This ghost town in the California desert offers a crucial lesson about the history of American racism bloomberg.com/opinion/articl… via @bopinion
"Allentown owes its existence to two Black men: Army officer Colonel Allen Allensworth of Kentucky and William A. Payne, an Ohio educator. They set out to establish a place 'where African Americans would settle upon the bare desert and cause it to blossom as a rose.'"
"Allensworth quickly became a shining example of Black self-sufficiency and prosperity. But this also proved to be its greatest vulnerability. White-owned business interests soon started to deal with it in ways that only racism can explain."
"The Pacific Farming Company, which sought to develop rural areas into farms and municipalities, initially profited by selling plots to Black people at inflated prices, but then limited Allensworth’s growth by prohibiting land sales to African Americans."
"Worse, the Pacific Water Company reneged on a promise to build enough wells: It ultimately built only four, compared with 10 in a neighboring White town."
"The company never responded to residents’ pleas to correct the disparity, and ultimately — in response to a lawsuit — turned over the inadequate system to the town."
"This was devastating. The community lacked the capital and other resources needed to drill deeper wells, fit them with pumps and make other improvements. Without access to water, Allensworth’s agricultural economy suffered."
"Further, in a profound act of economic punishment, the Santa Fe Railroad Co diverted trains away from Allensworth. It built a new stop in a neighboring town even though the original stop was fully functional & prosperous. The town of Alpaugh became a new spur & shipping center."
"Just as surely as the Black communities of Tulsa, Oklahoma and Rosewood, Florida attracted White mobs, Allensworth’s thriving, success and achievement made it a target for an equally destructive process."
"This economic punishment has repeated itself from generation to generation — in construction of interstate highways, urban renewal projects, in gentrification — to create & entrench the deep racial disparities in wealth, environment & opportunity that divide America today."
"Only by recognizing the damage done, and seeking ways to repair it, will this nation move forward."
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