It made for great viral content over social media when a group called Return to the Land has purchased about 160 acres near Ravenden, Arkansas, explicitly restricting residency to people of white European ancestry with matching ideological views. Jews and non-whites are excluded.
It wasn’t met with much noise in the black community because this is all too common. There’s a history of segregation that black people deal with, and the realities of sundown towns that dot the American landscape is a stark reminder that it’s not just historical, but current.
The silence from the black community however, may have been agitating to some white people because they went out of their way to make sure their town received attention, and many were upset as to why black people weren’t responding.
It received it’s fifteen minutes of fame and then was pushed out of the media, but what emerged was unexpected – there were videos from white creators asking why black people didn’t do the same as Return to the Land.
One creator even said, “if black people started a functioning black community we would leave you to it,” and the responses were swift, not just from black creators, but every other shade of creator as well.
One in particular is @drinkablebryan who posted a response across this platforms. I chose this one from Facebook.
Click here if you can’t see the video. It’s worth watching.
My only issue with content in that format is that it’s more about making a point than it is about educating and informing. This is why I choose to write long-form blog posts, so that people who are serious about becoming informed and learning, will have a source that is well-reasoned and insightful.
With that in mind, I want to focus on why the initial statement, “if black people started a functioning black community we would leave you to it,” fell so flat and why the response to it was greater than the fact that yet another whites-only town was being created.
The answer is simple – it’s devoid of any kind of history whatsoever. Whether it’s intentional, or they person is doesn’t know, is irrelevant.
The fact is that black people have repeatedly started functioning black communities, and racism wouldn’t allow white people to “leave us to it“.
To that end, here is a list of times that black people created functioning communities, and white violence destroyed them.
- Seneca Village, New York (1857)
A thriving free Black community of landowners in Manhattan was seized and demolished to create Central Park. Families were displaced and generational wealth erased. - New Orleans Massacre, Louisiana (1866)
A white mob, aided by police, attacked a gathering of Black citizens and white allies advocating for voting rights and constitutional reform. Dozens were murdered, many more wounded. - Colfax Massacre, Louisiana (1873)
White supremacists massacred more than 100 Black men defending a courthouse after a disputed election. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned convictions, gutting federal protections for Black citizens. - Wilmington Coup & Massacre, North Carolina (1898)
The only successful coup d’état on U.S. soil. White supremacists overthrew Wilmington’s elected, multiracial government, killing hundreds of Black residents and forcing thousands to flee. - Atlanta Race Massacre, Georgia (1906)
Fueled by false reports of Black men assaulting white women, mobs of armed white men rampaged through Atlanta’s Black neighborhoods, killing dozens and destroying Black businesses. - Slocum Massacre, Texas (1910)
After rumors of a Black uprising, white residents killed as many as 200 Black men, women, and children. Survivors fled, abandoning land and property that was stolen by whites. - East St. Louis Massacre, Illinois (1917)
White mobs, many union members angry over job competition, attacked Black residents. Between 100–150 were killed, homes were burned, and thousands displaced. - Elaine Massacre, Arkansas (1919)
Black sharecroppers attempting to organize for fair pay were met with mass slaughter by white mobs and federal troops. Hundreds were killed, and survivors falsely prosecuted. - Chicago Race Massacre, Illinois (1919)
A Black teenager was stoned and drowned after drifting into a whites-only beach. Days of rioting followed, leaving 38 dead and more than 1,000 Black families homeless. - Ocoee Massacre, Florida (1920)
On Election Day, a Black man tried to vote. White mobs retaliated by killing dozens and burning the entire Black community of Ocoee to the ground. - Tulsa Massacre, Oklahoma (1921)
Known as the destruction of “Black Wall Street.” White mobs, with support from local officials, burned down the Greenwood District, killing as many as 300 Black residents and destroying 35 city blocks. - Rosewood Massacre, Florida (1923)
After false accusations of an assault, white mobs razed the prosperous Black town of Rosewood. Survivors fled into swamps, never to return. - Oscarville Expulsion / Lake Lanier, Georgia (1912–1956)
In 1912, Black residents were violently expelled from Oscarville by mobs and lynchings. Decades later, the town’s ruins were submerged under Lake Lanier, erasing its history. - Detroit Race Massacre, Michigan (1943)
Racial tensions in wartime Detroit erupted into violence. White mobs stormed Black neighborhoods, leaving 34 people dead (25 Black), most killed by police. - MOVE Bombing, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1985)
Police dropped explosives on the home of a Black liberation group in a residential area. Eleven people were killed (including 5 children), and 61 homes were destroyed.
The destruction of thriving black communities weren’t always direct. Many times they were targeted in the name of progress. Many of the state parks and lakes we recognize today hide dark secrets… and the remains of the dead.
Here are seven clearly documented cases in the U.S. where historically Black communities (or Black-founded resorts/neighborhoods) were later turned into parks or lakes.
A thriving Black landowning community in Manhattan was seized and demolished to create Central Park. Families were evicted and wealth was erased.
After the violent expulsion of Black residents in 1912, the abandoned town was later submerged under Lake Lanier in the 1950s, erasing it completely.
A self-sufficient Black community built by formerly enslaved John J. Benson was flooded out when Martin Dam was constructed, creating Lake Martin.
A farming settlement with many Black sharecroppers was drowned when Duke Power flooded the valley to build Lake James.
A coastal Black community was seized by the government during WWII for an airfield, then never returned. The land is now a wildlife refuge.
A Black-owned beach resort in Manhattan Beach was condemned “for a park” under false pretenses. The land sat unused for decades until finally turned into public parkland.
At the time Oregon’s second-largest city, Vanport housed many Black shipyard workers and their families. A flood destroyed it in hours; the site was later redeveloped into parkland and city facilities.
These are not exhaustive lists; there were several more. These are just the most documented and easy to verify cases.
As you dig into the history of white violence against black communities, you will find countless instances of injustice ranging from lynchings and murder, to the bombings of black towns, and blatant genocide and attempts at racial extermination.
This post only focused on a specific context, and hopefully you better understand why, of all people in the United States, black people can’t seem to hold on to generational wealth. It’s because when they’ve tried in the past, they were attacked, killed, and had everything taken from them – including the wealth that they were building.
It was systemic. For example, the Tulsa Massacre, Oklahoma (1921) with the banks and insurance companies locked out black account owners.
Insurance Companies: Survivors filed more than $1.8 million in claims (over $27 million today). Almost every single one was denied under “riot clauses,” leaving families with nothing.
- Local White-Owned Banks: Many Black residents had deposits and business accounts in Tulsa banks. After the massacre, banks refused to release funds, froze accounts, or denied withdrawals, effectively keeping the money from survivors.
The result? Even those who had been financially responsible, insured, and banking “the right way” lost everything twice – first in fire and violence, then in the systemic refusal to honor their wealth.
In the end, cash deposits and personal savings held in white-owned Tulsa banks, (about $1.8 million or up to $35 million at today’s value), 35 city blocks of homes and businesses, at least 191 Black-owned businesses (restaurants, movie theaters, law offices, doctor’s clinics), and over 1,200 homes were destroyed.
The US has a very sad and ongoing history of racism that has never fully been resolved, and because the turn of education on black history is going backwards, more and more people are forgetting that history, and it is important we remember it.
If you found this post insightful, please share and leave a positive but honest comment. I would love to hear your thoughts.
