Difficult days.
Nearly two months ago, the coastal enclave of Manhattan Beach, California was thrust into the spotlight when two young black surfers were called profoundly disturbing epithets in the water. The incident went viral and Brick and Gage, as they are called, used the moment for good, becoming activists in the wake of, but still, it highlighted the deep vein of racism that runs through the town.
Most recently, Manhattan Beach has been most known as the backdrop of World Surf League CEO Erik Logan’s many SUP adventures, regularly geotagging it on Instagram, but before that it was virulently, meanly, anti-black. A black family’s oceanfront resort, Bruce’s Beach, was once seized by the city using crafty eminent domain laws and black beachgoers were regularly run out of town.
But how to atone?
A task force was formed earlier in the year, according to a thorough new Los Angeles Times piece on the troubles, and an apology drafted but the town’s residents have pushed back on the notion they should be held accountable for what previous generations did. Manhattan Beach mayor Suzanne Hadley going so far as declaring, “We do not want to ignore the past, but we do not want it embroidered in a scarlet R upon our chest.”
The callous response, and general lack of action, has frustrated some at the county level. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said, “I’m going to do whatever I can to right this wrong. There’s no doubt that this was such an injustice (Bruce’s Beach seizure) that was inflicted – not just on Charles and Willa Bruce, but generations of their descendants who almost certainly would be millionaires had they been allowed to keep that beachfront property.”
The property now holds a county lifeguard center and park and the county is trying to figure out how to right the wrong and compensate the remaining members of the Bruce family by either transferring the land back, paying fair-market rent or some other monetary payment.
Still, Manhattan Beach leaders are refusing to apologize with Mayor Hadley recently telling a virtual meeting of locals, “I don’t want an apology and I don’t think you do either.”
A two-page advertisement in the local newspaper paid for by “concerned residents of MB” called on their neighbors to “unite against FALSE accusations of racism.”
How will the stalemate end? Difficult to speculate but if I had to, I’d guess much bureaucratic foot dragging and mealy-mouthed emptiness.
A specialty of the area.
Only non surfers or non locals that surf there call it Bruce’s Beach. Anyone that’s surfed this place for the last 25 plus years knows it’s called terayki reef because of the large number of Asians that are always surfing there. I wish there was a reef there because it’s usually marginal beach break that occasionally gets good
not exactly helping dispel the accusations of racism
I didn’t come up with that name, my Asian friends who all surf did it themselves. So can you be racist against your own people?
Bruce’s is between 26th and 27th street in Manhattan, just a little north of Marine st., where the small parking lot is.
Mountains still look too big, and not a ripple in the water.
It’s probably no big thing, but that does not look like it was taken from 26th street, (Bruce’s).
Mr Neilson, it seems you’re familiar with the South Bay, do the mountains in the above picture background, look
like the Santa Monica mountains?
It must have been one ‘flat day’, not even a ripple.
Something right behind the guy’s shoulder on the left also.
The mountains look too big in the background, I think that picture was taken maybe somewhere around Santa Monica, closer to the mountains.
The photo is Lake Elsinore in Riverside.
Maybe too many South Bay close outs, getting bounced off the bottom, have left you confused.
I think you’re on the wrong web-post page.
I personally find surfers to be some of the most ‘Non’-racist people I know, traveling easily in and out of third world countries and adopting, accepting and blending in with local cultures.
That being said, localism, is totally different than racism and has nothing to do with skin color.
And as far as Bruce’s Beach, I don’t see any involvement by local surfers, basically the bureaucrats in the city council.
Even Duke Kahanamoku was somewhat dark skinned and surfers welcomed him with open arms.
On their Instagram post after the incicdent, Brick kinda rambled on
with a bunch of swear words, explaining his side and finally ending with a plug for his website, while Gage rolled and smoked a fat doobie on camera.
Not exactly poster kids for a movement.
Localism isn’t inherently racist, but they’re kinda related because black people haven’t had the opportunity to become locals that white people have.
Also I suspect that a lot of surf etiquette is never really explained explicitly, but is just kinda picked up when a new surfer talks to someone with more experience about surfing. This is a problem with VALs generally, but the fact is that a new black surfer has fewer people in his community/daily life that he can use to learn about surfing. One example of this is the value of a good wave at the best spot in the area. Seeing and hearing a good surfer talk about getting a good wave at a place like Lowers or Snapper really drives the point home that those waves are incredibly valuable and rare. They see how excited they get when talk about getting a good one, and they see how upset they get when they or someone else fucks it up. This isn’t a pure race issue that only effects black surfers, but it just makes it a little bit more difficult for a black surfer to get integrated into a lineup’s community because they’re less likely to have someone who can explain how they work.
Umm, I’ll have to ponder that, but I don’t think so.
Beginners today have a huge advantage. They are entering in the “ride anything” environment and they have the internet to learn from…if their ego will allow it;
https://www.instagram.com/t…
The goal isn’t to be non-racist but to be anti-racist. When those two black surfers were yelled at by the pier, allegedly not one person told the racist man to stop. There are always going to be fringe racists out there, but what’s more damning is that of the dozen+ surfers nearby in the water, no one spoke up to defend the black surfers.
Also, it’s worth acknowledging that in addition to “adopting, accepting, and blending in with the local cultures,” there has been a healthy amount of colonizing over the past 120 years by white surfers. Surfing wasn’t invented by white people, after all; Duke didn’t need to be “welcomed by surfers”, he was surfing.
Never in the history of the US have there been black folks in power that have passed laws to prevent white people from owning coastal land, but the reverse was true many times over. Localism is a function of the racist laws and actions that have kept black folks away from the beach for the last century.
honestly: that poor dude. imagine the white response to him were he “non-exceptional.” places like BRUCE’S BEACH love to tout their respective non-racism with tropes like that.
It’s fucking BRUCE’S BEACH. Why anyone surf-affiliated would refer to the joint from henceforth onward after a bagel shop chain is beyond me. Also, fuck E-Lo. Can we crowdfund me taking a drive south, having a paddle out at El Porto, and just decking him on the chin and telling him to “Split kook! Go back to Oklahoma!”? For simple assault and battery, I think LA County bail is set at $10,000. That could be our crowdfund goal. I don’t wanna get fabulously wealthy out of it. I just wanna get freed on my own recognizance (with the $10K helping to grease the wheels of justice) and a promise to appear in court.
Also: BRUCE’S BEACH. Not Manhattan Bagel Beach. Be the change we want to see. And fuck E Lo
Elo is relatively harmless. Racists denying the injustices of the past are not.