As Tennessee Welcomes Ford's BlueOval City, Some Black Farmers Say They Are Getting Left Out
Ford’s BlueOval City is gearing up to be a game-changer for both the company and many residents of the state of Tennessee. The 4,100-acre, $5.6 billion campus is planned to make Ford a leader in EVs. With thousands of new jobs, it could be a boon locally, but not for everyone, as Tennessee Lookout reports that the state has been allegedly lowballing Black farmers for their land as room is made way for new roads that will lead to BlueOval City.
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Tennessee has rolled out the red carpet for Ford, mainly in the form of an $844 million deal that helps the automaker pay for building out the site. As construction has continued, land values have gone up for land near the campus. One local listing for 70 acres near the site is on the market for $14.5 million. Because of this increase in value, many in the area want to cash in while they can, specifically Black landowners. BlueOval City is being constructed near Stanton, Tennessee, which is in Haywood County, a rural farming community that is nearly 51 percent Black.
Tennessee, though, seems determined to do what it can to get the Ford site up and running, which apparently includes lowballing property owners there, according to Tennessee Lookout’s reporting. Take Marvin Sanderlin. Sanderlin owns 400 acres and may sell some of it at the right price but calls the state’s offer a “ripoff.”
The Department of Transportation is currently suing him over 10 of his acres that happen to lie in the path of a planned road that would lead from BlueOval City to a nearby interstate. Their offer: $3,750 per acre or $37,500. “That’s unheard of.” You can’t buy no land here for $3,500 an acre. You can’t buy a swamp here for $3,500. I told them this is the biggest ripoff there is. They want your land, but they don’t want you to participate in the wealth,” he said.
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Another local landowner, Ray Jones, is going through the same thing. A court filing from February shows the Department of Transportation is attempting to use eminent domain for an acre of his family’s land for just $8,165. On that acre of land is a mineral spring his family discovered over a century ago. Jones made sure to reiterate his problem isn’t with Ford; it’s with the state. “My whole beef? All the people are benefiting from BlueOval and that’s good. We are 100% in support of BlueOval. Make sure you quote me on that. But then you want to take my spring and give me pennies on it? It’s an unreasonable situation,” he said.
They aren’t going down without a fight. Take 82-year-old Rosa Whitmore, who was offered just $8,000 for two acres of her land. “I understand there’s going to be changes. But we don’t want to make that progress off us. If you’re going to make progress in this Black community, then let us see some advantage out of it. There’s nothing we can do with $8,000 except be mad.”
I reached out to Ford to see if it had any comment and will update this post if it gets back.
