A group of 19 black families bought 97 acres of land in Toomsboro, Georgia to create a community for black people to feel safe.
Georgia-based realtor Ashley Scott started The Freedom Georgia Initiative with her friend Renee Walters to carry out the purchase.
In an op-ed on Blavity, Scott said following the deaths of both Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, she felt “distraught” and “disempowered” and needed to do something to make a change and help the black community.
Scott said she began seeing a therapist who helped her realize that the black community suffers from racial trauma and systemic racism that would take more than just protesting to change.
“We began to look for ways to change the world for the better in whatever small way we 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.”
Scott says despite black people holding positions of power, such as Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Atlanta Chief of Police Erika Shields, there were still too many deep-rooted problems in communities. This prompted Scott and 18 other families to establish an LLC, The Freedom Georgia Initiative, to start a new community from scratch.
A group of 19 Black families purchased almost 97 acres of land in Georgia to plant the seeds for a thriving new city where Black people can feel safe https://t.co/YLZnNPwjyZ
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 31, 2020
Scott says rather than trying to “fix a broken system,” people could start fresh.
“A community that is self-sufficient and thriving with a living food system built by Black farmers to provide food security for all its neighbors. A community that prioritizes diversity and inclusion by hiring BIPOC and women vendors, suppliers and contractors,” Scott said. “A community that boasts accessible spaces for all people. A community where our Black sons, our Black husbands, our Black women could make it home without being murdered by police.”
She also added that “now is the time to pool” resources together and organize black communities to build new cities.
“Amass land, develop affordable housing for yourself, build your own food systems, build manufacturing and supply chains, build your own home school communities, build your own banks and credit unions, build your own cities, build your own police departments, tax yourselves and vote in a mayor and a city council you can trust. Build it from scratch!” (RELATED: Joe Biden Has Endorsed Segregation, Calling It ‘Black Pride’)
Scott is also calling on black people to get more involved in their local government, encouraging people to go to district meetings and city council meetings, saying that it is local politicians that have the biggest impact on black communities.
“All the happenings to Black folks are being dished out at the local level by your district judges, the D.A.s, sheriffs, development authorities, city councils, congress people and mayors,” she said. “Mayors are the ones using their executive privilege to remove Confederate monuments in their cities. Zoning committees choose whether or not a toxic dump gets built in your ‘hood…We have to get busy on a local level.”
The Daily Caller has reached out to The Freedom Georgia Initiative for comment.