Cut off from the glitz and glamor of Palm Springs and eclipsed by towering sixty-foot Tamarisk trees, lies a historically Black neighborhood known as Crossley Tract. Allegedly planted by city leaders in the late 1950’s to line the 14th fairway of a public golf course, these trees have become the focal point of frustration and animosity for locals who see the trees as an enduring symbol of segregation. For decades, residents have been forced to put up with the tangled overgrowth from a species so invasive, they have been officially categorized as pests by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Until now.

RACIST TREES investigates the timely story of racial equity in an unlikely pocket of America that made international headlines – uncovering an even darker racist history that few would equate with the Palm Springs’ progressive image. An intimate, sobering, and at times humorous look at the space where local politics, media, gentrification, class and social justice collide, revealing a microcosm of issues that continue to percolate across the country today.