Alameda County Office of Education to pay $100K restitution for ‘historical harm’

(KRON) — The Alameda County Board of Education (ACBOE) passed a resolution Tuesday to pay $100,000 in restitution to families and descendants of Russell City residents.

Russell City was created as an unincorporated community during the 1930s in the area that is now Hayward. The county demolished the community three decades later, ACBOE said.

Alameda County Office of Education was part of Alameda County government during the 1960s, when Russell City properties were seized and destroyed through eminent domain powers, educators said.

One trustee on the board, Aisha Knowles, is the daughter of a former Russell City resident. She helped produce a documentary, titled “The Apology,” about the community.

The restitution payment, according to ACBOE, is a step to acknowledge “historical harm” inflicted on Russell City residents in the 1960s. “Restitution funds will go toward impacted individuals, families, and their descendants, with a focus on educational uses,” ACBEO wrote.

ACOE serves as liaison between the California Department of Education and the county’s 18 public school districts that serve more than 211,000 students. County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro supported paying restitution.

Russell City was originally created in the 1930s because of housing practices that discriminated based on race. Neighborhood segregation was prevalent at the time.

The resolution writes, “the practice of redlining neighborhoods led to government
sanctioned segregation of and discrimination against African Americans, Mexican Americans,
Puerto Ricans, and other ethnic minority groups.”

Russell City residents were proud of their tight-knit community and sought to be annexed by Alameda County so funds could be used to improve water, roads, fire, and sewer systems. “Alameda County denied these requests and the resulting dilapidation was used to justify the end of Russell City,” ACOE wrote.

Russell Public School was closed and torn down. The county seized 200 acres and sold it to a developer for $2.4 million, the resolution states. The land was annexed by the City of Hayward in 1968.

Superintendent Castro said, “Both in the 1960s and in the present, housing inequality is tightly linked to educational inequality. ACOE is committed to serving Alameda County’s most vulnerable youth, which includes those impacted by historic underinvestment in their education. Reparations are about acknowledging that harm and investing in repair, ensuring that the descendants of Russell City families have what every family in Alameda County deserves, a high quality public education.”