The Neighbourhood: Union City
Washington’s black-owned ‘micro-towns’ remind us of the importance of black ownership.
Do dreams come true?
Sometime last year, I sat in the kitchen of my uni accommodation with my friend Tobi, rambling on for hours about a number of varying topics (most of which neither of us can probably remember), in our usual style of monologuing that which we’d been ruminating on up until the point of these semi-regular chats. Despite forgetting the bulk of what we talked about then, I distinctly remember discussing the tragedy that is the lack of black ownership as we see it now, contributing to temporary affluence within black communities when compared against others. I won’t go into extraneous details surrounding exactly what was said because we’d also discussed writing something about this together properly one day, which I still look forward to. Nevertheless, our dreams about black communities with black-owned businesses and black-owned real estate were things we sat there fixated on for hours as part of our vision, as these appeared to be the only solutions to black liberation in the material sense which would of course, provide room for liberation in several other forms.
In between then and now, discussions on the left around the concept of ‘community’ emerged in ways that offer a lot of theory but at times feel one-dimensional, often falling flat at the concept of ownership for marginalised communities, which ultimately places at risk the safety we aim to cultivate within these spaces. In addition to communal spaces that welcome the general public, I’d like to see more spaces that aren’t mere extensions of our current society in the way that they operate, specifically regarding who it is that holds the set of keys here. For example, there is a certain danger for black tenants at the mercy of white landlords and white neighbours (given the historical context of racial discrimination around this area).
I remember watching the Amazon Prime’s series ‘THEM’, a psychological horror anthology whose first season ‘Covenant’ follows a black family in the early 1900’s, who having moved to an all-white neighbourhood in Compton are forced to co-exist with racially charged evil. Initially, the family had fled the Jim Crow South in search of better financial opportunities, though the virulent racism they encountered left them in a perpetual state of fear as was the experience of those living in the reality of the show’s depiction. The writing managed to intertwine historical accuracy with the supernatural in a way that highlighted the isolation that comes with facing an evil one doesn’t have the tools to combat. In the way that the Emorys were unable to tackle the supernatural element at play, black victims of hate crimes in white neighbourhoods operate on another plane of justice than their perpetrators do, unable to break through the very tangibly thick veil of racial discrimination to demand equal treatment.
*For those of you that might consider watching this season of the show, it’s worth mentioning that whilst it visualises racial violence in an interesting way, there are those of us that also criticise the extent of unnecessary trauma porn that takes place throughout*
I suspect that the notion of community for a lot of black people looks entirely different than how it does to white liberals online, who, despite being at the forefront of a lot of this discourse are the least vulnerable in cases where discrimination might take place. So it makes me smile now to observe and attend all these events run by black men and women targeted at addressing these concerns. But in addition to providing ‘third spaces’ I also have this desire to see us also looking at what safety looks like when we return to our homes, our neighbourhoods. These more permanent dwellings would offer protection as well as kinship, between protection from a society constructed from racist ideals, the protection of black-owned property, and the protection of wealth within black communities.
Union City
In 2023, Booker Washington, 41 year-old owner and founder of micro-home-builder Techie Homes, envisioned creating a community where everyday people could afford to buy a home. This vision materialized with the opening of South Park Cottages in 2023, a village of 29 tiny homes just outside Atlanta, with prices ranging from $190,000 to $230,000—significantly lower than the typical home sold in Atlanta, which cost $431,250 as of February 2024. The demand for affordable housing was made all too clear, with all 29 homes, ranging from 400 to 650 square feet, managing to sell out over a year before construction was completed and less than two months after hitting the market. Washington initially aimed to offer locals an alternative to renting or buying a traditional single-family home, with the goal of providing homes at a price point where mortgages are equal to or less than the cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment.
But as the first Black-owned micro-home community in the Atlanta area, it’s success was also indicative of the relief at the sight of black ownership in real estate, leading to the development of a second community, Union Park Cottages, with sales for its 26 homes having launched earlier this year. Washington crowdsourced $2 million for the construction of South Park Cottages after being rejected by investors and banks, and backers who contributed as little as $1,000 and would only agree to contribute in a way that guaranteed them up to a 12% return on their investment.
