Living in communities where black people are considered a threat or an “easy target” for bullies is unhealthy and has led to all the darkness the country is experiencing right now.
A group of black people thought that maybe it would be better, instead of trying to fix problems that are rooted deep into our society, to build from scratch a new city for black people where discriminations have no place. And they have already started working on that end.
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Realtor Ashley Scott of Philadelphia, explains in a long post on Blavity that the current situation has made her feel so disempowered that she kind of lost some of her most prominent qualities as a person.
As she pointed out, she visited a black therapist, who helped her realize that black people suffer from racial trauma. Her therapist also made her see clearly that the systemic racism the black community has been dealing with is not easy to fight and that such a battle requires more than just protesting in the streets.
And that’s when she had an idea. In order to realize her plan, she knew she would need help and she found it in her friend and entrepreneur, Renee Walters.
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The two women sat down and tried to come up with the best way to keep their families safe from hate crimes and racist violence. And that’s when the concepts of Black Cities and Black Wall Street came into play.
“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,” Scott wrote in her post.
She went on to encourage people to attend their local council meetings in order to get a better idea of what is really going on in their communities. Her point was that her research into cityhood helped her understand how black power could be achieved.
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“Black power comes from wealth. Wealth is created through cash-flow and assets. […]Who pays taxes? Landowners. Who runs governments? People. We are the people. We have to be more involved, especially young people!”
Once Scott and Walters knew what they wanted to achieve and had come up with a plan on how to do it, they started looking for families who would be interested in investing in their dream.
That’s how 19 families in total came together and purchased 96.71 acres of land in Toomsboro, Georgia.
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The whole project is part of The Freedom Georgia Initiative founded by Scott and Walters. Their vision is stated below:
“Our vision is to develop our vast resource-rich 96.71 acres of land in Toomsboro, GA for the establishment of an innovative community for environmentally sustainable-living, health & wellness, agricultural & economic development, arts & culture for generations to come. Our aim is to be a premier recreational, educational, and cultural destination for Black families across the African diaspora.”
In these dark times, amid protests, hate crimes, and a pandemic on top of everything, these people are trying to realize an ambitious plan aiming at offering black people affordable housing, food, schools, and police departments. They just crave to feel safe again.
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The Freedom Georgia Initiative has also started a GoFundMe page in order to collect the necessary funds to build amenities for the land. So far, more than $29,000 have been raised toward the $88,000 goal that has been set.
More information on the group’s plans can be found on their website, while they are also active on social media, posting updates on the project.
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