The Promised Land

In this editorial, Derek Jennings discusses the great significance of land in the black psyche, and the continued discrimination blacks have faced when attempting to acquire it. He highlights the relationship between land and compensation for slavery, citing historical precedents for mass land grants. The Nation of Islam even demanded that the government give an entire state to blacks: "...the nationalists were insistent that some practical means had to be devised to mitigate the sheer economic impact of a society wholly dedicated to the suppression of black economic interests for centuries. We had no need of platitudes and pledges, we needed something real." Ultimately, he says that black land loss helps demonstrate tangible fallout from racism.