The community covers two and a half acres and includes communal amenities such as a quarter-mile trail for bikers and pedestrians, a 2,000-square-foot fruit and vegetable garden, and a fire pit. Residents of various ages and professions make up the homeowners association, which governs the community. Homeowners at South Park Cottages have the opportunity to build equity, with typical monthly mortgage payments of about $1,500, compared to the average rent in Atlanta of $2,100 a month. Washington declined to share how much it cost to build each home but hinted that it was low enough to make a profit, with the community valued at $6.1 million. Union Park Cottages, located in Union City, features 26 homes, with prices from $230,000 to $250,000, and a planned mixed-use commercial space where residents can also build equity.
Of course, there aren’t restrictions as to who can live in this micro-community concerning the races of it’s tenants, but segregation isn’t what I’m advocating for, nor is it the goal for others who emphasise the importance of those like Washington. The presence of black ownership is at times enough to create a safe space for black people even as they engage with other communities.
…And yet I can’t shake an uneasy feeling,
Because there are questions about how to protect the micro-communities designed in a way which ensures the safety and welfare of black people. It almost appears as a threat to those keen to keep wealth in white pockets when black people decide to create their own communities and keep their money circulating within their own families. Outside of the traditional education system, within the walls of a digital world with far deeper archives than any censored textbook, many of us have learned about the Tulsa and Rosewood massacres of the ’20s in which the false accusations of black men harming white women led to the collective murders of between 1,000 and 3500 black civilians and the destruction of ‘Black Wall Street’, a prosperous black neighbourhood in Greenwood, in addition to the homes of many in both cases.
What we learned here is that the fury that comes with white fragility and the need for dominance over others breeds the entitlement to destruction on a mass scale. As people gathered to hunt unarmed black people, I’m sure that the images of the supposed white female ‘victims’ weren’t on their minds at all, but more so the gratification that would come from destroying the potential for black generational wealth, in addition to crushing futile notions of resistance against the image of black mouths waiting on the benevolence of white hands to feed them.
I suppose ensuring that we remember these massacres for what they tell us about the threat of black empowerment to cultural hegemony is a start when it comes to protecting new projects like Union Park, which have already seemed to establish its own means of circulating wealth within a city whose metropolitan area holds the second largest black population of 2.3 million (after New York). We should also be continuing to support black-owned businesses, in addition to other real-estate ventures like these,
(of which I’m sure there are many), so if anybody has any more information on companies/individuals whose support they’d like to see more of, make sure to comment.
Those of you who read me regularly know I don’t tend to shy away from the horrors bred by human existence, and the inconceivable levels of injustice that occur daily, and I have no problem reporting on the devastation taking place as being sufficiently informed becomes all the more important. Still, I have to admit, it’ll be nice to publish writing about something good happening to those within my diaspora, even if they aren’t my neighbours. What has become the practice of consistently writing about black injustices as it is a necessity to make others aware of them has become so routine for me and other black writers that reporting on this kind of venture feels unfamiliar in the best way. I had originally planned to end today’s post in a way that cyclically mirrors its beginning, connoting a ‘dream come true’ regarding this instance of black ownership. Then I realised that sounded a little ‘problem solved!’, even though there is still so much activity required to protect these micro-homes and their residents as I’d already mentioned.
Even still, here’s to steps taken forward.
Asisa
Sources
https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/tiny-home-community-in-georgia-sells-out-in-2-months-photos/471344 Info on Union City
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/thousands-lost-everything-tulsa-race-massacre-including-my-family Personal Memoir - Tulsa Race Massacre
https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/rosewood-massacre Rosewood Massacre
i also share your fears. they’ve done it to the black neighborhood that used to be central park—by bomb. tulsa by fire and violence. new orleans by flood. i’m fearful yet hopeful at the same time. thank you for using your voice!! great work.