A step forward in citywide equity was made this past week, as a permanent reminder of past pain and work to be done is now outside of Santa Monica City Hall.
Now just steps from the front doors lies a plaque inscribed with the city’s statement of apology to Santa Monica’s Black residents and their descendants, placed on the two-year anniversary of the statement’s adoption. In November 2022, City Council adopted the statement and made Racial Justice, Equity & Social Diversity one of its strategic priorities.
At the plaque unveiling ceremony, members of the Committee for Racial Justice (CRJ) spoke of what the occasion means to them, with city officials lauding the group for its push to make the plaque happen.
“They are some of the people who really got the motor running on this particular commitment to our community, and it really means a lot to have community members who are willing to get together in their personal time and think about what the community needs, and really fight to advance this,” Santa Monica Equity and Inclusion Manager Lisa Parson said.
The CRJ was given recognition on the plaque, which reads out the 2022 apology statement acknowledging “over a century of racial injustice and discrimination against African Americans that have resulted in systemically racist policies.” The full apology, available on the city’s website, tracks injustice from de facto segregation of the city’s first African American settlement in the early 1900s to racial exclusion on city zoning laws.
To commemorate the plaque, CRJ member Angela Scott wrote a poem entitled “We Are Santa Monica Black Unapologetically” and was joined at the podium by fellow members Joanna Berlin and Robbie Jones.
“This plaque reflects that people acknowledge that there was harm done, and I think that’s a very good thing because everybody wants to sweep things under the rug when they can,” Berlin said. “We are living still in times where it is very difficult to be Black in this country … even in Santa Monica … we still have a lot of work to do.”
That difficulty reared its head again this month, as several students in Santa Monica reported receiving racist text messages invoking the ugly history of slavery.
“You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation … with your bags packed, our executive slaves will come pick you up in a black and white truck,” the anonymous text read in part.
Jones, speaking on behalf of CRJ and her “beloved” community, stated that the texts were “tragic” but that Santa Monica was “not going back” to bleak times.
“When I started this fight … I was sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Jones said. “Now, (I have) a little bit of hope as we move forward.”
Moving forward continues with the city’s Equity Plan, the culmination of the work done within the justice, equity and diversity strategic priority. The plan is anticipated to be presented to City Council in early 2025.
“As a city, we acknowledge that decades of racist and inequitable policies have caused pain and negative outcomes for our Black community and other people of color, and seek to continue to identify and overturn these policies and correct these past mistakes whenever we can,” Mayor Phil Brock added.
