The city is one step closer to bringing justice to the family of Silas White following a vote to offer mediation to the White family.
White was a prominent Black entrepreneur who owned businesses and property in and near Santa Monica in the 1950s. In the late 1950s, he set out to open a club welcoming to Black families in Santa Monica, and he called it the Ebony Beach Club. The property rested on 6% of the land now leased by, but not including the structure of, the Viceroy Hotel.
His dream was never realized, however, as the city seized the property in a racially motivated eminent domain action.
Following the well-publicized return of the Bruce’s Beach property in Manhattan Beach to the Bruce family, the descendants of Silas White grew more motivated to seek restorative justice for their loss of the Ebony Beach Club. They are now seeking either a return of the property or financial compensation for their loss.
On March 19 of last year, the council requested that staff research the history surrounding the matter and the claims brought forward regarding the property.
The staff discovered information not only on this matter, but also found a pattern in the use of eminent domain that disproportionately targeted Black and Brown families, businesses, and neighborhoods dating back to the 1920s. According to a staff report, the city regularly used eminent domain “under the guise of urban renewal or public benefit.”
The staff report summarizes what is at issue now, saying, “The question before Council is not only whether harm occurred, but how we choose to respond given what we now know.”
There are, however, complicating matters that may cloud how best to provide economic restitution to the White family descendants. Silas White and his partners were in a lease-to-own arrangement with the property and did not hold the title outright. In addition, the nonprofit organization controlled by Mr. White, which the investors transferred their interests into, was inactivated in 1972.
The staff’s report highlights these points as it questions how to measure these losses in hindsight and assess how the Black community in Santa Monica was impacted by the loss of the only Black-owned beach club in the country. Ultimately, city staff recommended that the city offer the White family the chance to enter into mediation, with a cost to the city not exceeding $15,000 from the General Fund.
Milana Davis, a White family cousin, asked the council to support the move to mediation. She said she hopes “Santa Monica will serve as one of many beacons of light and integrity cast across our nation.” She added that in 1958, the city fought Silas White’s effort to be that beacon and create a more inclusive Santa Monica.
Kavon Ward, who founded Justice for Bruce’s Beach and Where is My Land, was also on hand to remind the council that this effort has thus far taken four and a half years. She then said, “But it took less than four and a half years for the city of Santa Monica to decide that they wanted to strip a man of his land, of his dignity, and of his plan to create space and joy for Black people in his community.” She added, “Land was taken legally. And now it’s time for you to provide repair morally.”
“This is long overdue,” said Mayor Pro Tem Caroline Torosis. She thanked Where is My Land and the White family for coming to the table, and apologized for how long the process has taken.
Councilmember Barry Snell, the council’s only Black member, said that the kinds of injustices represented with the Ebony Beach Club case were known and taught about throughout the Black community for a long time.
“I just feel proud that Santa Monica is going to take progressive steps to remedy this issue for the White family, and hopefully give notice to the rest of the country that these kinds of actions that happened in the past should not be forgotten, should not be taken lightly, and there is a monetary value that is very significant that we need to look forward to.”
Councilmember Ellis Raskin spoke to the importance of the mediation moving forward expeditiously and inquired as to whether the council could put a timeline or benchmarks on the process.
City Attorney Doug Sloan said the city will move forward as quickly as it can, but recognized that naming a particular mediator can sometimes be a months-long process.
Torosis asked Sloan if he would schedule the mediation within two weeks, which he said he was willing to do, reminding the council that the White family gets a mediator of their choosing. “We will contact the family’s lawyer tomorrow,” Sloan said.
The council unanimously passed the item to offer mediation to the White family with several “enthusiastic” yeses, 7-0.
