Analysis Of Take Back The Land By Max Rameau

Take Back the Land by Max Rameau recalls the formation, evolution, and demise of the Take Back the Land campaign organized by housing activists in Miami, Florida. The main goal of the campaign was to establish the idea that people within a given community should own the land in it. They tried to achieve this by creating their own shantytown called Umoja Village on a vacant lot that they legally occupied under the Pottinger Settlement, which states “anyone who is homeless and on government property, while there are no other alternatives…cannot be arrested for engaging in ‘life sustaining conduct.’ Such conduct includes bathing, changing, socializing, eating, sleeping, making fires to cook, ‘responding to calls of nature,’ and erecting ‘temporary …show more content…
The role of Poncho was a police liaison where she asserted the position of the movement and negotiated with police officers to maintain peace. Poncho also managed the village for several months and even moved into it. The role of Amanda was to do some of the administrative duties that were necessary to uphold the campaign. Rebecca was another potential leader because she led the construction crew and was the mastermind behind the conception of the shanties, the showers, and the garden. In Tools for Radical Democracy, the leadership potential that these three have are having a range of skills and having the leadership style of doers, people who get things done and move to action. However, Rebecca can also be considered a visionary because she is creative and came up with the plans for the homes in the village. Some of the allies of the campaign were Low Income Families Fighting Together, the Lake Worth Kids, Power U, the American Indian Movement (AIM), lawyers, and more. The Lake Worth Kids and other anarchist groups helped build the Umoja village. Power U was a valuable ally because they were able to provide electricity and water in case of an emergency. AIM blessed the land that was used for the Umoja village on behalf of the Indians who used to rightfully …show more content…
Once people understand that they have power in numbers and are able to achieve things they never thought they could, like in the Take Back the Land movement, they will be able to be more vocal to their local government officials about the resources they need in their communities and the issues they have with policies that greatly affect them. Even if the campaign did not last as long as the Take Back the Land campaign, the city council members and other officials will be more concerned with restoring order to these communities so they will most likely come to an agreement with them in some way. Even if this deal does not become concrete immediately, once the community knows that the political officials are willing to comply or make concessions there are no limits on what they can achieve in the future. Thus, the Take Back the Land campaign was very innovative and effective in creating strategies to achieve their goal of owning land within the black community. Although the campaign had its many challenges, it was able to establish a movement that will live on even after they immediate goals were