Soon to be this?
Posted on 09/01/2020 11:47:05 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
In the middle of the protests over police brutality and a pandemic, 19 black families have joined forces and purchased 96.71 acres of land in Toomsboro, Georgia. They plan to build a new, safe city there.
Ashley Scott, a Georgia-based realtor, started The Freedom Georgia Initiative with a few like-minded people.
In an op-ed for Blavity, Scott explained that the idea came after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was killed by a group of white men while out on a jog.
“I am concerned. At times distraught. For the first time ever in my life, I felt disempowered. So much so that the overachieving, solution-oriented, practical, non-emotional person that I am had to stop,” Scott wrote.
“I sought counseling from a black therapist and it helped. It helped me to realize that what we as black people are suffering from is racial trauma. We are dealing with systemic racism. We are dealing with deep-rooted issues that will require more than protesting in the streets. It will take for us as a people, as Atlanta rapper and activist Killer Mike so eloquently put, ‘To plot, plan, strategize, organize and mobilize.’ So that’s what I and my good friend Renee Walters, an entrepreneur and investor, did.”
Together, they began to look for ways to change the world for the better in whatever way they could. “We wanted to make some kind of difference that could ensure the safety of our black sons and black husbands when they went about their lives just breathing and being. We wanted to do something to amass black power to affect real change.”
“We considered the reality that even in Atlanta, with an exceptional black woman like Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, there was still no respect for the humanity of blacks,” Scott continued. “Even with Erika Shields, a black woman chief of police at the helm, there was the murder of Rayshard Brooks. We can see there is something much deeper happening. Politics, as usual, isn’t the answer. Something new has to happen.”
The group joined several Facebook groups discussing building black cities and new Black Wall Streets, and it turned out there were more people who shared the same desires. “It was clear to me that developing new cities was necessary because these old ones, even with strong black leadership, have too many deep-rooted problems.”
As a realtor, Scott has been sitting in on zoning and city council meetings. “At first, I attended wanting to get a few new clients, but seeing the progress of the newly created city of Stonecrest, Georgia, inspired me.”
It motivated Scott to look more deeply into local politics and how cities are created. “My research into cityhood gave me insight that this is how we change our communities and build real black power.”
Black power comes from wealth,” Scott explained. “Wealth is created through cash-flow and assets. Who has more cash flow and assets than governments? Where does the cash-flow come from? Taxes and bonds. Who pays taxes? Landowners. Who runs governments? People. We are the people. We have to be more involved, especially young people!”
Scott said she knows people might start wondering, ‘What in the world does all this have to do with why you all purchased land in the midst of protests and a pandemic, and how you used cooperative economics to do it?’ According to her, everything.
“We figured we could try to fix a broken system or we could start fresh. Start a city that could be a shining example of being the change you want to see. We wanted to be more involved in creating the lives we really want for our black families. And maybe, just maybe, create some generational wealth for ourselves by investing in the land. Investing in creating a community that is built around our core values and beliefs.”
The plan is to create a community with green, environmentally safe, and eco-friendly building materials that honor Mother Nature, a community that is self-sufficient and thriving with a living food system built by black farmers to provide food security for all their neighbors, a community that prioritizes diversity and inclusion by hiring BIPOC and women vendors, suppliers and contractors, a community that boasts accessible spaces for all people, finally, a community where all black folks could come home without being murdered by police.
“We made a PowerPoint presentation the day after we left the ‘Toomsboro for Sale’ open house. We called our like-minded friends and family. We impressed upon them the urgent power of now. We brought 19 families together on one accord during a series of online meetings. We started an LLC. We considered a field and we bought it. We bought 96.71 acres of land!”
They may hold the property in common. I’ve always been fascinated by this group. If it weren’t for the partying and the clothing optional, I think it would be neat.
“East Wind is a community of people living and working together in the beautiful hills of the Missouri Ozarks. We hold our land, labor, and resources in common.”
My family is a multicultural one. We consist of many races and nationalities. Therefore I don’t consider myself racist. And when I say that segregation sounds like an ok idea to me, it’s not from a racist perspective.
Most of the black people in our country have a degree of white/European blood in them. So I don’t get why they would feel less than human around whites. It is understandable that anybody of any race or nationality would feel more comfortable around those like them. I think that should be respected. Cities used to have sections where like minded people or nationalities lived and/or worked. Even today, some bigger cities have a “China town”. There used to be a French quarter, or Puerto Rican quarter, Italian quarter etc. These placces were fun places to visit because you got a taste of their culture, food, traditions. People have been robbed of those traditions! You can love your special culture while still loving America! People did for years.
In my multicultural neighborhood, people keep to themselves. The blacks associate with the blacks, the hispanics the same. The whites are friendly toward everyone but the others don’t want that friendship. However, all the kids play together. If a disaster happens, they don’t want our (whites) comfort or support nor do they lend theirs when something bad happens...except for one black man. That one associates with everybody and if Im on the front porch, he will come by and have coffee.
I don’t see as much racism coming from whites as I do from nonwhites. Even among the blacks, color matters. Light colored blacks aren’t as good as dark colored blacks.
The hispanics don’t care for whites but if a white woman is dating an hispanic man, they welcome her in. Otherwise, the door is closed.
Well, there are whites who are uncomfortable with other nationalities and cultures too and have experiences the snubs offered by them.
I think there have been good and bad results as a reselt of segregation. I think its contributed to problems with gangs as it violates human nature and needs.
Try getting a wireless cell phone tower built in that county.
Could be a future episode of Homestead rescue in the making.
I don’t blame them, I’m looking at purchasing acreage in NH with family 100 to 200 acres.
I hope they enjoy their dream and actually make it. There have been times that I though it would be great to do something similar with similar minded people to me, but then again I can’t stand myself (sarcasm). Our nation has a history of building utopias, most don’t turn out they way their founders expected.
Good info, and good for these folks for fighting!
Weird times we're in.
“Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms”
Lance Bottoms? That’s a gay porn name if ever there was one.
Soon to be this?
I’ve been thinking for at least 10 years this might be the model for retired families.
Gault’s Gulch but without all the cool but impossible gadgets.
If you look closely...those folks knew how to dress.
The new Jonestown
This is a terrible part of Georgia. No jobs lousy farming. They will all starve
How many failed projects started with the phrase “We made a PowerPoint presentation . . .?”
you haven’t seen them “build” anythong yet
not really as a group known for being builders or maintainers
They’ll be hiring cops inside a month from incorporation.
Yup....
It's not going to work unless they can change human nature.
They cannot escape the problems they want to because they will be bringing flawed human beings into the mix.
And I don't think they have any idea how expensive it is to build.
There's the infrastructure costs, water, sanitation, public works, equipment, manpower, and if they are going green, where is all that going to come from?
I can't fault them for dreaming, but if they can't fix their problems where they live now, they are still going to have them.
You can't run away from them.
This ‘leader’ chick doesn’t seem all that charismatic to me...
They’re about to find out a small fraction of what white pioneers had to do to build this country. I am not talking about the few—the large land-grant plantation owners—but rather the rednecks, hillbillies, okies and every other stripe of poor white farmers who had to havk through the eilderness, plow by hand or with a mule, dig wells, and make do without birth control, antibiotics, electricity or power tools. Yeah, white privilege.
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