Editor: Below is an excerpt from an article at www.BBC.com, which was shared this week on Facebook:
"The first Lillian Milton knew about it was when she arrived at the local council offices to settle her tax bill.
"She was told her home had been sold because she had not paid a $250 levy for a sewer service. She was shocked - at that point she had not even been connected to the sewer system.
"‘They had sold everything, the property, the house and all and when I offered to pay them with a cheque, they told me I couldn’t. I had to get cash money - 880 some dollars that I had to pay them to get my place back.
"‘It’s like they were saying if I didn’t get on the system I wouldn’t have no place to stay.’
"Milton suspects the heart attack she suffered in January was brought on by the stress of trying to get her home back." [http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37994938]
Note that this is being reported by a foreign publication. This is shockingly outrageous on its face, but the article goes on to further describe Milton’s plight and that of untold thousands of black families in the Southeast who are being pushed off their lawfully owned heirs’ property by the government and/or whites and other well-off blacks seeking to get their hands on some of the best real estate in the country.
It seems to me that a parallel situation exists right here in east Liberty County as black families struggle beneath the ridiculously heavy property tax burden we now face. Of course anyone would want to get their hands on the prime real described by my Facebook friend, Liberty County native Rufus Singleton:
"Logistically, E. Liberty County is the best location in GA:80 miles north of Florida line. 30 miles south of Savannah GA 240 east of Atlanta GA, 10 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean., Total of 3 major airports, I-95 corridor," Singleton wrpte on Facebook, along with this note:
"Military men and women realize we have a haven right here and decide to stay. It is our lack of knowledge in knowing the wealth we possess. Trust me they understand. Let’s organize and explain to the older landowners the benefits of heir property and wills of testament."
Taking land by sheer extortion and outrageous tax burdens is morally reprehensible. I’m praying this a wake-up call for black families to pull together and fight to preserve their Gullah-Geechee culture and rescue the inheritance left by their foreparents.
I have hopes that the NAACP will make this the focal point of their efforts for the coming year. This evil system must be totally eradicated.
#TheStruggleContinues
Min. Gloria Brown,
Riceboro