Eminent domain—it's the government's right to take private property for "public use" with just compensation. While this power is intended for societal progress, its history in America reveals a dark pattern of being used to oppress Black communities, seize their land, and destroy their wealth. The stories of Seneca Village, Bruce's Beach, and Black Wall Street show how this tool, either directly or indirectly, was used to undermine Black prosperity. Seneca Village and Central Park One of the earliest examples is the destruction of Seneca Village. In the 1820s, a thriving, self-sufficient community of free Black Americans lived on what is now Central Park in New York City. The village was a vital community where property ownership allowed Black men to vote, a rarity at the time. In the 1850s, the city used eminent domain to seize this land for the park. Despite being legal property owners, residents were paid minimal compensation and forcibly displaced,...