"The City May Be Gone, But The Memories Live On"
In 2022, the Russell City Arts Committee was established as a partnership between former Russell City Residents and the City to explore ways to honor the legacy of Russell City through art and other formats. In December 2024, after hundreds of hours of work compiling history, photographs, and stories, the Russell City Arts Committee presented the document below. Click on the link to read more about the history of Russell City:
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Russell City Reparative Justice Project
In 1964, Russell City was annexed into the City of Hayward as part of a redevelopment plan initiated by the County of Alameda and that entailed the relocation of Russell City residents and businesses and the acquisition and rezoning of property for commercial and industrial development.
FORMAL APOLOGY FROM THE CITY OF HAYWARD
On Nov. 16, 2021, the Hayward City Council voted unanimously to issue a formal apology for City actions and inaction that perpetuated a variety of racially discriminatory practices around housing and banking and the racially disparate impacts that followed. The apology specifically highlighted the treatment of Russell City residents during the redevelopment and annexation of Russell City.
RUSSELL CITY REDRESS FUND
Following the apology, the City initiated the Russell City Reparative Justice Project in June 2022. Carried out in four phases of overlapping work—starting with outreach to former Russell City residents and their descendants—the Project is culminating in 2025 with formation of the Russell City Redress Fund. A partnership of the City of Hayward and County of Alameda, the Fund was created to provide direct payments to living former Russell City residents who had property seized during the redevelopment era. During the period, approximately 700 parcels of Russell City land were acquired, and about 1,400 residents of the multi-racial, multi-ethnic Russell City community were displaced.
Redress Fund payments to former Russell City payments are not intended as compensation and will not reflect present-day value of their property. Rather, the payments are intended to be a concrete step to further acknowledge the lasting harm associated with redevelopment of Russell City.
RUSSELL CITY REPARATIVE JUSTICE PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Russell City Reparative Justice Project (RCRJP) was the City of Hayward’s response to a recommendation of its Community Services Commission, which called for the City to work with former Russell City residents and descendants to “determine appropriate restitution” for the City’s involvement in inequitable treatment and the forced relocation of Russell City community members.
In cooperation and coordination with former Russell City residents and descendants and other community stakeholders, the RCRJP was carried out in four phases of work—some of which took place concurrently.
PROJECT PHASES
- Phase 1 of the Project was the Pre-Work Phase and entailed discovery, fact-finding and academic research; formation of a governing structure for the Project team and participants; and identifying and contacting former residents and descendants.
- Phase 2 of the Project was the Community Building, Storytelling and Discussion Phase and involved establishment and implementation of the Project team governing structure; community-based information gathering and storytelling; consideration and evaluation of reparative justice models; and synthesis of learning from academic research and community-based research and storytelling.
- Phase 3 was the Proposals Development Phase with the object of developing consensus on proposals and recommendations for City Council consideration and potential consideration by other governing bodies for appropriate restitution and/or reparative justice responses.
- Phase 4 of the RCRJ Project involved City Council action on Project proposals and recommendations and formation of the Russell City Redress Fund.
