Against the backdrop of protests against police brutality and pandemic, 19 black families have joined forces and purchased 96.71 acres of land in Toomsboro, Georgia. They plan to build a new, safe city there.
Ashley Scott, a Georgia real estate agent, started the Freedom Georgia initiative with like-minded people.
In an op-ed for Blavity, Scott explained that the idea was born after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was killed by a group of white men while jogging.
Image credits: thefreedomgeorgiainitiative
“I am worried. At times, distressed. For the first time in my life, I felt disoriented. So much so that the ambitious, solution-oriented, practical, non-emotional person that I am had to stop,” Scott writes.
“I went to a black therapist and it helped. I realized that what we suffer from as blacks is racial trauma. We face systemic racism. We face deep problems that will take more than just demonstrating in the streets. It will take us as a people, as Atlanta rapper and activist Killer Mike aptly put it, to “plot, plan, strategize, organize and mobilize.” So that’s what I did with my good friend Renee Walters, entrepreneur and investor.”
Together, they began looking for ways to change the world for the better in any way they could. “We wanted to make some kind of difference that could ensure the safety of our black sons and husbands as they went through life just breathing and being. We wanted to do something to build up black power and make real change.”
“We considered the reality that even in Atlanta, with an exceptional black woman like Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, there was still no respect for black humanity,” Scott continued. “Even with Erika Shields, a black female police chief at the helm, there was the murder of Rayshard Brooks. We can see that there is something much deeper. Politics, as always, is not the answer. Something new has to happen.”
Image credits: thefreedomgeorgiainitiative
The group joined several Facebook groups talking about building black cities and new Black Wall Streets, and it turned out that more people shared the same desires. “It was clear to me that new cities needed to be developed because these old ones, even with strong black leadership, have too many entrenched problems.”
Image credits: thefreedomgeorgiainitiative
As a realtor, Scott has attended zoning and city council meetings. “At first, I attended wanting to get some new clients, but seeing the progress of the newly created city of Stonecrest, Georgia, inspired me.”
This motivated Scott to delve deeper into local politics and how cities are created. “My research on city creation made me realize that this is how we change our communities and build real black power.”
Image credits: thefreedomgeorgiainitiative
“Black power comes from wealth,” Scott explained. “Wealth is created by cash flow and assets. Who has more money and assets than governments? Where does the cash flow come from? From taxes and bonuses. Who pays the taxes? Owners. Who runs the governments? The people. We are the people. We need to get more involved, especially the youth.
Scott says she knows people may start to ask, “What does this have to do with you all buying land in the midst of protests and a pandemic, and how you used the cooperative economy to do it? According to her, everything.
“We thought we could try to fix a broken system or start over. Create a city that could be a shining example of the change we want to see. We wanted to be more involved in creating the lives we really want for our black families. And maybe, just maybe, create generational wealth for ourselves by investing in the land. Investing in creating a community built around our core values and beliefs.”
The plan is to create a community with green and environmentally friendly building materials that honor Mother Nature, a self-sufficient and thriving community with a living food system built by Black farmers to ensure food security for all of its neighbors, a community that prioritizes diversity and inclusion by hiring BIPOC and female vendors, suppliers, and contractors, a community that has spaces accessible to all, and finally, a community where all Black people can go home without being killed by the police.
“We did a PowerPoint presentation the day after the Toomsboro for Sale open house. We called our like-minded friends and family. We made them understand the urgency of the moment. We brought 19 families together in an agreement in a series of online meetings. We created a society. We considered a field and bought it. We bought a 96.71-acre field.”
Here’s what people said about their idea
