Justice Coming Home

UGA doesn’t have a good history with race relations. Whether it is Frat boys yelling racial slurs in a viral video, or their star linebacker, Otis Reese, transferring from UGA after being called the N-word by a white student-athlete, or attempting to cover-up a slave burial ground discovered during construction on an academic building: “UGA does meaningful things to combat these situations only when they are pushed to do so,“ says a student protestor holding a banner near the stadium entrance to UGA’s homecoming football game.

At 3:00 PM on Saturday, October 16, 2021, several students and concerned community members in support of The Linnentown Project unfurled a large banner reading “Reparations for Linnentown'' from the bridge connecting the Tate Student Center and the Miller Learning Center as thousands of people filed down below into the stadium. The students that lead this action are fighting for reparations for Linnentown, which was a thriving black middle-class neighborhood in the 1960s that UGA and Athens-Clarke county forced out of their homes through the use of Eminent Domain and “Urban Renewal'' legislation in order to build the Russel, Creswell, and Brumby residence halls.

According to one of the demonstrators, a graduate student in Geography, “To us, reparations means ‘repairing relationships.’ Monetary reparations are one of many steps that UGA can do to take responsibility for this and help those harmed by this to process their past, manage their suffering, and secure a better future.” By unfurling their banner on the day of homecoming with the hashtag #JusticeComingHome, the concerned students and Athenians seek to make a connection between the spirit of the homecoming game and UGA’s involvement in the loss of a home to come back to for far too many Athens residents.

When asked why they are doing this, one of the people holding a banner said:

“One of the directors of campus planning came to talk to a sustainability class I was in at the time. I asked her about Linnentown, and what kind of community input programs UGA has developed since then to make sure something like that never happens again. The answer was: they didn’t at all. It confirmed for me that UGA was never going to right its wrongs without major interventions from students. The best way to get an institution like UGA to do anything is to hurt the bottom lines, and in this case, that means the image they present to people coming on campus. By creating a spectacle like this on a big event like the homecoming game, UGA and all the onlookers pay attention. We want people who come to UGA to know the violence this institution has done and to join us to help get UGA to sit down with the residents and discuss the next steps for correcting the harm.”

In contrast, the Athens Clarke County government, which was also involved in the urban renewal deal, has made some strides towards the process of recognition and redress. The County Commission has passed the Linnentown Resolution offering an apology and recognition for acts of “institutionalized white racism and terrorism as well as created a Memory and Justice Committee to determine how reparations could be granted to the community. This resolution was passed after intense pressure from the Athens residents in solidarity with the Linnentown Project, headed by Hattie Thomas Whitehead, a former resident of Linnentown seeking justice.

Because of the community’s pressure, ESPN aired a piece on Linnentown during the UGA home opener against the University of Alabama Birmingham. Shining the national spotlight on Linnentown for even a few minutes revealed just how much this means to so many people. The group of protesters claims that they are not part of the aforementioned Linnentown Project, but rather individual students and Athens residents seeking to support the work and the movement the Linnentown Project has created.

When asked why they chose today for the protest, one of the doctoral students pointed up to the banner, which hung right below the University’s homecoming sign:

“UGA’s slogan is ‘Home is where the arch is’ and so we're bringing attention to the way that UGA has destroyed homes here in Athens to build their University. … We can see all of these students streaming in here to go to the homecoming game. And so we're letting them know that UGA directly benefited economically from this destruction. So it's important to bring justice home. UGA shouldn't celebrate homecoming without atoning for the homes they've destroyed.

As for those who would like to get involved, an Athens resident and former student had this to say:

“It's important that we all work together to force UGA to come to the table and own up to their past atrocities. Anyone willing and able should help us. If you care about restorative justice or if you say you care about the well-being of other human beings you should support us.”

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THE STORY OF LINNENTOWN

If you’ve ever walked down Baxter Street past Creswell Hall you’ve likely passed an overgrown historical plaque dedicated to the Jeruel Institute/ Union Academy, a

prominent school in the Linnentown community. Where now students live in high rises or park on the west deck, once was a thriving community that the University of Georgia burnt to the ground. Around 1900, Black families in Athens, Georgia settled in a 20-acre area bordered by Baxter Street, South Finley Street, and Church Street. With Hot Corner right down the street, it was a burgeoning and stable Black community with the majority of residents fully owning their own homes. Linnentown or sometimes; Lyndontown; as the community called itself, was a place

where Black families were beginning to build up wealth and assets through stable jobs and property ownership, laying bricks for a Black middle class. That is until their wealth was taken and the community destroyed by the University of Georgia and the City of Athens.

In 1962, with the support of the City of Athens and elected officials like the United States Senator Richard B. Russell, the University won a federal contract through the Federal Urban Renewal Program to demolish Linnentown--slum clearance as it was called. The properties were condemned, and the City forced families to move. Because homes were seized for as little as $2000, many families ended up in public housing or spread out across the City. The city searched bank accounts, life insurance plans, and payroll records without consent. The University demolished houses through controlled burns before homeowners’ very eyes and orchestrated the removal of this Black community so that it could erect the currently existing luxury dormitories Brumby, Russell, and Creswell Hall. By 1966, the University of Georgia Urban Renewal Program, or Project GA R50, had erased an entire community.

We believe that reckoning with UGA’s violent past starts with responsibility and reparations:

1. Responsibility:

UGA must come to the table to talk with descendants of the Linnentown Community. They must take responsibility for contributing to racial injustices by destroying the homes of 50 Black families. They must admit that because Brumby Hall, Russell Hall, and Cresswell Hall currently stand upon the places where Linnentown families once lived, UGA directly benefited economically from this destruction, and agree to return the stolen wealth.

2. Reparations:

The university and the city joined forces in the 1950s that led to destruction and dispossession. On February 16, 2021, Athens-Clarke County adopted The Linnentown Resolution for Recognition and Redress, which recognized its collaboration with UGA in the processes of urban renewal and Black displacement. It is now time for UGA to join the city in enacting reparations.

We urge UGA to form a committee of its faculty across interdisciplinary departments to work with community members to review the debt that UGA owes the descendants of Linnentown. In taking responsibility and enacting reparations, UGA can move towards just futures by atoning for its violent past.

What YOU can do to help hold UGA to account:

Contact Jere Morehead, UGA President (706)-542-1214

Sample text: "I am calling to ask Jere Morehead and the administration of UGA to meet with the first descendants of Linnentown to discuss a plan for redistributing the co

mmunity wealth stolen through the demolition of Athens residents' homes. UGA has been silent for too long.”

Post on social media using the hashtags #justicecominghome #UGAHomecoming to explain why it is important to you that UGA take responsibility for its actions and enact reparations for Linnentown.