29
votes
Black-owned land is under siege in the Brazos Valley
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- Authors
- Nate Blakeslee, Jason Heid, Peter Holley, Jennifer Stewart, Robyn Ross, Angela Ards, Texas Monthly, Asher Elbein, Katy Vine, Sonia Smith, Christopher Hooks, Allegra Hobbs, Amanda Nail, Keith Kachtick
- Published
- Oct 7 2023
- Word count
- 11 210 words
Preying on the poor and the elderly is just despicable.
This strikes home as I'm an heir to a farm that's been in the family for 100+ years. The land itself is worth a lot due to real estate going up, but it doesn't make much money (land poor). Luckily it's been properly passed down in a trust with rules to prevent forcing a sale or parceling on the majority. A sizable and profitable chunk was lost when my grandpa's brother sold it for pennies while he wasn't around to protest (off fighting in WW2), so my grandparents ensured it wouldn't happen again. No one in my family could afford to buy out even one share, so just having one heir forcing us to sell would be bad enough, but for an outside party to instigate it all for their own greed is horrible.
There needs to be a law to allow an investigate to be triggered by victims that ensure people who repeatedly sue others are not using our courts as a weapon. If found to be engaging in such predatory behavior, they'd be forced to revert the lawsuits, give up the money they made on the land or the land itself to the old owners and every penny leftover that the man owns would be split up and given to everyone affected to leave him penniless.
This is off-topic and not really any of my business, but I’m curious: Is that a working farm? Do family members live there? Would you want to live there? How do you resolve disagreements? (Just wondering how it works.)
No worries, I have no problem sharing.
It's sort of a working farm, the fields are rented to the neighbors who are old family friends and mostly grow alfalfa and clover. Some birds are raise for personal use and there's an old orchard we all come get fruit from when it's ripe.
My parents, brother and a couple cousins and their families live there in 3 small houses and keep things maintained.
I'd be happy to live there, but it's too far from my job and there's not much work to be found nearby. I'd love to farm, but no clue how I'd get it to be profitable enough to live on without making it bigger than I'd want to manage. Suppose we could grow weed, but no one seems to like that idea for some reason 😏.
Disagreements are usually discussed, often via group messages, and come down to what the majority decide (usually a logical decision) or what the older folks want. Luckily I've been blessed with a fairly drama free family with most of us of similar mind. I'd probably describe us as a bunch of frugal, laid back, open minded introverts that put family and community over money.
Phenomenal reporting job, and an infuriating and fascinating story. Anyone who's ever so much as owned their home probably knows how arcane and opaque land records are. Without means and determination, most people would probably not be able to navigate these issues. It's heartening that some people have been able to finally stand up to these ghouls.
I really feel for the people in the story. It's a shame they didn't go through with the steps needed to secure the rights to their land
I wonder if there are any organizations that provide black Americans with the resources needed to go through with this though, as I'm sure it takes time, money and knowledge that these people might not be privy to
It seems it exists, just not in Texas. :(
Mirror, for those hit by the paywall:
https://archive.is/txgye