivated removal campaign.
Fast-forward to now and Hahn says the right thing to do was return the land to its rightful owners. It’s interesting … Hahn says she learned to swim in the ocean a couple of blocks from where Bruce’s Beach is located and never knew about this injustice.
She believes it’s the first time in our nation a government has given land back to an African-American family to make amends for past discriminatory policies.
It’s a fascinating story, and you can see Hahn’s full interview Friday on “TMZ Live” (check local listings) — but she firmly believes it’s time for America to wake up and make amends.