♪ deep in my bones down to my soul you're my desire ♪ ♪ whatever comes i know that all my heart will be yours, be yours ♪ ♪ be yours one turbulent skies on turbulent skies ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this is "nightline." >> phil: tonight, reparations. the surprising dark history of this diamond in the desert, home to multimillion-dollar

compounds. >> basically this was buried for decades? >> palm spring's best-kept secret until now. >> phil: as many as 1,000 black and brown residents' homes destroyed decades ago by the city. what, if anything, is owed as the fight heats up across the country? >> i don't think it's enough but it's a start. >> phil: some promised reparations but not living long enough to get them. >> it's just unjust. >> with all the promises and all the hoopla, he never got to see it. >> phil: plus henry winkler. he's an american icon. >> heeyyy! >> phil: loved by the tonds in "happy days" and later in "arrested development." >> what's the plan? >> you're our lawyer. >> it's a figure of speech. >> who let the cat out? >> phil: what winkler says about finally winning that emmy. >> if you listen detail you hear, "this is henry winkler's 2,000th nomination, his first win." my tush actually left the chair. >> phil: he opens up about the secret battle he fought while

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for patients managing diabetes with insulin. visit freestylelibre.us/medicare to learn more. ♪ good evening and thank you for joining us. i'm andrew dymburt. the fight for reparations in america sparks heated debates

but do they help right historical wrongs? many palm springs residents of color and their dead ants evicted without warning and recourse say reparations aren't perfect but they'd be a start. here's 90 line coanchor byron pitts. >> byron: palm springs, california. the diamond in the desert. once home away from home for bold's rich and famous. a storybook setting with a story and a secret all its own. >> palm springs is home. it's life for me. it's my blood. it's my sweat. it's everything. >> byron: for pearl divers, that story left a scar. >> there's not a hint or a trace we ever existed here. not an ounce. that's the painful part. >> byron: pearl says her childhood home was forcibly taken by the city of palm springs in the '60s when she was 12. >> the home that my father built was burned, bulldozed over by the city fire department. >> byron: as many as 1,000 lost their homes with they say little

or no warning. >> they never told us to leave. >> come home, and your home is gone. >> byron: a state attorney general's report called what happened a city engineered holocaust. >> basically, this story was buried for decades. >> palm springs' best-kept secret until now. >> byron: tonight, inside one group's fight for reparations. when some folk hear the word reparations they think, wait a minute, you're asking me to pay for something i didn't do, i wasn't here, you say what? >> you're directly benefiting off the property that you removed us from. maybe you should have did your history a little better before you moved here. >> byron: as the national debate rages over what, if anything, should be done to pay for america's sins against communities of color, we check in on the first city in the nation to implement reparations. the resolve and the roadblocks. last we spoke two years ago, "not enough resources, not enough commitment." did those words come true? >> absolutely.

>> these are a few pictures of my family from section 14 of one of my uncles, some of the homes in the background there. >> byron: dieter crawford's family came from texas and mississippi in the 1950s to palm springs. >> part of the black migration, go west, young man. that rings true to most of the families that relocated out here. >> byron: most of those working-class folk, black and brown people, lived here. one square mile, a tract of land called section 14, prime real estate. >> it's tribal land owned by the apacaliente. they were willing to allow black and brown families to live on their land. >> reporter: attorney i areva martin is representing some who lived on section 14 and their descendents. >> the irony was for a lot of these families, they were escaping the jim crow south only to find some of the same jim crow laws and policies were very much prevalent in palm springs.

>> byron: city documents from the era refer to substandard housing conditions on section 14, paint a portrait of palm springs' desire to "clean up the land." >> we often hear that the homes on section 14 were rundown -- >> byron: looks like a nice house to me. >> how could we build palm springs and not have our own homes nice? >> byron: a federal law expanded the length of leases on tribal land to 99 years. section 14 suddenly became attractive to developers. >> section 14 as a part of the city's grander plan has been commercially developed. there's been hotels, spas, casinos, convention center, condominiums. >> byron: according to state documents in 1964 the city of palm springs approached the conservator with a plan section 14. this happened 60-plus years ago,

long before you were born. do you think this had any impact on your life? >> yeah, it's generational trauma that was passed down to us, as well as the generational wealth that we lost. a home today in palm springs goes for over $1.3 million. >> byron: dieter is part of the section 14 survivors group founded by pearl. >> what's that cement slab? >> that's the foundation of one of our neighborhood homes. evidence. that's where we were. >> byron: did your family receive relocation assistance, any compensation from the city? >> nothing. my mother became a single mom. my father succumbed to alcohol. could not handle it. this strong-willed man began to drink until he died. >> byron: broke his spirit? >> totally broke it. >> byron: in 2021, palm springs formally apologized for its role in the forced evictions and began discussing the possibility of a reparations program.

