A small community in Texas off African American community was denied water for 30 years.
Sandbranch is located 14 miles southeast of Dallas, the fifth-wealthiest city in the United States of America. Established in 1878 by the Rev. Allen Hawthorne, a formerly enslaved black man from Louisiana, along with 11 other freedmen, the community grew around its beating heart, Mount Zion Baptist Church. The church continues to be the core of this tight-knit community to this very day.
At its peak, Sandbranch's population numbered approximately 500 people, but today about 80 people remain, loving and supporting one another through a humanitarian crisis that exists beneath the radar of most people in the United States.
According to a 2014 report from the Hunger Center of North Texas, 87 percent of Sandbranch residents are black, 10 percent are Latinx and 3 percent are white. The average age in Sandbranch is 68. All residents live below the federal poverty threshold, with the average income for lifelong residents holding at $721 per month and $1,426 for longtime residents.
Sandbranch is also in a food desert, which means that residents—many without transportation—must find a way to travel more than 7 miles to the nearest grocery story for healthy food options.
A community in crisis.
In 1985 Dallas County began efforts to provide water to Sandbranch. It was determined then that a grant-funded system operated by the Dallas County Water Control Improvement District would be the best option, but Dallas County allegedly was unable to obtain the funding necessary, so the plan to bring water to Sandbranch was left dormant.
In 1991 the city of Dallas refused to annex Sandbranch, citing high cost—$6.8 million for flood protection, $4.2 million for water/sewer service, with an estimated $24,000 revenue for the city. According to the document "Dallas County and Sandbranch: Efforts to Improve an Unincorporated Community (1985-2008)," the sporadic off and on efforts to bring water to Sandbranch continued until a discovery in 2003 derailed all plans entirely.
In January 2003, FEMA declared Sandbranch to be in the Trinity River floodplain (pdf). Residents were given 30 days to bring their homes in compliance with FEMA regulations. The options they were given included 1) building a levee around the community, 2) elevating structures above flood levels, 3) moving their homes to another location or 4) demolishing their homes.
This task proved difficult for many residents, so in 2005, Dallas County devised a buyout plan that would pay Sandbranch residents for their property and help them relocate. Formally called the “Dallas County Optional Sandbranch Relocation Assistance Program," the initiative involved Dallas County deducting the cost of demolishing property, leaving residents with an estimated $350.
Attorney Mark McPherson, who is representing Mount Zion Baptist Church and the citizens of Sandbranch pro bono, called the move “nothing short of a government housing grab that duped vulnerable citizens into giving up their mortgage-free homes for a pittance.”
To add insult to injury, as all of this was occurring, the mostly elderly residents of Sandbranch remained without water. And with more and more residents being forced from their homes, Dallas County decided that it was no longer economically feasible to bring clean running water to the small community that remained.
Since 2014, Project DreamHaus, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001by the Rev. Eugene and Deanna Keahey with a mission to "help the underserved become self-sufficient through education, economic awareness and strong community development," has been pivotal in helping the residents of Sandbranch maintain a decent quality of life.
Keahey, who became pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church in 2013, spearheaded the "Sandbranch … Everybody’s Community!" grassroots effort organized by Project DreamHaus to bring water, sewage and social services to Sandbranch. Keahey has been on the front line since his arrival in Sandbranch and has made local headlines this year as Dallas County intensifies its push to relocate Sandbranch residents instead of providing water for them.
"Flint[, Mich.,] has brown water and Sandbranch has no water," Keahey told The Root. "We have kids with no water. We're like a Third World country, and I don't say that loosely.
"The floodplain is a weapon that has been used against this community. We're in what they call the 1 percent floodplain, and that is the lowest floodplain in existence," Keahey continued. "What that means is Sandbranch will potentially flood once every 100 years.
"Houston is in the 80 percent flood zone," he added. "New Orleans is in the 80 percent zone. Both cities have water. Sandbranch has never had a flood in the 138 years in existence, but we don't have water. So the county is using the floodplain as a tool to destroy the community."
Carrying Water and Passing the Buck
On April 27, 2016, during a meeting of state, federal and local agencies, Sandra Keefe, regional director of FEMA's Mitigation Division, said the agency was willing to help Sandbranch residents come into compliance so that Dallas County's participation in the National Flood Insurance Program would not be jeopardized, DallasNews.com reports.
“FEMA does not stand in the way, by any means, to bringing water to Sandbranch,” Keefe said. “We stand by ready to answer questions.”
This was echoed by FEMA public affairs specialist Earl Armstrong when we spoke Monday morning.
"The local folks are the ones you need to talk to," Armstrong said. "The Dallas County judge [Clay Jenkins, a vocal advocate for Sandbranch] and the Dallas County flood plan administrators."
So, despite Dallas County's claims to the contrary, FEMA is not stopping Sandbranch from getting water?
"No, not at all," Armstrong said.
"Keefe said that Dallas County is misinterpreting that whole [flood insurance] plan," Keahey said. "But because FEMA does not manage the plan, they can't do anything about it. They write it, but the government body interprets the plan themselves. That's Dallas County."
And by “Dallas County,” Keahey means Dallas County District 3 Commissioner John Wiley Price.
Price, who has held his commissioner position since 1985, is considered by many to be Dallas County's most powerful politician and a staunch advocate for civil rights. Still, he is no stranger to negative headlines.
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