Brooke Yanaga’s Reviews > Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership > Status Update

“To truly understand the story of Wilmington and white supremacy in America as a whole, one must understand that violence like this was rarely about Black people in power, but more so Black people who leveraged their power toward equity for all Black people. One wealthy Black person isn’t a threat, but a community of autonomous Black people is.”

“I’m asking: what does it mean to reclaim that tainted history and desecrated land, land rightfully associated with trauma. What does it mean for such land to become not only a home, but also a vehicle for equity? As I write this, less than 1% of rural land in the United States is owned by Black people, despite the centuries of grueling labor our ancestors put into said land.”