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!”
Ok in concept, but some assigned Leader needs to screen the 19 families for trouble makers with Rap sheets.
Starting from zero-—actually sub-zero since there will be some land clearing costs.
They should do a go-fund-me.
I’ll withhold my “yeah, that’ll work”.
Toomsboro falls into the ‘freaking nowhere Georgia’ category of land area.
Hope they have good water and utilities.
Milledgeville (good sized college town, and thus the likely source of the commune/socialist/SJW tendencies here.) is NW and Macon is west.
Toomsboro is a town that economics forgot when the GA Central railroad ceased to have a life.
Small downtown is kinda quaint ... and quite unoccupied last time I drove through. We like to take back roads when we come home from Hilton Head back to north GA., and have seen MANY of these old small towns in middle-south GA.
Eventually they will HAVE to make ends meet, or the effort will dissipate on its own.
I wish them well.
Frankly it’s their right to do so.
But, it’s the spin of BLM they put on it.
Referring to the “jogger” who was shot and then the taser guy...yeah, and “systemic racism” by whites, of course. Yes, it’s whites who run your crappy Dem cities.
And I love the way they make it like they’re worried about WHITE people due to jogger. The hellhole of black cities run by blacks is not the reason. Oh no.
Someone better make sure that their permitting is all in order.
“Will the government force them to integrate?”
Or low-income housing, affirmative action, and all the other People’s Republic nonsense?
We shall see, I suppose.
Might be ‘some’ bottom land there, but no swampy marsh generally in middle GA
It would be called a white supremacist compound.
Are there any minimums to this DIY-racist-town concept?
We have 30 acres. It’s just my wife and I (and the dogs and chickens).
I hereby announce Chrisserville. No socialists allowed. Population: us.
This will be a chocolate city so bring Hershey’s if you visit.
“Whatever the outcome, it will be an interesting experiment.”
I’m glad you have a place to go, outside of Crazy Town, if things get scary.
I can’t begin to tell you how lucky and blessed I feel to NOT have to deal with any of the ‘in-town’ stupidity anymore at work. ;)
The ‘Recall Walker’ months were the worst. What a bunch of clowns in the store, wearing badges and t-shirts and sandwich boards, foisting their opinions on us all. *Rolleyes*
I LIKE that I’m ‘segregated’ from the Loony Leftists nowadays! :)
The last time Black people tried this, democrats got upset and burned down their mini-city.
“The Tulsa Greenwood Massacres”
“Someone better make sure that their permitting is all in order.”
Wonder what they’ll do when they find out that bringing in power might be maybe a $35K proposition, plus $12K per service drop...
And a sewer or septic system, I mean, name any number, could be $50-$80K...
Oh, and water..
I’d be surprised if the have the faintest idea what their startup costs might be. Maybe $400K.
“looked good on paper”.
“Crops and medical? Water, sewage? Garbage? Electricity? Good luck with y’alls plans.”
They plan to be self-supporting so, it’ll be a Shanty Town until everyone gives up and goes home. ;)
I think we will find that 19 families on 97 acres will not leave the space they need for farming, infrastructure, sewage treatment, water, and garbage. then they need roads, heavy equipment for maintenance, skilled farmers, skilled engineers, and almost all of the trades. Pretty much everything will have to come from the outside. Then of course, there is the cost of all of the infrastructure and building. I hope these people have lots of money. Their goal is nice, but their probability of success is slim.
Some advice not many Freepers know, I didn't, from the farm.
Hog made of cat, rat and dog By The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad
That part of GA (population of Toomsuba/Wilkinson is under 500) I doubt there is much permitting ;-)
That name doesn’t make sense.
You should name your town Democratville.
BTW I haven’t done it but I’ve heard of using chewing tobacco on bee stings and boils, port fat would probably work fine.
AND ... the soil there is VERY marginal, and summer rains can be quite fickle there.
Looks like they’re following the blueprint of Stonecrest, outside of Atlanta, GA, which was established in 2018:
How to Start Your Own City
A year ago this week, Jason Lary was sworn in as mayor of his brainchild, the brand new city of Stonecrest outside of Atlanta. Now Stonecrest is a frontrunner to land the new Amazon headquarters. How’d he do it?
Stonecrest was the first majority-black city to form from this cityhood movement in DeKalb County, and so far it is the only city to form in the county’s southern parts, where the bulk of the African-American population lives. There is currently another proposal to municipalize the remainder of South DeKalb into a city called Greenhaven, but it is meeting massive resistance.
It’s similar to the resistance that met Lary when he spearheaded the Stonecrest city effort. (“You cannot be a cotton ball for the kind of work I’m doing,” Lary told Rosen for The Atlantic. “It’s some Jimmy Hoffa-level work.”) For those who oppose cityhood in DeKalb County, the fears are, mostly, that residential property values will collapse and that taxes will rise, especially if the city has a majority non-white population. The research in general, does not support that anxiety, but Stonecrest, which has an almost completely black population, has at least a year’s worth of data from its own existence to test those claims.
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