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28 RESOLUTION NO. 2021-R O 6 6
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA, ACKNOWLEDGING THE
RACIAL HISTORY OF CULVER CITY.
WHEREAS, the City of Culver City ("City") acknowledges that discrimination, segregation, and police abuse have existed in the United States and within Culver City for many years, which is abhorrent and unacceptable; and,
WHEREAS, although no official ordinance or law of the City has been found imposing sundown restrictions, oral and written history, public accounts, and newspaper articles plainly demonstrate Culver City's history as a "sundown town" for a significant portion of the 20th century; and,
WHEREAS, such sundown towns throughout the state of California, along with towns and cities in many other states, excluded-often by social and cultural means, including police profiling-members of non-white racial and ethnic groups, particularly African Americans, from living in said jurisdictions or even being inside the city limits after sundown; and,
WHEREAS, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations established themselves and held meetings in Culver City; and WHEREAS, the City recognizes that racially restrictive covenants and deed restrictions were adopted and enforced on private property that prohibited African Americans, other people of color and those of non-Christian religious faiths from housing and land ownership within Culver City; and
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WHEREAS, the City shall advocate for and support measures to remove such deed and covenant restrictions; and
WHEREAS, the City acknowledges it occupies land appropriated from its original Gabrielino-Tongva inhabitants who were massacred by waves of Spanish, Mexican and Euro-American invaders, and then not allowed to live in the City; and WHEREAS, the City acknowledges the fundamental injustice, inhumanity, and unkindness of these practices; and,
WHEREAS, the City apologizes to the people of all races, creeds and colors who have suffered under discriminatory and hannful policies and practices for the wrongs committed against them and their forebears; and,
WHEREAS, the City expresses its commitment to rectifying the consequences of these egregious policies and practices and to stop the occurrence of any similar practices now and in the future; and,
WHEREAS, the City advocates for a Truth and Reconciliation Process to be established or assigned to an existing City Commission, Board or Committee to bring awareness to the City's history of de facto and de jure racist policies in its governmental bodies, policing, and educational systems; and,
WHEREAS, the City advocates for the complete history of Culver City and the United States white supremacist origins and past be taught in Culver City schools, and included as part of all programs about and descriptions of the City's history; and, WHEREAS, the City commits to developing and enforcing policies and practices to make amends for the past, including creating a system of reparations designed to narrow the racial and income housing gap in the City through:
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28 1. Creating a fund which sets aside a specific percentage of tax revenue received from cannabis businesses operating in the City to be used to correct racial disparities in the unequal enforcement of marijuana laws; and
2. Providing financial assistance for housing to low-income residents and prospective residents, including people of color, the unhoused, people employed in Culver City and within the Culver City Unified School District, veterans, seniors, and the disabled; and
3. Developing affordable housing sufficient for all those among the City's workforce, including the employees of the Culver City Unified School District, who wish to live in Culver City; and
4. Enlisting the help of local historians and other volunteers to find people of color and those of non-Christian religious faiths, or their descendants, who have been prevented from either buying or renting, or were forced out of housing, in Culver City since its founding, with the intent of identifying programs that offer direct housing assistance, equitable access to City employment, or other reparations.
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Culver City, DOES RE SOL VE as follows:
(A) The City acknowledges, apologizes for, and condemns all racially motivated, discriminatory, or exclusionary aspects of the City's history, and deeply regrets the pain, hurt, and suffering such policies have caused;
(B) City Council and staff will continue to engage in individual and collective work to understand bias;
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ATTEST:
(C) The City will continue to examine the historical role that racism has played in Culver City by committing resources to draft a Racial Equity Action Plan and will review and revise its policies, procedures, ordinances, values, goals, and missions through an anti-racism lens to foster an unbiased and inclusive environment that is free of discrimination and harassment toward any person or group; (D) The City will continue to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in its access to City services, programs, and facilities, and will stand up to bigotry, hatred, intolerance, racism, and violence; and (E) The City unequivocally rejects racism in all its forms and is committed to working towards building an antiracist Culver City where people of all races and cultural backgrounds are welcome to live and prosper.
APPROVED and ADOPTED this 17th day of June 2021.
City of Culver City, California
City Attorney
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STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
CITY OF CULVER CITY
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Certification of Resolution No. 2021-R o 6 6
I, Jeremy Green, City Clerk of the City of Culver City, do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was duly passed, approved, and adopted at a regular meeting of the City Council, which was held on the 17 day of June 2021, at the Mike Balkman Council Chambers by the following vote:
AYES: McMorrin, Lee, Fisch
NOES: Eriksson, Vera
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
Certified on this 17" day of June 2021, at the City of Culver City.
Jere y Gree 'IC, City Clerk
Ex-Officio Cl of the City Council
City'of Culver City, State of California