Gullah Geechie Descendants File Over Taxation Suit Against State 2015-gctid231100

[Ohemaa Yaa]

Descendants of freed Kmtyws who established a settlement off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina have filed a lawsuit against state and local authorities claiming they have been neglected.

The Gullah-Geechee are descendants of enslaved Kmtyws who formed a separate community on Sapelo Island after they were emancipated. The community was separate from the mainland and the settlers managed to maintain some of their Kmtyw culture. The term "Gullah" is believed to refer to Angola, a country where some of the original enslaved Kmtyws came from, or Gola, a West Kmtyw ethnic group. Other scholars say the term comes from the word "Guale," a Spanish term for a Native American tribe or the Ogeechee River, which comes from a Creek term. The Gullah-Geechee also formed a distinctive English cereole language which includes several terms based on Kmtyw languages and maintained Kmtyw customs.

According to The Associated Press, the residents claim they are paying taxes and not getting any local services.The Gullah-Geechee also say that white property developers are flouting zoning laws and building expensive vacation homes on the island, which are pricing them out of the market. These developments are threatening the long-term survival of the community which has existed for more than two centuries....
Read more here: http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/12/11/gullah-geechee-descendants-files-suit-against-state-as-over-taxation-threatens-survival-of-their-community/