Покупка дома известного борца за гражданские права в Сан-Антонио вызвала обеспокоенность в сообществе

Deal for late civil rights leader's home raises eyebrows in community An investor's purchase of the longtime home of the late Rev. Claude Black Jr., one of San Antonio's civil rights icons, has some community members saying they are concerned how the sale could affect the leader's legacy. Black, a political and community leader in the 1960s and 1970s, was pastor of Mount Zion First Baptist Church for 49 years. Redemption Property Solutions LLC now owns the property at 1211 Wyoming St. after buying shares of the property from relatives of the minister and paying unpaid property tax on the home, according to court records. The execution and order of the sale took place in March. The home, built in 1940 on the East Side, has an appraised value of $350,000. Redemption Property Solutions describes itself as a firm that "specializes in the acquisition of problematic real estate, including tax delinquency, title issues, inherited undesirable properties and heirship conflicts." A representative for Redemption Property Solutions did not immediately respond to a message left seeking comment. Black's grandson Taj Matthews, who had lived in the home since Black died in 2009, was evicted this week, he said in a social media post. According to Matthews, Black left the home to him, his sister and cousins. Matthews said he planned to hire an attorney to challenge the sale of the property. The minister and his wife, ZerNona S. Black, lived for decades in the two-story home, where they hosted community meetings and met with local and national leaders to discuss desegregation and equal rights. Businessman Charles Williams was one of the Black family's longtime friends. He recalled late evening talks with Black about East Side issues in the home he called a "cornerstone of the community." Williams served as a deacon and trustee during Black's tenure as pastor of Mount Zion. They walked picket lines downtown calling for desegregation of department store lunch counters. He was also Black's campaign manager when the minister won a City Council seat in 1972. Williams said he thought of Black as a surrogate father. When the pastor died, it took Williams a long time to come to grips with his death. "I would want to call and talk to him, and I realized I can't do that anymore," Williams said. "So I have strong ties to Rev. Black and his legacy. To see his house taken from his grandson is a blow. It's kind of the last thing he had still intact. To see it in the hands of somebody that's not a community person, it's sad." Subscribe There's more to San Antonio with the Express-News. Subscribe today for just 25¢. This article originally published at Deal for late civil rights leader's home raises eyebrows in community.