Alabama is becoming fertile ground for the dilution of Black voters’ political power, experts say. Last week, the state’s Republican leaders refused to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order to redraw a congressional map to include two majority-Black districts. Gov. Kay Ivey approved a map with just one majority-Black district. While Black Alabamians make […]
Rural Issues
Posted inRural Issues
A Black Man Was Elected Mayor in Rural Alabama, but the White Town Leaders Won’t Let Him Serve
NEWBERN, Ala. — There’s a power struggle in Newbern, Alabama, and the rural town’s first Black mayor is at war with the previous administration who he says locked him out of Town Hall. After years of racist harassment and intimidation, Patrick Braxton is fed up, and in a federal civil rights lawsuit he is accusing […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
Black Farmers Are Tired of Waiting for the USDA to Level the Playing Field
Third-generation farmer Cary Junior has spent the past three years trying to figure out how to ensure that Black farmers can benefit from the programs and financial resources within the United States Department of Agriculture. As a member of USDA’s minority farmer advisory committee, Junior set out to address the effectiveness of the existing programs […]
Posted inEminent Domain, Rural Issues
Developers Sue 93-Year-Old Woman Over Her Land. She’s Fighting Back.
For over 30 years, Josephine Wright, 93, has enjoyed the peace and comfort of her home in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina — known more as one of the state’s largest tourist attractions than a refuge for formerly enslaved people. Wright’s property, which has been in the family since after the Civil War, has served […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
Black Farmers Refuse to Back Down After Federal Judge Dismisses Suit
Farmers of color plan to appeal a recent federal court judge’s ruling, which they say is a continuation of Jim Crow and erases their commitment to right the historical wrongs against them. Six months ago, John Boyd Jr., Kara Boyd, Lester Bonner, and Princess Williams filed a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. government, including the […]
Posted inRural Issues
The Movement to Stop Dollar Stores From Suffocating Black Communities
For years, the Rev. Donald Perryman wondered why the formerly thriving Black downtown of Toledo, Ohio, couldn’t get a grocery store. His suspicions were confirmed after a city study found in 2020 that the opening of new Dollar General stores drove other companies out of business, deterring potential grocers from investing there. He, along with […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
Black Farmers Looked to Cash In on the CBD Industry. Now, Hemp Is in Decline.
When Brendalyn King and her partner, Osei Doyle, quit their jobs and left Brooklyn, New York, in 2020 to buy land, they had high hopes of entering the growing industrial hemp industry. They moved to Salem, Illinois, to farm on a family friend’s land until they were able to buy the property. However, they never […]
Posted inEminent Domain, Rural Issues
Tennessee Wants to Take Land from Black Residents So a Ford Plant Can Benefit
When retired nurse Rosa Whitmore-Miller left New York City after 40 years for the peace of her hometown of Stanton, Tennessee, she never expected she’d have to fight to keep the land her family worked hard to cultivate. “It wasn’t just handed to us, like some people inherit. We had to go out there and […]
Posted inRural Issues
Drug Costs Are Burdening Rural Black Seniors. This New Law Could Help.
Inflation has eased nationwide in recent months, but older Black Americans — particularly those in rural areas — are still struggling to pay for their essential needs, often choosing between life-saving medications and rent. Even before the pandemic, half of adults who were 65 or older and lived alone didn’t have enough money to afford […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Rural Issues
These USDA Programs Want to Advance Equity — but They Don’t Ask for Applicants’ Race
A group of white farmers sued the federal government last year over a $4 billion loan forgiveness program created for farmers of color. The lawsuit stalled payment distribution to Black recipients and pushed the Biden administration to replace the race-conscious program — created to address past discrimination by the USDA — with a race-neutral version. […]