The second policy that we will discussing in our Racial Wealth Gap campaign is the Land Seizures policy.
The Land Seizures policy was enacted in 1865, and still disproportionately affects Black Americans today. This policy allowed white Americans to declare Black Americans in debt and then take their land. This stemmed from sharecropping debts, but then evolved quickly into the further disenfranchisement of Black Americans.
Black Americans were prohibited from fighting against these land seizures, because it was illegal for a Black American to sue a white American in court. From 1949-1970 over one million people lost their land due to seizures of private land by local government. Around 70% of these were African American families.
It is important to continually strive for equality, and education. These historical policies continually perpetuate systemic racism and oppression against Black Americans. HOME, Inc. works to educate our staff, and work to close the racial gap within the housing market.