Dearing’s Lawsuit Against Red Summer Era Land Seizure Is the Reparation Blueprint

The Dearings were recorded as lawful homeowners who were targeted by racist neighbors and city officials, then forced out through intimidation and a fraudulent eminent domain action by the city in 1924.

Read – https://localnewsmatters.org/2026/02/04/descendants-of-piedmonts-first-black-family-sue-city-over-racially-motivated-land-seizure/

The Dearing lawsuit (Jiltonilro v. City of Piedmont) was filed in Alameda County Superior Court as a state civil case under California law.

Read – https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/jiltonilro-v-city-of-piedmont/

The complaint explicitly situates the Dearing case within a wider California pattern of racially motivated land takings and points to examples where other cities such as Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, and Palm Springs, apologizing with even compensation for similar wrongdoing.

Prior lawsuit attempts were most notably filed by Japanese Americans in Oregon under the Alien Land Law of 1923, created a year before The Dearings attacks, and exasperated during World War II. During that time, Japanese Americans in Oregon were forcibly removed and incarcerated; by war’s end they held title to only about 25% of the land they had owned before removal. This resulted in a 20+ year fight that eventually resulted in “apologies” but much of the returned land was either destroyed or sandbagged, still held by areas currently classified as both left and right leaning.

Read – https://japanesegarden.org/2024/03/27/oregon-nikkei/