West TN Black farmers plan to secure generational wealth, heirs for future

As Blue Oval City makes its way to West Tennessee, black farmers in Haywood County are learning how to attain economic prosperity with the importance of generational wealth and securing heir property.

The Carver High School gymnasium in Brownsville served as a space for the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association — a nonprofit advocacy group combatting agricultural discrimination — to discuss the need to incorporate what is otherwise unincorporated acres of land.

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In light of Ford Motor Company's $5.6 billion dollar investment in establishing BlueOval City in Haywood County, BFAA President Thomas Burrell encouraged land owners to secure their property if they want to benefit from the monumental economic development that is to come.

'Unincorporated means unattainable'

Characterized by being a town only in name, "unincorporated" refers to land in the part of a county that is outside any municipality and without a governing body. If the heir property remains unincorporated, the ability for it to be harnessed for the next generation is compromised.

Heir property is ungovernable and regardless of property value, the value remains locked until a title ensuring land security is obtained.

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BFAA President Thomas Burrell explained to attendees that the areas with the most unincorporated masses of land owned by black families fall within the confines of a region in the U.S. dubbed the "black belt."

"The 'black belt' is an area that stretches from Maryland, almost all the way down to Washington, through the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi, West Tennessee, and Texas," Burrell said. "It represents over 620 counties that, unfortunately, are the most impoverished counties in the country. But it is also the area where we still own land, so there's something wrong with that picture."

The golden ticket

Attendees who found themselves in the position of needing to secure their unincorporated heir property could speak to the legal council who were present for the discussion.

Memphis attorney Paul Robinson explained not only the limitations of use if the land in question remains unincorporated, but the inherent necessity of securing a title to move forward as being the golden ticket to securing heir property.

"You can't do anything with the land, no one is going to pay you for it until they can get a good, marketable title," he said. "If you don't have a good, marketable title you can't do business with anybody."

Robertson urged property owners to locate and identify all of the heirs in their family before proceeding with legitimizing the land title.

Generational wealth

As Burrell opened the discussion, he asked the room how many wanted to be a millionaire. A young boy raised his hand in response and quickly became a conversational real-life metaphor for emphasizing the importance of generational wealth for children like him.

"This whole country is about wealth creation," Burrell said. "For the next generation, want to make sure of it, particularly in the African-American community. We have built this country. We've been here 400 years. We've owned land for 160 years. 17 million heirs are made every single day but only about two of those are African-American."

In expressing concern for the possibility of individual acre sales, Burrell takes the stance that the land-owning community should instead seek a partnership with Blue Oval.

"Black folks' land is in heir property. It is in a vault that the only way we can have access to that land is if we sell it and that is to say we'd have to sell it for 25 cents on the dollar," he said. "If we sell it, we can't pass that on to the next generation. You can't pass on to the next generation what you've sold."

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Rep. Karen Camper, D-Shelby County, shared that upon hearing about Ford's investment, her initial thought was the disruption of the livelihood of Haywood County residents and that "they can't be left behind."

"What I don't want is for us to wake up five years from now and say 'what could we have done?'" Camper said. "Or 'why didn't we decide it was important enough to build a partnership or some type of collaboration where we can benefit?'"

While encouraging attendees that they "can decide what their future looks like," she noted the importance of making concrete advances in securing property now.

"We can do it. I know we can do it. Our history demonstrates that we can do it when we come together," she said. "I do not want to wake up and see our communities looking like something that we didn't even want."

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: West TN Black farmers to secure generational wealth, heirs for future