Jim Clyburn: “I want to sound the alarm to the public at large that this is an issue that has a long history. It is an issue that is…”

“I want to sound the alarm to the public at large that this is an issue that has a long history. It is an issue that is very, very current in and around our neighborhoods today. In my own congressional district in South Carolina, I continue to find instances where people are now unable to pay taxes on the land that has been in their families for centuries simply because someone has built a motel or a housing development in the area, and all of a sudden the taxes have accelerated, and they are finding themselves unable to pay these taxes and, therefore, losing the land. We have seen that happen on Hilton Head, South Carolina; Daufuskie Island, South Carolina; Pawleys Island, South Carolina; all of these areas where there are resort communities being built. And so we bring this issue here today because we think it is high time that we begin to focus on what is being done under the color of law to people who find themselves powerless and to have big corporations like the International Paper Company now benefiting from this illegal taking.”