Slave descendants still fighting for Georgia court to hear discrimination claims

DARIEN, Ga. (AP) — Black landowners from a tiny island community returned to a Georgia courtroom Friday urging a judge to let them move forward with a lawsuit that accuses local officials of illegally weakening protections for one of the South's last Gullah-Geechee communities founded by freed slaves. Residents and landowners of Hogg Hummock on Sapelo Island have yet to see a judge weigh the merits of their discrimination case nearly two years after they first sued McIntosh County. They say county commissioners targeted a mostly poor, Black population with 2023 zoning changes that benefit wealthy white land buyers and developers. So far, the case has been bogged down by technicalities. A judge last year dismissed the original lawsuit, citing legal errors unrelated to its alleged rights violations. On Friday, a lawyer for McIntosh County asked a judge to also throw out an amended version of the suit, saying it failed to state a legal conflict within the court's jurisdiction and missed critical deadlines set by state law. Residents fear unaffordable tax increases The zoning rules being challenged doubled the size of homes allowed in Hogg Hummock, one of a dwindling number of small communities started by emancipated island slaves — known collectively as Gullah, or Geechee in Georgia — scattered from North Carolina to Florida. Scholars say these peoples' separation from the mainland caused them to retain much of their African heritage, from their unique dialect to skills and crafts such as cast-net fishing and weaving baskets. Hogg Hummock's few dozen remaining residents and their advocates say the changes will bring unaffordable tax increases, threatening one of America's most historically and culturally unique Black communities. "We're in limbo," said Richard Banks, who owns the Sapelo Island home of his late father, built on land passed down in his family for generations. "You don't know what decisions you have to make in regard to your property." The lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center asks a judge to declare the zoning changes violate the landowners' constitutional rights to due process and equal protection by discriminating against them "on the basis of race." It also accuses the county of violating Georgia laws governing zoning procedures and public meetings. County lawyers say the lawsuit was filed too late McIntosh County's lawyers deny commissioners violated anyone's rights. But they argue the lawsuit should be dismissed without getting into those claims. They say fears of hypothetical tax increases don't present a valid legal conflict for a judge to decide. "There's no allegation that existing businesses must close," attorney Patrick Jaugstetter said in court Friday. "There's no evidence that any current use of a property must cease." Jaugstetter also said the refiled lawsuit came too late, well beyond Georgia's 30-day deadline for challenging zoning decisions and its six-month deadline for alleging violations of the open meetings law. Malissa Williams, a lawyer for the Black landowners, said those deadlines were met by the original lawsuit filed in 2023. "They should be allowed to challenge the (zoning) amendments because they will have a ripple effect on every aspect of their lives," Williams said. Discrimination case is one of two pending lawsuits by Black residents Senior Judge F. Gates Peed did not rule from the bench Friday. He asked both sides to submit proposed orders by the end of August. A second legal battle between Sapelo Island residents and county officials is pending before the Georgia Supreme Court. A decision is expected by mid-November on whether residents can attempt to repeal the 2023 zoning changes by forcing a special election. A scheduled referendum last fall was halted by a lower court judge, who ruled the vote was illegal.