Corporations like the government too. Ford is barreling into Tennessee with a new electric vehicle factory. The state offered 900 million in tax incentives for Ford to come on over.
They plan, according to Reason Magazine, to build a massive 5.6 Billion dollars campus in the west of Tennessee. It’s so massive it will be called “OvalCity” and serve as a work-live, newly created city. Remember the old Tennessee Ernie Ford song, “I owe my soul to the company store”? Back in the day, mining companies would create these “company towns” where their workers were essentially locked to their workplace, living nearby in company sponsored homes while going to company-sponsored stores. They would often jack up the prices.
In addition to tax breaks, the state government is spending tax money to create this bizarre city-like structure. They’ll be spending 250 million on construction and road improvements.
But through eminent domain, the government is eager to evict the many farmers who live in the small, 400 person town of Stanton, which is where the new site would be. The farmland has historically have been a life line for black people wanted to produce their own income away from the interference of racism. Since the beginning of the century, this neck of the woods has been a safe haven for industrious black farmers. Now that legacy will be destroyed.
One farmer said he was offered $37,500 for his ten acres in property, which, according to the Tennessee Lookout, if dramatically below the property value. But this isn’t free market. It’s eminent domain.
A farmer told the Tennessee Lookout that, “They’re giving a $6 billion company access, but they aren’t worried about this one little farmer. We’re giving up land, but we’re going to get less out of this deal than anybody, and we’re impacted the most.”
He did hire an attorney to advocate for keeping his farm and livelihood. If there are any legal bigwigs reading this, you might want to take this case pro-bono.
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