"They wanted Palm Springs to be a homogeneous white community and having black people, having Latinos in the heart of the city, what was incongruent, discordant from their plan."Attorney Areva Martin
In the 1960s, the Palm Springs city government demolished homes in a predominantly Black and Latino area called Section 14. Oakland's Reverend Theo Reagans was a child when his family fled.
Reverend Theo is a minister at Allen Temple Baptist Church. Section 14 was a one-square mile community that sat on the edge of downtown that faced forced removal in the 60s. City officials apologized in 2021 for the forced removal. Now, about 500 survivors and descendants of the tragedy are now filing an estimated $2 billion lawsuit for reparations.
I’m this interview, we hear from civil rights attorney Areva Martin and Reverend Theo Reagans along with the other plaintiffs.
This story aired in the October 18, 2023 episode of Crosscurrents.
