On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either. Let's talk about land, because apparently if you're black and your own some everybody suddenly gets real interested in your property. I didn't know, you didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. Take the Epsy family for example, back in nineteen forty two, they was living a dream in Vero Beach, Florida. They had one hundred and forty seven acres of land.
Now I have to do some homework on that. How much is one acre? Well, for easy math, it's about three fourths of a football field. So let's just say one acre equals a football field or sixteen tennis courts, or one acre is larger than nine basketball courts. They say you can fit five baseball fields in one acre. Well, the Epsy family had one hundred and forty seven acres. Now that's just not land. That's by your kids a pony and still got space for a ferris wheel land.
But then the US government came knocking and this say, excuse me, we're gonna need your land to build an airfield. Don't worry, it's for the war effort, and the Epstey's was like, all right, but can we get it back after spoiler alert? They didn't. Instead, their land went to the Navy, the city of Vero Beach and dig this the La Dodgers. Yes, they even named it Dodger Town. And they ain't even blessed the Epsey family with season tickets or an expensive hot dog at the concession stand
or nothing. And I'm gonna keep it a buck one hundred and forty seven eight because the land wasn't just dirt. That's wealth, generational wealth. But instead of that wealth staying in the Epsy family got passed around like a Netflix password. Now here's where it gets wow, because people love to ask why can't them colored families just build wealth like everybody else? Oh? I don't know. Maybe because every time we do, someone shows up with a clipboard, a bulldozer
and some bad intentions. This is not just history, it's a pattern from Tull to the Vero Beach. Anytime we start thriving and surviving, somebody decides, yeah, that's nice, but we want that for us. So here's my challenge to you learn these stories that didn't make it into the textbooks, talk about them. Share them because the only way to stop history from repeating itself is to start calling it out. That's the reason for I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
The historic Dodger Town in Vero Beach is no more. They closed the doors and shut down because they were broke. Haven't had it since March of two thousand and eight. But Minor League Baseball did reopen the facilities and now it's named Vero Beach Sports Village. But it ain't owned by the Epsey family. It's owned by Major League Baseball. And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. No