'Gaining Ground: The Fight For Black Land' Screens In Atlanta

The Bronzelens Film Festival has arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, for its annual celebration of black visual creators. Among them is filmmaker Eternal Polk and his film, Gaining Ground: The Fight for Black Land.

The full-feature documentary was created with the help of longtime morning news journalist Al Roker and his Al Roker Entertainment production company, which teamed with farming-equipment manufacturer Deere & Co., to bring the tale of black farmers to the screen.

Among the topics discussed in the film are:

Increasingly low numbers of black farmers and dwindling farmland.
The legal entanglements created by “heirs property.”
Causes and solutions to leveling the playing field when it comes to land ownership.

The film was underwritten by John Deere’s LEAP (Legislation, Education, Advocacy and Production Systems) program, which was formed by the company alongside the National Black Growers Council (NBGC) and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF).

AtlantaFi.com caught up filmmaker Eternal Polk and asked him about the issues that the film explores.

**What Is The Film Gaining Ground About?**

“It’s important for audiences for understand the history. We’re in a moment when our history is attempted to be aggressively erased. We cover the history of how we actually acquired land, how that land was lost by various means and then we focus on the leading culprit of that — which is heirs property — but we also talk about the solutions and the people in the trenches, in the field and those helping landowners to keep their land.”

Gaining Ground director Eternal Polk / AtlantaFi.com

Why Is Black Landownership So Important Right Now?

“When you look at farmland and landownership historically, initially it was a foundation for us to be able to vote. And on a level of providing a place to stay and having a safe place for your home and family, not to mention all the effort we’ve put into building this country, I think it’s only right that land is something that we address and have a conversation about.”

“Although there is a very strong conversation right now around reparations, I noticed that there has not been a very strong conversation about landownership for black folks or organizations taking the lead,” he said. “I think that’s why the LEAP Coalition program by John Deere is so important; because they identify something sustainable and it has generational impact and will close the wealth gap.”

We also spoke to Tharlyn Fox, LEAP manager for John Deere & Co., about the inequities that exist when it comes to landownership and how heirs property plays a major role in that.

Deere & Co. LEAP Manager Tharlyn Fox / AtlantaFi.com

“LEAP’s mission is to increase and improve the livelihood of black farmers, landowners and families as it relates to heirs property. Our overarching mission is to help them clear title to their land — not that it’s a singular issue for black farmers, but it is a big issue when it comes to black families and farmers. We do realize that that is the key to generational wealth and to helping them clear title to their land.”

Is Heirs Property Good Or Bad?

Fox says she wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a bad thing. “It’s a very fragile way of ownershhip for a family to have heirs property. If you have it, you cannot secure collateral for a loan because everyone who is an heir owns this property. So just imagine, if there’s a catastrophic incident like in Maui, or Katrina, it makes it very hard to take advantage of any government incentive programs supplied by FEMA and other agencies, because you then have to prove that you are entitled to this property.”

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you want to make sure that you have clear title to the land because you want to make sure that you’re prosperous and productive with the land so that they can then buy equipment, they can lease it if they want, and ultimately pass this on to the next generation.”