I have been involved with community economic development in some form or fashion for almost three decades. Somehow the desire to turn back the hands of time continues to haunt me. If we had only received our 40 acres and a mule after the Civil War, what progress would have been made I tell myself.
Fast forward to today where the few remaining Black farmers are still seeking justice. In between 1865 and today much has happened and much has not happened. What HAS happened can easily be viewed through the lens of economic history. Much of what has NOT happened can also be viewed through the lens of economic history.
While watching this morning the unveiling and installation of the Outreach Property Real Estate School billboard at the corner of Whalley Avenue and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard in New Haven my mind raced back and forth from past to present, from past to present. To have a real estate, to own real estate, to sell real estate has in some ways defined America. Consider the various state sponsored international land acquisition enterprises of the last 400 years. Not by eminent domain, but by the barrel of a gun. Not by contract but by blood. The Louisiana Purchase was legal, but the original inhabitants were not consulted. Colonialism said that I can "purchase" your country and you can be a member of the empire as your reward.
Today is a new day, trying to bring new spirit to olden times.
The unveiling of new dreams and new visions can never be contained. They will never be shackled, sold, swapped, traded, worked to death or indentured.
I salute Roberta Hoskie Graham and her team at Outreach Property Management and Outreach School of Real Estate. You make Madam JC Walker, Booker T, Washington, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Harriett Tubman, AG Gattison and many others very proud
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