The litany of land theft victims is slowly reaching a crescendo, as more victims tell their stories. A corps of land thieves and their minions, people who are apparently flaunting Open Records Laws, run some counties in this country.
Some are actually intimidating landowners from demanding access to their own land records, recorded deeds, etc.
Many landowners are attempting to see just what their deeds say, because the recorded deed often differs from the one that these landowners have had in their hands for generations. This is theft; theft by paper and it is apparently a booming business in parts of the South where many African Americans and poor people live in conditions, which haven't changed in generations.
Despite the gains of decades of Civil Rights activism, and the passage of numerous federal and state civil rights legislation, despite the passage of open records laws, people are still locked out of public documents, land records and official public documents.
Big time land owners and corporate interests still control the county courthouses in many localities, making it hard for individuals to stand up and assert their rights when they are overwhelmed, out-gunned, and out lawyered.
It is a sad state of affairs that we have military personnel dying overseas for "freedom", when many of our poor and minority land owners in this country are abused, victimized and cheated by corporate interests all the way from the insurance company which won't pay a tornado claim, to a farmer whose land is stolen by a real estate developer, all with the aid of clerks with poisonous pens and larcenous hearts.
The biggest thieves in this country these days are not the pitiful meth freaks or crack heads who hold up the local stop and rob for $20 bucks and get 20 years for their efforts.
No, the biggest thieves are the ones who steal with the clever use of paper, pen and computer, to the tune of millions of dollars and thousands of acres of land.
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