Posted on 05/15/2021 6:04:45 AM PDT by snarkytart
New York (CNN Business)It's been nine years since Michael Robinson of Columbus, Ohio, nearly lost a major part of his family's legacy. He's still fighting to regain full control of it.
In 2012, the 57-year-old married father of four, who is Black, found out someone he'd never met named James E. Deshler II was suing his family members to force them to sell their portion of the 127 acres of Barlow Bend, Alabama, farmland that they'd inherited from Robinson's late grandfather, Joe Ely.
The local county auditor's website determined last year that the land is worth more than $212,000. The Deshler family and its Thomasville, Alabama, attorney J. Glen Padgett did not respond to a request for comment.
"I couldn't understand it," Robinson told CNN Business. "How can someone force us to sell land that's not for sale?''
The issue was one of heirs' property, a legal term for land owned by two or more people, typically after they inherit it from a relative who didn't have a will.
Robinson said his grandfather spent $2,500 to acquire his farmland in 1941 through a US Department of Agriculture program. Joe Ely didn't have a will when he died in 1959, so control of his land was automatically divided between his 15 children.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Reclaiming land
Last year, John Deere partnered with the National Black Growers Council and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to create the Legislation, Education, Advocacy and Production Systems, or LEAP, coalition. Since its September launch, the group has been working to help Black farmers and their families overcome legal obstacles stemming from heirs’ property disputes.
Beginning this week, LEAP is paying three Black law school interns from Southern University, an HBCU, to work on heirs’ property cases like Robinson’s. Interns Michael S. Adams Jr., Toria Rotibi and Khyla Morgan are being trained to help Black farmers and their descendants unlock the true value of the land they rightfully own by getting courts to grant them clear-title privileges.
“We have been learning the past few days the correlation between lynching and the stealing of black land, how they go hand and hand,” Morgan told CNN Business on Wednesday. “That comes forward to today where they’re trying to continue taking land from our people. It’s only day three and I’ve learned so much.”
After doing some research nine years ago, Robinson eventually reached out to the Federation Of Southern Cooperatives, a nonprofit group of Black farmers and landowners in southeastern states that has been providing legal and technical assistance for decades to those who need it.
The group’s attorneys helped Robinson get Deshler’s lawsuit thrown out of court.
“That immediately took away the threat of this guy forcing a sale,” Robinson said.
But the Deshler family still owns 1/15 of Joe Ely’s land. LEAP is helping Robinson recover that last share of his family’s birthright.
“I want to make sure the land stays in the family forever,” Robinson said, “to honor our grandfather’s legacy.”
CNN is being dishonest. Some of the land was sold years ago.
Even more stirring up racial hatred crap from CNN? You bet. Nothing new about that.
What the story carefully avoids....is that property taxes come up and if you don’t pay...there will be a point where the county judge will claim the property in the interest of the county and resell the property.
“to honor our grandfather’s legacy.” -— LOL. It is about $$$.
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CNN is being dishonest. Some of the land was sold years ago.
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thanks. They are nonstop agenda pushing.
yep owning land costs money too.
Oh good God it’s a simple title dispute because of multiple kids inheriting in the past and people dying without wills.
And that’s now related to lynching?
This is total BS. A black family owned this land through the worst periods of racism and now in 2021 a simple dispute over ownership is about lynching?
CNN loves doing this crap.
Can someone explain to me how the land was stolen from BLACKS?
It looks like this a court case BETWEEN blacks.
The headlines makes like some evil white supremacist-nationalists (Trump supporters) stole it.
Don’t you love the false significance of saying a legal claim was by “somebody he never met”.
If I have a claim to land somewhere, I have to know the people squatting on it?
“to honor our grandfather’s legacy.”
...yeah right. They couldn’t give a rats patoot about grandpa.
Instead of donating huge sums to the unaccountable, Marxist BLM perhaps Bezos, Gates and all the other guilt ridden bizarre billionaires can buy land and turn it over to the oppressed minority of their choice. That ought to amuse them for a while.
People who’ve got time to feel oppressed about even inanimate objects are not oppressed at all and are also likely to imagine everything in terms of the language oppression,
WHAT..! CNN dishonest.?? Surely not.... /s
Ok so this land got inherited by 15 people and one of the families sold their share so now it’s “racism” that this guy doesn’t have clear title.
Alabama does have a law where the fractional owner could force sale of the land to him, but they got that thrown out of court.
So in the end this equals we’re black so we’re going to get a court to wipe out a white guy’s interest in the land.
The problem was not that Robison is black; it is because his grandfather did not have a will and his property was divided between his 15 children, one of whom sold his 1/15th share to someone else.
Rats and Rat supporters ALL lie, and need to be imprisoned at that level.
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