New York Paralegal Blog

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,...

Confronting race and racism : social identity in African American gay men : "This qualitative study examines how race and racism function in gay communities, looking at factors facing African American gay men in their identity formation and daily experience. Specifically, this study has examined the presence of sexual racism, sexualized racial stereotypes that affect the way men of color are viewed by white gay men. Twelve self-identified African American gay men living in the Boston metropolitan area were recruited by word-of-mouth and snowball sampling. Drawing on existing areas of research, each participant was administered a demographic survey and interviewed about his experiences within predominately white middle-class mainstream gay communities. African American gay men, often considered to be cultural outlaws by both Gay and African American communities, are subjected to sexual and traditional racism, and may be made to feel ignored or excluded from mainstream Lesbian Gay B...