How Would The Bureau Of Land Management Reacted If Bundy Ranch Was Owned By Blacks?

[Steve_McGarrett]

Indeed. It is a good question we should be asking ourselves. The author at Slate states:

"Finally, I can’t help but wonder how conservatives would react if these were black farmers—or black anyone—defending “their” land against federal officials. Would Fox News applaud black militiamen aiming their guns at white bureaucrats?"


The better question is how would the government react? We don't even have to theorize about it. Not too long ago the Dept of Agriculture was massively compensating black farmers for imagined loan discrimination --it was such a huge scam that even blacks who had never farmed and simply had potted plants were able to claim they were farmers who'd been discrimated against and filed for compensation. So not only would cattle of black ranchers never have been seized but they would have been bought for black non-ranchers.



Bundy Ranch and Bureau of Land Management standoff: What right-wingers' anger says about race.

 

[waltky]

Eminent domain trumps ATV...

Owners Run Out of Legal Fees, Surrender, in Land Battle With Government
April 17, 2014 — A Breckenridge couple have agreed to sell a 10-acre parcel in the Colorado mountains to Summit County for open space after a months-long court battle.

The Summit Daily News reports (http://tinyurl.com/qxfsovw) Andy and Ceil Barrie reached a $115,000 settlement on Friday after court-ordered mediation. County authorities moved to seize the land by eminent domain in October, saying water quality and wildlife habitat were threatened because the Barries wanted to use a motorized all-terrain vehicle to cross national forest land to get to the property.

Andy Barrie said he thought he had a valid argument but he had already spent about $80,000 in legal fees and couldn't afford more. "I think we presented some interesting arguments, but I don't have unlimited funds," he said. "They essentially spent me to death." The property is surrounded by national forest and has a small, unheated cabin with broad vistas of high peaks. The Barries bought it in 2011, along with a home in a subdivision nearby, for $550,000. The deal included a converted ATV they intended to use in the winter to access the isolated parcel over an old mine road.

The U S. Forest Service told the Barries they couldn't use a motorized vehicle on the road, but the couple prepared a court challenge. Barrie has said the road should have been considered a county road, not federal. Summit County asked to buy the land and said the cabin had been illegally expanded by a previous owner. Andy Barrie said they were negotiating when the county began the eminent domain procedure.

Officials said the county took possession of the property last week. The county plans to begin demolishing the cabin in August. Barrie said he had to take the fight as far as he did for the sake of a son who is a student at the University of Denver. "This is a right that I had," he said, "And if I didn't stand up for it, what kind of an example would have I been setting for my son?"

Owners Run Out of Legal Fees, Surrender, in Land Battle With Government | CNS News