Feds forcibly removed black occupiers from wildlife refuge in 1979

[tencats]

The group's anger was a slow burn.

But after decades of being ignored by federal authorities, its members decided to take a very public stand against what they saw as an unjust land grab by the U.S. government.

Without warning, they started an occupation of a sprawling national wildlife refuge.

The year: 1979.

The drama unfolding with armed occupiers holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns is similar to a standoff that made national headlines 37 years ago in Harris Neck, Ga.

But there are also stark differences, including the race of the Harris Neck occupiers – mostly displaced descendants of West African slaves -- and the tactics used by the FBI to quickly remove what the media casually called "squatters."

Also, the 40 members of People Organized for Equal Rights who set up a camp on the patch of land south of Savannah on April 30, 1979, were unarmed.

Instead of guns, the demonstrators, including prominent civil rights leaders, brought concrete blocks and bags of mortar to build new homes.

Their protest was straightforward and, upon reflection, heartbreaking.

Following the Civil War, a white plantation owner deeded the land on the Georgia coast to a former slave. In the decades that followed, the descendants of slaves moved to Harris Neck to build houses, factories and boats. They fished, hunted for oysters and grazed cattle.

Harris Neck evolved into a thriving community. Its members were recognized as a culturally unique group of African Americans called Gullah.

http://www.oregonlive.com/history/2016/01/oregon_standoff_feds_forcibly.html

[Autumn]

1. Wow. So why is it that our President and our AG have not directed action against

the thugs in Oregon who are destroying the wildlife refuge that they have squatted in?

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Do you really see the story above as something that should be supported and imitated?

nt

[Autumn]

5. No, I see the differences in the way each group is and has been handled.

And that pisses me off.

[DirkGently]

2. The Oregonian has been doing

a good job covering and discussing this -- better than anyone perhaps.

And the comments section is fascinating. A high proportion of rational voices, lightly salted with some truly wacko sovereign citizen flavored stuff.

Did you know, for example, that there is some kind of secret "executive order" that puts all mainstream news sources under some kind of direct government control?

[spanone]

4. you know, white squatters are so much more sensitive...we're wishing them out!

it doesn't sound like the black squatters had guns, otherwise this article would be an obituary

[TeddyR]

6. To me the fact that stood out

Was that the Georgia folks were unarmed and the Oregon folks are armed. That is a critical difference, and explains the different treatment. I personally don't support having the government assault the Oregon idiots, ending with a bunch of deaths (perhaps on both sides) and a new rallying cry for the right wing. In short, I disagree with those on DU who want to see bloodshed and death.

[Autumn]

7. I don't think there need be blood shed. Close them off.

No heat, no supplies and no media. No running back and forth at will. When they run out of snacks they can go home.