By: Nina Lakhani | Mother Jones
A majority-Black rural community in Georgia is battling to stop a railroad company from seizing private land for a new train line they say will cause environmental and economic harms.
Residents of Sparta, a poor community of 1,300 people located 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, are opposing the construction of a rail spur that would connect a local quarry to the main train line, enabling the gravel company to vastly expand mining that already causes dust, debris, and noise pollution.
Residents, including direct descendants of James Blair Smith, the African American farmer who against all odds obtained and farmed the land almost a century ago, have so far resisted efforts by the company to convince landowners to sell portions of their properties needed for the project.
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