The sale of the Bruce Beach property in Los Angeles has sparked much debate on social media.
To refresh your memory, the Bruce Beach property was rightfully returned to the descendants of the Bruces, a Black couple who purchased the land in 1912. Bruce Beach was birthed from the sale as a getaway for Black locals. It was the first oceanfront property in the neighborhood owned and operated by African-Americans. The Manhattan Beach City Council would eventually take the property through aggressive measures and rename it Manhattan Beach. Loved ones and activists petitioned for the land to be returned to the family members. After years of campaigning, the property was successfully transferred back to the Bruce’s legal heirs in June 2022. Los Angeles County then made an agreement to lease the property from the family for over $400,000 a year.
Now, the heirs have decided to sell the land to L.A. for $20 million. Janice Hahn, chair of the county Board of Supervisors who helped broker the return of the land, says the family is doing what is best for them.
“This is what reparations look like, and it is a model that I hope governments across the country will follow,” she wrote in a statement following the sale.
In true social media fashion, many had several opinions about the deal. Some expressed support for the decision, while others slammed the family for garnering national support for the property’s return only to sell it.
Several people have pointed out that since the land was not currently zoned to build any homes or hotels on, the family would not be able to expand it in any way. Many of them also live out of state. These could be likely reasons for the sale.
What are your thoughts? Should the Bruce descendants have kept the land, or did they make the right choice?
It was a huge mistake by Hahn to give away public property and undoing what was a legal action to acquire the property. Hahn refuses to mention there were over 30 properties acquired at the time, belonging to both white and black people, and according to public records other black families used Eminent Domain payoff to purchase other property in Manhattan Beach. So the Bruce Family heirs (?) were able to tweek $20 million of tax dollars in a very short time. Great job, Janice. Maybe time to retire?