Two ways to lose the land told in one story

The email came out of the blue. He'd been referred by someone in another state. "Can you help my family?" was the question. "I don't know; what is the problem?"

And, thus began the dialogue via the telephone and the internet about a complicated story on one level, but one which may be rather simple on another level.

The story must and should be told, but it has to be done so with permission and with anonymity assured. The family wants people to know that these things take place in America, and that they take place too often with the African American citizens of our country.

Land has been in this family for several generations. It has been farmed, and it is currently being farmed though on a small scale. The land is rich in gravel, so a gravel contract was signed. The money for the gravel was delivered. Then, a contract for the sale of the land, complete with forged signature, was deemed legitimate. The contract for the gravel was a miniscule sum of money by comparison to the value of the land. Only a fool would sell that much land for that small a sum.

The family lost the land. Then, in court, with proof of forgery, the land was returned to this family. This time the family obtained clear title to the land. It is their family's property. No doubt about it.

Then, a demand letter arrives in the mail. Someone is now claiming to own a portion of the land. Unless it is sold as demanded, a partition suit will be filed in court. Who has sold his or her portion of the property? To whom has it been sold? The family can't find out the answer to the first question. The answer to the second question looks to be an attorney who was involved the first time around.

Begin to look suspicious? For some of us, this looks like a good case for a conspiracy theory which must be discounted because "these things don't happen in America." For some of the rest of us, this looks like land loss, theft of land, loss of land via one of a number of nefarious means, and in the words of Clenora Hudson-Weems, a "lynching."

I have no idea what is going on around the country with regard to exploring these matters, but at least one state legislature may be doing something about it.

This family is holding on desperately to the family land. Their legacy is on that land. The elderly family members are dying. Someone wants that land badly, really, really badly. I wonder why. The suspicion is that the land is very valuable. There's natural gas beneath that land.

No wonder somebody wants it and will go to any lengths to get it.