California bill seeks to provide reparations for families displaced from land where Dodgers Stadium was built

A California state lawmaker wants to provide reparations for displaced families in Los Angeles who lived in the area where the Dodgers Stadium currently stands.

In a press release, Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, D., announced she had introduced a bill, AB 1950, that “aims to address the historical injustice faced by those living in the Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles, a predominately Latino community.”

Chavez Ravine was established in the early 1900s and named after Julian Chavez, a former rancher, assistant mayor, city council member, and L.A. County’s first supervisor in the mid-1800s. Spanning over 300 acres, the land area was “home to generations of predominantly Mexican Americans” in the 1950s. Chinese and Italian residents occupied the area as well.

Carrillo explained in the press release that Los Angeles officials acquired the land through eminent domain to build public housing on Chavez Ravine in the 1950s, which displaced thousands. However, city officials later abandoned the project and sold the land to a private developer who built Dodgers Stadium there, which opened in 1962.

“Families were promised a return to better housing, but instead, they were left destitute,” Carrillo said.

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Downtown Los Angeles skyline in the background shown from the Broadway and Bishops Rd. where residents are opposed to the proposed Dodger Stadium gondola that will run past their homes along Bishops Rd. in the Solono Canyon neighborhood on Thursday, March 17, 2022 in Los Angeles, CA. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The bill was pushed due to ongoing efforts by the Buried Under the Blue organization, a group that advocates for the visibility of Chavez Ravine’s history and calls for justice for the people and Indigenous communities “forgotten and wrongly evicted from their homes and land.”

The bill would result in historical accountability, reparative measures, and a permanent memorial, according to the press release.

The reparations measure involves proposing “various forms of compensation, including offering City-owned real estate comparable to the original Chavez Ravine landowners or providing fair market value compensation adjusted for inflation.”

“It also creates pathways for displaced non-landowning residents to receive relocation assistance, healthcare access, employment support, educational opportunities, and other forms of compensation deemed appropriate by a newly established Task Force,” the press release states. 

“This is the first step of bringing justice to the people of Palo Verde, La Loma and Bishop, wrongfully known as Chavez Ravine,” Melissa Arechiga, the co-founder of the organization, said at a news conference accompanied by Carillo.

Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo’s bill seeks to mandate a historical report, compensation measures, and a memorial to honor displaced residents. (Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo)

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The press release states the bill seeks to “acknowledge and rectify the displacement of these communities in the 1950s, offering a path toward historical accountability, reparative measures, and a permanent memorial honoring their legacy.”

“For generations, Chavez Ravine stood as a beacon of hope and resilience, embodying the dreams and aspirations of families who built their lives within its embrace. With this legislation, we are addressing the past, giving voice to this injustice, acknowledging the pain of those displaced, offering reparative measures, and ensuring that we honor and remember the legacy of the Chavez Ravine community,” Carrillo said.

Carrillo’s bill is the latest example of reparations being introduced in state legislatures. Municipalities and states across the country have also recently launched exploratory efforts on the matter. Reparations are even being considered on the federal level.

Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo conducts news conference on new bill that seeks “justice” for displaced residents by mandating a historical report, compensation measures, and a memorial to honor the impacted residents.

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Reparations have also been proposed or expected to be implemented in other cities in California; Fulton County, Georgia; Shelby County, Tennessee; Boston; Detroit; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Durham, North Carolina.