Tag Archives: Cultural Protection Overlay District

HEADS UP! Help Protect Gullah/Geechee Epicenter St. Helena Island ONCE AGAIN!

Join us Monday, December 8th before 6 pm at the Beaufort County Council Meeting at 100 Ribaut Road in Beaufort, SC to make sure that the Beaufort County Council continues to uphold their vote to protect the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Protection Overlay District of St. Helena Island, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation! We binya! We ain gwne nowhey!

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Gullah/Geechee Ancestral Voices Speak to Protect St. Helena Island from Destructionment

For three years running, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, our attorneys from the South Carolina Environmental Law Center, the Coastal Conservation League, Penn Center and a cadre of additional partners have continued to stand up to Protect St. Helena Island. This year, two of our fighters that understood that we are warring against spiritual wickedness in high and low places crossed over in the realm of the ancestors. The first one that made his crossing was Rev. Kenneth Hodges of the “Gullah/Geechee Visitors Center” who pastored Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaufort, SC where we unveiled the Harriet Tubman Monument. We stood together many times on each of these things and in each of these places. His words live on as he speaks from the grave concerning the St. Helena Island Cultural Protection Overlay District…

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STAND UP to Protect Gullah/Geechee Cultural Protection Overlay District!

Join us in the continued fight to protect the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Protection Overlay District of St. Helena Island, SC!

A Demonstration to Protect St. Helena
before Special Beaufort County Council Meeting Wednesday Aug. 20th at 12 pm at 104 Ribaut Rd in Beaufort, SC.

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STAND UP for the CPO! Protecting the Gullah/Geechee Epicenter

HEADS UP! STAND UP! Protect the CPO! The repackaged plans to remove Pine Island/St. Helenaville from St. Helena’s CPO and enter into a development agreement with the County to build a gated golf resort on the Pine Island/St. Helenaville property in violation of the CPO go before the Planning Commission TONIGHT 5/5 at 6pm at 100 Clearwater Way in Beaufort, SC.

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Gullah/Geechee Fighting Against Golf, Gates and Genocide

This on-going battle to protect historic St. Helena Island, South Carolina from succumbing to the fate of numerous Black communities in which the people are displaced for the purpose of others’ recreation and plots and plans of genocidal gentrification should stand as an example of what came be done when people not only respect the law but when they respect the cultural heritage communities that they come into.

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Gullah/Geechee Agroculture Day: Sustaining and Celebrating St. Helena!

Jayn we pun historic St. Helena Island fa Gullah/Geechee Agroculture Day 2023! Sustaining and Celebrating St. Helena! Cum jayn we and bring hunnuh Famlee! Saturday, October 28, 2023Noon to 3 pm Regista ya: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gullahgeechee-agroculture-day-sustaining-and-celebrating-st-helena-tickets-739759950927?aff=oddtdtcreator Jayn de Gullah/Geechee Famlee down by de RiverSide! Come out and Help engage in the Gullah/Geechee CREATE Marine Debris Removal project as …

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Gullah/Geechee Cultural Protection Overlay District Supporters File Court Motions

On August 3, 2023 during “Gullah/Geechee Nation Appreciation Week,” four groups filed independent motions to intervene to defend Beaufort County’s denial of plans for three (3) 6-hole golf courses on St. Helena Island in the appeal initiated by Pine Island Property Holdings, LLC. The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (filed by the South Carolina Environmental Law Project), The Penn Center (represented by Jack Smith of Nelson Mullins), Coastal Conservation League (represented by Ross Appel of McCullough Khan Appel), and individual landowners Leon and Joan Heyward and Robert New are fighting to uphold the Cultural Protection Overlay District zoning law.

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Celebrate St. Helena Island’s Gullah/Geechee Cultural Protection Overlay District Saturday, May 27th!

We STOOD UP for Gullah/Geechee people, self-sufficiency, cultural heritage, and rural lands. We STRENGTHENED the St. Helena Island Cultural Protection Overlay!

We thank you for joining this fight for the soul of our sea islands. Now, we invite you to celebrate a victory by attending the celebration on Saturday, May 27th!

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Celebrating St. Helena De Gullah/Geechee Epicenter

Interestingly enough, I never drew the connection between helping write and establish the Cultural Protection Overlay District law and the fact that it took place the same year that I made world history by taking the human rights of my people before the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland until I just typed out the year. I did reflect on the fact that on my UN anniversary this year (April 1st), I was leading the “Coastal Cultures Conference” and sitting amongst national leaders focused on assisting with protecting the rich environment of St. Helena Island and helping the island to be even more resilient. The Gullah/Geechee Nation Sustainability Plan calls for us to ensure that the mission of the Gullah/Geechee Nation is adhered to and that we protect our people by enhancing their quality of life. We can only do this by protecting and improving the land and water quality and lessening the stress of them having to fight to keep protecting themselves and their homeland. Yet, as our ancestors did, we find ourselves on a battlefield once again protecting our rights as was done during the US Civil War, the Jim Crow Era and the Civil Rights Movement. I am proud to be in the number leading the human rights movement!

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The Fight for Black and Gullah/Geechee Freedom

I heard myself with throngs of ancestors singing “Fight on just a little while longer! Pray on just a little while longer! Hold on just a little while longer!” I rested in that moment knowing that the ancestors were tapping their children’s children’s children on the shoulders (and some in the head) awakening them to join in the fight. To take a stand for Gullah/Geechee land! WE BINYA and ain’t gwine nowhey!

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