This week on WCLK's The Local Take I welcome Dr. Kwesi deGraft Hanson to talk about keeping sacred lands sacred. Developers planned to turn Coastal Georgia's Butler Island Plantation site into a restaurant and brewery in the last few months. In the last few weeks, the City of Savannah approved plans by the Salvation Army to put transitional housing, a homeless shelter, on the site where The Weeping Time sale took place and where our current commemoration program takes place. President Jimmy Carter saved Butler Island when he spoke out. Who’s going to save The Weeping Time Commemoration site? I ask Dr. Kwesi to tell us what is going on.
He speaks about the advertising for the sale of over 400 enslaved African Americans on March 2 – 3rd in 1859, at the former Ten Broeck Racetrack in Savannah. He shares that the ads ran in Macon, Charleston, Mobile, AL, and the number of descendants from the sale. Some descendants that many people know include Smoking Joe Frazier and the family of Ahmaud Arbery.
Dr. Kwesi spoke about the Gettysburg Battlefield site in Pennsylvania and the 911 Memorial in Lower Manhattan. These are considered sacred sites in America.
I asked him what he wants us to do. He asked that you reach out to members of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, write a letter to the board member in your community. Send a letter to Salvation Army Georgia CEO. Sometimes people need to be reminded that sacred lands are sacred.
For more information on The Weeping Time Commemoration