Descendants of Black slaves in a tiny island community in the US state of Georgia have resumed a long-time legal battle against local government officials over a proposal to eliminate protections that for decades helped shield the Gullah-Geechee residents from high taxes and pressure to sell their land to developers.
On Thursday, the residents of Hogg Hummock and their supporters packed a courtroom with the aim of keeping protections in place that helped them keep their land.
The group opposed a proposal by McIntosh County officials to cast aside zoning ordinances that limit homes to modest sizes in the enclave of 30 to 50 Black residents on Sapelo Island off the coast of Georgia.
They said removing the zoning protections would drive out Hogg Hummock residents by attracting developers looking for profits and wealthy buyers eager to build large beach houses, causing land values and property taxes to soar and the Black residents to move elsewhere.
"It's the erasure of a historical culture that's still intact after 230 years," said Reginal Hall, a Hogg Hummock landowner whose family has deep roots on the island. "Once you raise those limits and the land value increases, we only have two to three years at most. If you talk about the descendants of the enslaved, 90 percent of us will be gone."
Commissioner Roger Lotson, whose district includes Sapelo Island, said it was not the first time Black residents of Sapelo Island were battling with the county government.
Lotson said he was trying to persuade them that Hogg Hummock was worth preserving.
"It's a step back in time," Lotson said. "And the fear of many, including myself, is that by allowing any size house over there, soon the uniqueness of Sapelo will go away."
However, Patrick Zoucks, the county manager, defended the zoning proposal in a statement issued before the Thursday meeting, saying it was "in the best interest of the residents of Hogg Hammock and all of the citizens of McIntosh County."
Before devising the zoning ordinances, some of the Black families in the enclave had sold their land to outsiders who built vacation homes. This caused soaring property values and tax increases.
The remaining Hogg Hammock residents and landowners packed the county courthouse in 2012 to appeal to the painful tax rises. County officials rolled most of them back.
The Black residents in Hog Hammock on Sapelo Island are the last known members of the Gullah-Geechee community, descendants of enslaved West Africans sent to the island in the 1700s and 1800s for forced labor on the island's plantations.
In 1996, the Hogg Hammock community was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Hog Hammock Historic District and to visit the preserved island, one must obtain a permit issued by state tourism authorities.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said that the treaty provides for various forms of bilateral cooperation.
The comprehensive strategic partnership agreement between Russia and Iran has entered into force, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali told Sputnik.
"It is already binding," Jalali said when asked about the date of entry into force of the agreement, as well as whether Iran had notified Russia of the completion of internal procedures.
He recalled that the treaty was ratified by both chambers of the Russian parliament, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed it. At the same time, the document was ratified by the Iranian parliament, approved by the Guardian Council, and the president issued it as a law.
"Therefore, in both countries it currently has the form of a law and, naturally, has entered into force," Jalali said.
On January 17, Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, met in Moscow to sign the Comprehensive Strategic ...
Defying the United States threats, ministers from more than 30 nations have packed Bogotá’s San Carlos Palace to charge the Israeli regime with genocide over its October 2023-present brutal military assault against the Gaza Strip.
The dramatic display of international solidarity saw dozens of high-ranking officials from across the globe convene inside the stately palace on Tuesday, determined to hold the regime accountable for, what they unequivocally called, a “war of genocide.”
The two-day emergency summit, organized under the auspices of The Hague Group -- a coalition co-chaired by Colombia and South Africa -- had representatives, ranging from such countries as Algeria and Brazil to Pakistan and Spain, in attendance.
The participants described the drive as a coordinated effort to stop the Israeli atrocities.
Behind closed doors, ministers and envoys, meanwhile, engaged in intensive sessions aimed at drafting collective measures to pressure the regime -- steps expected to be unveiled by ...
