“We’re Still Here”: An Abolition Ecology Blockade of Double Dispossession of Gullah/Geechee Land

Abstract

Narratives of resilience to sea-level rise too often perpetuate social violence. An abolitionist climate justice praxis necessitates seeing beyond physical inundation to sea-level rise as the sole issue. We argue that sea-level rise is environmental racism, if not always in its racialized outcomes of disproportionate harms, then always in its racialized production of differential value. More than mitigating flood risk when developing Black land futures strategies, to mitigate coastal land loss in the face of rising seas necessitates dismantling “racial regimes of ownership” that are imbued in property relations. Recognizing such, we argue that land futures strategies in the face of rising seas must account for multiple capitalist modes of accumulation but specifically the primitive accumulation process connected to heirs’ property. Here, we argue that racial coastal formations are still underway in how sea-level rise and gentrification are leading to a double dispossession of land and displacing Gullah/Geechee people on Sapelo Island. Although such displacement precipitates loss through harm and violence, in this article we share strategies from abolition ecology praxis to “blockade” these double dispossession processes and, to a degree, even the narrative of loss. To situate the double dispossession narrative within a broader praxis that imagines alternative futures, we till the soil, trace the archives, and tread the marsh and drainage ditches with each other, and in solidarity with other residents, to work toward achieving agricultural revival, property retention, and flood risk mitigation.

对海平面上升弹性恢复力的论述, 往往延续了社会暴力的观点。废除主义气候正义的方法, 要求超越洪水淹没、将海平面上升做为唯一的问题。我们认为, 海平面上升是环境种族主义：它即便没有始终体现在种族化的不对称伤害中, 也总是存在于种族化的价值差异中。为了减少海平面上升所导致的沿海土地损失, 除了要在黑人土地未来策略中降低洪水风险, 还要废除财产关系中的“种族所有权制度”。面对海平面上升, 土地未来策略必须考虑资本主义积累的各种模式, 特别是与继承人财产有关的原始积累过程。我们认为, 种族化海岸的形成, 正在决定着海平面上升和绅士化如何导致土地的双重掠夺、如何迫使沙佩洛（Sapelo）岛的古拉/吉奇人（Gullah/Geechee）进行迁移。尽管迁移的伤害和暴力带来了损失, 我们分享的策略包括：生态废除方法、“封锁”双重掠夺过程、在某种程度上甚至对损失的阐述进行“封锁”, 等。为了将双重掠夺的论述置于更宽泛的未来假想方法中, 我们挖掘土壤、追踪档案、淌过沼泽和水沟。我们还与其他居民一起, 致力于复兴农业、保护财产和降低洪水风险。

Las narrativas sobre resiliencia frente al ascenso del nivel del mar perpetúan con mucha frecuencia la violencia social. Una praxis de justicia climática abolicionista requiere mirar más allá de la inundación física y el aumento del nivel del mar como único problema. Sostenemos que la elevación del nivel del mar es racismo ambiental, si bien no siempre con sus resultados racializados de daños desproporcionados, pero siempre en su producción racializada de valor diferencial. Más que mitigar el riesgo de inundación al desarrollar estrategias futuras frente a una tierra ennegrecida, para mitigar la pérdida de tierra costera ante mares transgresores es necesario desmantelar “regímenes raciales de la propiedad” que están imbuidos con las relaciones de la propiedad. Al reconocer esto, argüimos que las estrategias futuras de la tierra frente a los mares en ascenso deben tener en cuenta los múltiples modos de acumulación capitalista, pero específicamente el proceso primitivo de acumulación conectado con la propiedad de los herederos. En este escrito argumentamos que las formaciones raciales costeras se hallan todavía en curso en la forma en que la subida del nivel del mar y la gentrificación están llevando a una doble desposesión de la tierra y desplazando al pueblo Gullah/Geechee de la Isla de Sapelo. Aunque ese desplazamiento precipita pérdidas a través del daño y la violencia, en el artículo compartimos estrategias de praxis de la ecología abolicionista para “bloquear” estos procesos de doble desposesión y, hasta cierto punto, incluso la pérdida de la narrativa. Para situar la narrativa de la doble desposesión dentro de una praxis de mayor amplitud que imagina futuros alternativos, labramos la tierra, rastreamos los archivos, aplastamos conjuntamente el pantano y las zanjas de avenamiento, siendo solidarios con otros residentes, para trabajar en pro de la reactivación agrícola, la retención de la propiedad y la mitigación del riesgo de inundación.

Key Words:

• abolition ecology
• heirs’ property
• land dispossession
• racial capitalism
• sea-level rise

关键词:

• 废除生态
• 继承人财产
• 土地掠夺
• 种族资本主义
• 海平面上升。

Palabras clave:

• capitalismo racial
• ecología abolicionista
• desposesión de la tierra
• propiedad de los herederos
• subida del nivel del mar

Acknowledgments

We thank the special issue editor, Dr. Kendra Strauss, and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback. We also thank Jennifer Cassidento for shepherding us through the submission and revision process. Many thanks to Jazz Watts and Ron Johnson of the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society for their many conversations that informed this work, as well as employees of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, especially Doug Samson and Fred Hay. We thank the University of Georgia Marine Institute for its support of this project through access to its facilities. This is contribution number 2,000 from the University of Georgia Marine Institute. Finally, we thank two graduate research assistants, Dani Aiello and Caroline Keegan, for their efforts digging through the virtual property archives for us.

Notes

1 Geechee people are part of the Gullah/Geechee cultural group of African Americans whose population extends along the coast from Florida to North Carolina.

2 The 1983 Sapelo Island Heritage Authority Act charges the State of Georgia to preserve Hog Hammock “for the benefit of present and future generations” in recognition that “the best and most important use of this area of Greater Sapelo Island is for said community to remain, as it currently exists, a historic community, occupied by the direct descendants of the slaves of Thomas Spalding” (Georgia General Assembly 2010).

3 We used owner descriptors that included phrases such as “et al.,” “care of,” or “est” for estate. Our estimate of heirs’ property is conservative. A 1982 estimate shows more properties with undivided interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation Geography and Spatial Sciences Program (Award #SBE-1759594), the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center under funding received from the National Science Foundation (Award #DBI-1639145), and the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research Program under funding received from the National Science Foundation (Award #OCE-1832178).

Notes on contributors

Dean Hardy

DEAN HARDY is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the School of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include examining the political ecology of coastal landscapes in solidarity with coastal communities working for climate justice.

Maurice Bailey

MAURICE BAILEY is President and CEO of the nonprofit organization Save Our Legacy Ourself (SOLO) located in the community of Hog Hammock on Sapelo Island, GA 31327. E-mail: [email protected]. He is a protector of the Community of Hog Hammock, Spirit of Sapelo Tours business owner, co-director of the Cornelia Walker Bailey Program, and the Agricultural Director for the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society.

Nik Heynen

NIK HEYNEN is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include political ecology and racial and environmental justice. He is co-director of the Cornelia Walker Bailey Program.