Ford, come to the table to ensure blue oval’s legacy is not reinforcing historic racism in west tennessee
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE OUR NEWLY PUBLISHED RESEARCH ON
FORD’S “equitable growth ADVISORY COUNCIL”
and racism IN WEST TENNESSEE
Blue Oval Good Neighbors is a coalition of local residents and allied faith, labor, and community organizations that are calling on Ford to come to the table to negotiate a legally-binding Community Benefits Agreement for Blue Oval City in West Tennessee.
Local residents are calling on Ford to make commitments including on affordable housing, local hire and workforce development, environmental protections and support for our impacted agricultural communities.
We formally invited Ford to the table in April 2024 with no response, though we have been engaging them to come to the table for over a year. We have held over twenty town halls since 2022 on the impact of Blue Oval City on predominantly Black communities in the region.
we need a community benefits agreement, now!
Ford’s Arrival to West Tennessee Is Already Reinforcing a historic Racial Economic Divide
As Ford has moved into town, the State of Tennessee has attempted to take over the charter of the majority-Black City of Mason and acquire the land of Black farmers through eminent domain for Blue Oval related construction. Because of a history of racist political and economic policy, Black communities in West Tennessee already have lower household incomes and higher poverty rates than the majority white counties of the region. Rising housing costs and potential environmental harm are set to push the predominantly Black communities out and threaten their livelihood. West Tennessee has a history of Jim Crow policies that Ford could reinforce.
HIGHER PERCENTAGE BLACK =
LOWER median HOUSEHOLD INCOME
Percent black population
Ford’s advisory council & racism in west tennessee
racist gerrymandering
SCHOOL SEGREGATIOn
PRIVATE PRISONs
REAL ESTATE DEVELOPers
Ford claims that its Equitable Growth Advisory Council will “examine existing barriers that may keep traditionally under-served populations from participating in the economic growth that Ford’s Blue Oval City project will bring.”
But Ford’s Council includes several West Tennessee politicians who have held onto power for decades in a region with a history of Jim Crow policies and have ties to racist gerrymandering, school segregation, private prisons, and the real estate development industry set to benefit from Blue Oval City in West Tennessee.
Taylor has been the Fayette County Mayor for 22 years. He owns land worth at least $5.6 million in the region, set to benefit from development. This number may be much greater since land records do not allow us to determine if he owns additional properties as part of LLCs and trusts.
mayor rhea “SKIP” taylor
TAKING OVER BLACK COMMUNITY SPACES
Mayor Taylor shuttered the beloved Bernard Community Center in Mason, TN, which had been an important space for Black community members to gather, celebrate, and organize for over twenty years. The community center has also historically served as a polling site.
Disenfranchised Black Communities
Taylor coordinated the most recent Fayette County redistricting process, led by five commission members hand-picked by him, only one of whom was Black. This process led to district maps with only one majority Black district for the County’s 27 percent Black residents. Despite attorneys advising Taylor and the Commission about the threats of civil rights litigation, they approved these maps.ongoing school segregation in fayette county
Fayette County Public Schools remain under a consent order to desegregate. Most recently, in 2023, a consent decree signed by a judge noted that ongoing investigations continued to find vestiges of racial discrimination in the school system.
Mayor Huffman has been the Tipton County Mayor for 38 years.
He owns over $1 million in land in the region, set to benefit from development. This number may be much greater since land records do not allow us to determine if he owns additional properties as part of LLCs and trusts.
mayor JEFF HUFFMAN
Huffman serves as a Board Member of the Megasite Authority of West Tennessee. Marianne Dunavant, Ford’s Community Relations Manager, campaigned for him.
CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH FORD
supported takevoer of majority-black city of mason
Huffman advocated for the State’s attempt to take over majority-Black city of Mason, TN’s charter in 2021, even though Mason is a city in his county.
When a private prison in Tipton County, run by CoreCivic was faced with closure in 2021, Huffman strongly advocated to “save” the facility by shifting the contract to Immigration & Customs Enforcement, citing the impact on the County and Mason’s revenue.
CoreCivic has paid millions in damages to the State and been sued by families of incarcerated people who have died at their Tennessee facilities.
advocate for private prison industry
Rep. Johnny shaw
SENATOR Page walley
private prison & Real estate development industry donors set to profit
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CoreCivic, a private prison company, is one of the largest donors in the State of Tennessee. CoreCivic was Representative Johnny Shaw's largest donor between 2021-2024 and a top donor to Senator Page Walley.
While Mayor Huffman ultimately lost the fight to keep the CoreCivic facility open in West Tennessee, it is likely that as population growth occurs, CoreCivic will continue lobbying for other state prison contracts in the region.
CoreCivic, though no longer a Real Estate Investment Trust, like other private prison companies, often plays the role of a developer.
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FOCUS PAC, Walley’s second largest donor and one of Shaw's donors from 2021-2024, is fully funded by Wayne Halfway House, a juvenile detention facility company run by Jason Crews. Crews also runs the Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Facility and is an individual donor to Walley.
The prison industry’s donations to Walley have paid off—as the Chair of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Juvenile Justice, he recommended policy changes, criticized by youth advocates, that increased the number of juvenile detention beds and lowered the age for transfer to state prisons.
Crews, in addition to being a developer himself and donor to the real estate industry groups mentioned below, will likely also lobby for increased contracts in the growing region.
Private prison growth in West Tennessee, often associated with rural development in the US, will rely on stricter state sentencing laws to perpetuate Tennessee's systemically racist criminal punishment system and further the racial and economic divide.
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Build Tennessee PAC, who donated to both Shaw and Walley, is a real estate developer-funded entity created in 2022 that spent heavily in an attempt to push through legislation limiting wetland protections in the 2024 legislative cycle, likely to supercharge development in West Tennessee.
The PAC is funded by a group of organized developers that represent real estate firms and housing developers, including DR Homes and Magnolia Homes, both of which have recorded purchases of a large number of residential tracts across Fayette and Tipton County between 2021 and 2024 in the years since the announcement of Blue Oval City. Keith Grant is one of Build Tennessee’s top donors, and at least two LLCs he owns under Grant & Co. also purchased many tracts of land in the region during this time period. -
Both Walley and Shaw have received contributions from the Housing Industry PAC, the political lobbying arm of the Home Builders Association of Tennessee. Grant was the former president of the West Tennessee Chapter of the association.