>> city of palm springs staff drove bulldozers that took down people's homes. we cannot erase our role in what happened. >> byron: in 2022, removed the statue of frank bogart, the mayor during that period. >> i support the city providing financial support to those impacted by these past city actions. >> byron: but financial support has yet to come. the city declined "nightline's" interview request. in a statement they said, "the city has an obligation to thoroughly investigate the history as it develops remedial programs that are fair to everyone." last year, attorney martin filed a tort claim on behalf of the section 14 survivors placing an estimated monetary value of up to $2 billion in harm. she continues to negotiate with the city on behalf of section 14 survivors. >> when this is done, and i have every reason to believe it will

be done, it will be history-making. >> byron: robin ru simmons knows what it takes to make reparations come to fruition. she led the effort in evanston, illinois, the first city to do it. >> cities are looking to evanston, this city can do it, our city can do it too. >> byron: in the past five years, nearly a dozen cities have pledged reparations for african americans. some argue local, state, and private reparations efforts across the country take away from federal reparation efforts. >> i completely disagree. we don't say, don't have a violence reduction strategy locally until we address national gun violence. this community was redlined. >> byron: we first met simmons in 2021 just as the city was beginning to implement their 10-year, $10 million reparations program. initially in the form of a $25,000 housing voucher for ancestors and descendents who survived racist redlining and

housing discrimination. for all of your work in this space, what worries you still? >> not enough resource. not quick enough. i do believe that we're committed as a city. >> byron: her worries were well-founded. evanston has come under scrutiny for what some see as a slow rollout. in january of 2022, evanston city council held a lottery-type drawing to announce the first 16 of 140 approved ancestors to receive that housing voucher. >> that's a new window, and they repaired the chimney. they put on a new roof. >> byron: 74-year-old ramona burton was one of the first to receive the money. >> i don't think it's enough, but it's a start. >> byron: but the amount of recipients stalled at 16 for more than a year. >> we've had to learn a lot along the way. there were no models. there was stall stalling getting the revenue. we pivoted to add an ooshl

revenue source so now we have more funding coming in. >> byron: they've ahmeded the ways people can receive reparations receiving a cash benefit option. >> i'm not satisfied with the amount of disbursements, but we are making progress. >> you have denied me all my 98 years. hopefully before i die, i'll see the world change. >> byron: vin gaines sr. was number 62 on the list. the former pullman porter left the jim crow south for evanston. redlined but determined, he and his wife built a home. >> a white contractor very explicitly told him and my mother, "i'll build a house for you anywhere within that redline zone, nowhere outside of it." >> byron: back then, green money wasn't enough money? >> exactly. >> byron: gaines celebrated his

100th birthday waiting for his $25,000 housing voucher. in april, he died. still waiting. one of the 11 ancestors to pass before receiving reparations. >> it's just unjust. he should have been prioritized. >> byron: there is a sad innocence your eyes now. >> yeah. with all the promises and all the hoopla, he never got to see it. >> byron: when i think about the seniors who have passed away, people who applied, who were all-in, who bought it, but who never saw a penny of this money, how does that hit you? >> well, i hope that they transition hopeful and not disappointed. i heard from seniors that said, if i don't receive a dollar, this city has acknowledged this harm and committed to a process. >> byron: to date, the city has distributed $2.7 million to 107

people. the commitment has also grown from $10 million to $20 million. >> you endured direct harm from our city and this nation. and you did so while raising a community. >> this is not a punishment to white america. this is justice for black america. >> our thanks to byron. henry winkler opens up about his struggles with self-esteem even after decades of hollywood success. medicine used to reduce a prescription the risk of hiv without daily prep pills. with one shot every other month, just 6 times a year. in studies, apretude was proven superior to a daily prep pill in reducing the risk of hiv. you must be hiv negative to receive apretude and get tested before each injection. if you think you were exposed to hiv or have flu-like symptoms, tell your doctor right away. apretude does not prevent

