 Welcome to Athens Politics Nerd where we break down commission meetings to bring you the important local news. Dozens of protesters packed City Hall last Tuesday demanding justice for Linnentown. They say their houses were stolen from them in the 60s by the University of Georgia. Will this wrong finally be made right? Will it even be recognized? Let's find out. You can keep up with local news, Georgia politics and national policy by subscribing. Linnentown was a black neighborhood in Athens that was right where those high-rise dorms stand today on Baxter Street. It was raised in the 60s during urban renewal where so-called blighted or slum areas across the country were demolished to make way for new development. The people living there didn't have an option to say no. The city bought their homes by invoking a government right called eminent domain and then they were destroyed. Governments are allowed to forcefully take people's property if it's in the public interest and so long as they pay adequate compensation. Now whether forcing people from their homes to put up student dorms is really in the public interest or not is perhaps debatable. What's more certain is that the amounts these black families were paid for their land was far from adequate. In some cases it was shockingly low. The median amount given in exchange was $5,800 which would be about $47,000 in today's dollars. I'm not an expert on real estate but I'm doubtful you can find a home in the downtown area for under $50,000 these days. So 50 black families had their properties stolen and were forcefully removed from their homes which were then destroyed. But a few homes from Linnentown managed to escape the destruction. One such home belongs to Geneva Johnson's family. This house right here is from Linnentown on Peabody. It's not the house we was raised in. They wouldn't let dad move our house that we was raised in because it was too big. They was going to tear it down anyway and they said this all the houses that was in Linnentown they said they were shacks and shambles. They were just but they were not. Basically they just kicked us out and if we didn't move fast enough we had to pay rent. They charged rent so even with this small amount of money that was given they wanted some of that back. They would push houses down of people that we knew and then some houses were burned and we saw you know some houses were burned down so it was traumatizing. Former residents of Linnentown like Geneva and Hattie say they want two things recognition and redress. With the help of Commissioner Mariah Parker and the Linnentown project these former residents have crafted a resolution which they want the mayor and commission to adopt. It calls first and foremost for recognition of the wrong that was done to them. They want an apology. This is something that UGA in particular has yet to give them. In a response to former residents push for recognition UGA sent a private statement to commissioners arguing against the resolution. UGA claims that the purchases were voluntary, that the homeowners were well compensated, that race had nothing to do with it, and that the urban renewal project was actually in the public interest. Okay so that's not any kind of apology. Beyond recognition the Linnentown resolution calls for financial compensation to the victims an on-site memorial and historic designation for the remaining Linnentown structures and it seems like commissioners are on board with it. Commissioner Parker helped draft the resolution like I said and several others have been strongly supportive. Another group of commissioners including Russell Edwards and Jerry Neesmith support at least parts of the resolution. Commissioner Edwards even attended a rally held by the group outside City Hall. When he got up to speak he let the crowd know his feelings. He said he supported the resolution but was concerned with parts of it and wanted to make some changes. And that was the wrong thing to say. He was booed off the stage with the crowd yelling this is what white supremacy looks like. So what could have possibly caused the crowd to boo a supporter? First Edwards wanted to make sure that the resolution's language about financial compensation was legal under state law. Second there's a line in the resolution that reads the city of Athens and the university system of Georgia perpetrated an act of institutionalized white supremacy and terrorism. While that may be true the local government's relationship with UGA is a critical one so I understand why some commissioners might prefer to compromise in the situation to get what's really important in the resolution past. When we sit in their faces and talk about compromise and talk about how we're gonna figure out something significant to do at some point some way somehow that is white supremacy still. That is white supremacy still. I will continue to insist that the resolution as written will make it onto a future agenda that is voted and it's passed that we follow through on every single step. I just hope we can get to the place where we are sitting around talking instead of sitting in a place where some folks feel as though they're being threatened. Well you know what first of all I wasn't talking directly to you okay. I volunteered a month a month ago after a long meeting where I almost cried with Hattie. Well you can you can laugh if you want I'm not laughing. Yes I am. Who the hell do you think you are to call me a liar? Just asking Mr. Neesmith. Okay. Something else is going on that keeps somebody from uh actually supporting the resolutions because they have tides or um what I heard was that um Commissioner Edwards did support the resolution but there was just maybe a few words in there like the really strong very strong language that we didn't mean maybe it's very true but that's what he did. Well you know if we say if we have we have said all along that we are not tied to just words we just want the intent to be the same you can change the word but the intent of the resolution should be the same but if you ask a person say okay if you want this word change with and we change it would you support the resolutions and we don't get an answer. I think that this is a process you know we're working towards meaningful legislation and we might have some minor differences I mean I view them as minor but I am committed to getting something passed and I'm here at the table. There has been a lot of miscommunication and when miscommunication happens you have a lot of people who take sides not knowing what's in the middle. I support the current iteration if that's what is pursued but I do hope though and I I do hope though that we the residents and I know the residents spoke to this tonight that the we the residents the mayor the commission can sit down and work together so that we can optimize our ability to implement those angles of redress because it is not enough to only recognize it is not enough as commissioner Thornton put it just to have a piece of paper it's not enough that's not why I signed up for this job it's just the past pieces of paper with good words on it that's an important part of it but it's the action that those words lead to that's why that's why I did this and so I want to make sure that that is our end goal that I know from talking to the residents that's the residents end goal that is my end goal as a commissioner this resolution can pass we have to talk to each other that's our best chance we need to communicate thanks for watching