Alameda County apologizes for role in destruction of Russell City

HAYWARD, Calif. - Seized and destroyed last century thanks in part to actions by former members of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the current supervisors apologized Tuesday to previous residents and descendants of Russell City, a community established in 1853 near the Hayward shoreline.

Board of Supervisors president Nate Miley brought the apology forward in a resolution along with new Supervisor Elisa Marquez, who replaced the late Richard Valle. The board passed the resolution unanimously.

Supervisors in 1950 told residents of Russell City, who for decades pleaded for public services, that the county had no obligation to provide sanitation and water, forcing families and individuals to leave.

"We forced you out," said Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson to former residents and descendants of Russell City present at the meeting Tuesday.

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With "direct intent," Russell City residents were forced out, Carson said.

Residents of Russell City had a sense of community, pride, and among other things, joy, Marquez said.

"I'm sorry that was taken away from you," she said.

Also destroyed was a vibrant music scene that included the likes of Ray Charles, blues pioneer T-Bone Walker and Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, also a blues legend who recorded "Hound Dog," before Elvis Presley sang his version.

Supervisors made the apology Tuesday while some former residents are still alive. At least two former residents and one descendant were at the meeting.

Descendant and Fremont Fire Department spokesperson Aisha Knowles was at the meeting and spoke about "The Apology," a movie about Russell City.

Knowles helped produce the movie, which began with an interview of her father. Creators are submitting the movie to film festivals before it debuts more broadly to the public next year.

Russell City was erased by eminent domain to make way for an industrial development, for which supervisors provided public services such as water and sanitation.

County officials paid $2.85 million "to clear Russell City of seven churches, thirteen businesses, and 205 family and 33 individual homes," Tuesday's resolution said.

Ethnic minorities such as Black, Hispanic and Puerto Rican people were paid around $2,000 for their property, which was said to be fair market value, according to the resolution.

But one white property owner was paid over half a million dollars for their property in Russell City, according to a 1964 newspaper article.

Russell City "is just an example of why some people don't trust government," Supervisor David Haubert said.

Carson cited other forms of government oppression of Black people, such as New York's use of eminent domain to remove Black people from Seneca Village to make way for Central Park.

Carson added that the framers of the United States Constitution were slave owners who intended to keep Black people from having land.

Following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, Alameda County supervisors adopted a resolution seeking community reparations for Black people.

Since then, county supervisors have made Juneteenth a paid county holiday and established an ad hoc committee and a reparations commission to draft a plan to address inequities Black people face in Alameda County.