Racism reparations haven’t disappeared, they’ve gone local

It feels long, long ago that America pledged to atone for the evils of slavery and racism and laid the groundwork for payments to the descendants of Black slaves. With the second coming of President Trump and his followers, the reparation movement has hit a brick wall nationally. Polls showed that, even in liberal California, such payments didn’t muster majority support.

But the push for restorative justice payments has not died. It remains alive in some cities, including, most recently, Santa Monica, where the City Council agreed late last month to pay $350,000 to the family of a Black entrepreneur denied the opportunity to pursue his plan to open an exclusively Black hotel and beach club on Ocean Avenue near Pico Boulevard.

The Ebony Beach Club had been slated to open in 1958 in a building leased by Silas White, until the city seized the land, ostensibly to build the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Though White had made only one monthly payment on the property, he had an agreement that would have allowed him to eventually take control of the property, city officials now acknowledge.

White said in 1958, after the city used eminent domain to take possession of the land, that he had been discriminated against because his business organization was “primarily Negro.” (The Civic Auditorium eventually rose, one block away.) Only through the persistence of his daughter did the claim continue, as my colleague Jasmine Mendez reported.

Constance “Connie” White said last year that she pursued the dispute, not for the money, but “because of justice and for the future of all people.... As you research, there’s thousands and thousands of people that have had this happen to them.”

The City Council plans to hear a proposal in late January to create a restorative justice program to make other payments for the city’s past discrimination. Though Santa Monica’s government has been in financial distress, it is expected to set aside $3.5 million as “seed money” for other Black residents and business people harmed by past discrimination. The city expects to use money that it received from the Rand Corp. in exchange for the company being allowed to modify zoning on the land that it intends to sell.

Santa Monica’s action comes three years after Manhattan Beach acknowledged that prime oceanfront land had been stolen from a Black family in the early 1900s. With its ownership restored, Los Angeles County then paid nearly $20 million to the Bruce family and maintains the property as a lifeguard training facility.

Last year, the city of Palm Springs offered hundreds of survivors a settlement of $5.9 million because of a “slum clearance” policy of the 1950s and ‘60s that forced mostly Black and Latino residents to flee leased properties with little or no notice. A state report in 1968 called the expulsions “a city-engineered holocaust.”

This July, the city of Hayward announced establishment of a $900,000 “redress fund” to make amends to some of the 1,400 former residents forced out of the multiracial Russell City enclave. While acknowledging the payments did not reflect the full value of the land, the city said it would “further acknowledge the lasting harm” done by the displacement.

Caroline Torosis, Santa Monica’s mayor pro tem, said the city understood its path ran diametrically opposed to an American president who has vowed to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion programs and who bemoans racism against white people. Torosis said that past apologies “are empty words unless there is some action behind it,” adding: “We believe it’s the right thing to do to move forward with this program, because justice has been delayed too long for these families. And we’re not going to wait until we have a new president to do something about it.”

Today’s top stories

Two rounds of Santa Ana winds are forecast to hit Southern California this week.

(Ricardo De Aratanha/Los Angeles Times)

Santa Ana winds to hit SoCal

• Southern California is in for a windy week with the Santa Anas landing in northwestern L.A. County and southern Ventura County.
• The winds bring the potential for downed trees and isolated power outages across Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Why California’s Indian truck drivers are disappearing during the holiday rush

• Authorities canceled thousands of commercial driver’s licenses in California, affecting a large population of Indian truck drivers.
• Now, trucking companies across California are losing money with trucks sitting idly as they struggle to recruit drivers.
• Along with the license cancellations, Indian truckers are facing racism and racial profiling with reports of doors getting slammed in their faces and racial slurs being used at truck stops.

No more carpool lane for solo EV drivers

• Solo EV drivers using California carpool lanes will now face ticketing as the once-allowed perk disappears.
• The benefit technically ended a few months ago, but the 60-day grace period that the Department of Motor Vehicles offered ended Monday. Now, solo drivers face fines of up to $490.

California’s controversial hazardous waste plan

• A California environmental oversight board has approved a state plan with a 4-1 vote outlining strategies to safely reduce hazardous waste.
• However, environmental groups say several aspects of the plan could invite deregulation and doesn’t provide the state with a proper road map.

What else is going on

• Ten years ago, a husband and wife opened fire at a San Bernardino Christmas party, killing 14 in the mass shooting that helped Trump redefine America’s immigration debate.
• With new bids, Warner Bros. Discovery looks to narrow the auction field.
• In a bold move, UCLA to hire Bob Chesney as its next head football coach.
• Why fire agencies keep failing to put out blazes that later turn disastrous.
• California utilities are trying AI to combat costly wildfire liabilities.
• “Home Improvement’s” Zachery Ty Bryan has been arrested in his sixth arrest over five years.

Commentary and opinions

• “Nice” Americans are now all illegal to Team Trump, argues columnist Gustavo Arellano. Not even your passport or your birth certificate will save you.
• L.A. exploded into a world art capital — I was lucky to be here to witness it, writes former Times art critic Christopher Knight.
• A Republican California governor? It’s possible, but a long shot, argues Capitol Journal columnist George Skelton.
• Culture critic Mary McNamara explores how Hollywood helped build the air travel industry.
• California should clear a path for sweeping urban experiments such as California Forever, write guest contributors Chris Elmendorf and Ed Glaeser.

This morning’s must reads

Climate & Environment

How one Angeleno built a health-conscious oasis in South L.A.’s food desert

Olympia Auset’s Süprmarkt centers nutrition and altruism in a South L.A. food desert.

Dec. 2, 2025

Other must reads

• This mother and son are sowing purpose and hope, one wildflower at a time.
• San Francisco Opera has a hit with Huang Ruo’s spectacular “Monkey King.”
• At “Vanderpump Rules,” the fried goat cheese balls are the same but the cast is different.

For your downtime

The famous steak sandwich at Mario’s Butcher Shop in Newport Beach.

(Ron De Angelis/For The Times)

Going out

• Food: Elevate the sandwich-eating experience with one from Mario’s Butcher Shop in Orange County.
• Explore: Change things up and follow Eric Wareheim’s idea of the best Sunday in L.A.
• Movies: See for yourself if the predicted Oscar-contender “Hamnet” is worth the rave.

Staying in

• Music: Go beyond the visuals with these Oscar-contending composers as they break down their films’ scores.
• Television: Find humor in a different century in the six-part comedy “The Artist.”
• Recipe: Put leftovers to good use in this Thai-style turkey soup.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, Sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.

Question of the day: What do you wear when you fly?

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy recently urged travelers to dress nicely and mind their manners as part of a “civility campaign” but not everyone is convinced dressing nicely is necessary. What do you think?

Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally ... your photo of the day

Farmworkers, who had picked most of the watermelons in a field days earlier, returned to harvest the remaining fruit once it was ripe.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from staff photographer Robert Gauthier of undocumented farmworkers who work six-day workweeks during harvest season, picking mini watermelons and cantaloupes in summer temperatures that sometimes top 100 degrees.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Andrew Campa, weekend reporter
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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