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>> andrew: welcome back. henry winkler is one of the most identifiable actors in hollywood. beloved by generations of fans. but the man who embodied the fonz tells abc's linsey davis he's never felt like one of the cool kids. >> what would you like to say to the people in the 21st century, huh? >> heeyy! because i'm the fonz, heeyy! >> i never resented playing the fonz. i would do it again just like that in a minute. what i had to learn was, i'm now type past. i thought i could beat that. >> you moved to l.a., within a few weeks you land the role -- >> two, two weeks. >> of fonz. >> the first week i got "the mary tyler moore show." it was the "friends" of that time. >> hi, this is steve waldman. steve, this is mary rich chins. >> the very next week, i

auditioned for a brand-new series. ♪ sunday monday happy days ♪ which i was stupid enough to think, you know, i was trained for the theater, i don't know if i want to do a series. >> it was below you, "happy days." >> it was brotelow me until it became above me. >> reporter: henry winkler takes it back to the beginning in "the fonds and beyond" from "happy days" -- >> everybody gets scared. you're going to survive from this world, you just can't show it all the time, that's all. >> you never get scared. >> i know, that's why i'm the fonz. >> reporter: to his role in "arrested development" playing the worst lawyer in the world. >> anyhoo, what are we doing here? what's the plan? >> the plan? you're our lawyer. >> it's a figure of speech, you're going to be fine. >> reporter: to his emmy award-winning character gene

kusinow in hbo's "barry." >> here's my direction. let the cat out. >> 2018, 43 years in the industry, you get that emmy. tell us about that moment and what it meant to you. >> if you listen carefully, you hear, "this is henry winkler's 2000th nomination, his first win." my tush actually left the chair. i rundown that aisle. i am in heaven. i have 39 seconds. to give that speech. i don't want to leave anybody out, because when you say thank you, you do not get there by yourself. you get there with people blowing into your sail. >> reporter: and he credits his wife, stacy, for helping him to get there. >> i know a fabulous redhead, yes, who is a revelation in my

life. >> reporter: in his book, stacy's reflections are paired with hi story detailing their beginning and where winkler is now, as a husband, father, and grandfather. he reveals his own struggles, including his fight with imposter syndrome, something he still grapples with today at 78 years old. you write about that you were still chasing the cool kids, "never imagining i could be anything like cool myself." >> you know where that comes from. my self-image was down around my ankles. you feel less than. >> reporter: winkler reveals that at times he felt he had to work harder than others, hiding his challenges. it finally made sense when he was diagnosed with dyslexia at 31. how did you navigate having difficulty reading scripts? >> i had to work harder than the average bear. sitting around the -- any

project that i did. sitting around that first reading of the script with the entire cast. completely covered my shame with humor. because i stumbled, i just couldn't read. >> you didn't get the diagnosis until you were 31. >> yes. >> which you talk about in the memoir. was there a sense of relief? >> the first stage was anger. all that humiliation. all that punishment. all that expectation was for nothing. my brain was wired differently. and the people who were yelling at me, who punished me -- gave it to me, because it's hereditary. >> anything else that you still have not done that you really want to do? >> i have no idea what tomorrow will bring. i don't know. but i do know this. what i have learned, what i have

tried to pass on in being henry, is, oh, how wonderful. it is just around the corner. and i have now gotten to the point where i am willing to try whatever that is. >> andrew: henry winkler's memoir, "being henry: the fonz and beyond" is available now. the look inside natalee holloway's never-ending quest for answers and her killer's long-awaited confession. are stopping you in your tracks... choose stelara® from the start... and move toward relief after the first dose... with injections every two months. stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. before treatment, get tested for tb.

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>> andrew: finally tonight, natalee holloway vanished while on a vacation in aruba in 2005, making global headlines. it took her family nearly 20 years of dogged determination to see her killer confess. here's a first look of "impact by nightline: natalee holloway, a killer confesses." >> start kissing each other, then she tells me no. i get up on the beach, and i kick her extremely hard in the face. and then i push her off into the sea. >> a liar. a murderer. and a psychopath. >> i was able to turn around now and i had the power over him. >> it angers me. it makes me just want to return the favor to him. i would love to return the favor to him. >> natalee holloway, "a killer confesses." "impact by nightline," now streaming on hulu. >> andrew: that's "nightline" for this evening. see you right back here tomorrow at the same time. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.