Justice
After Tornado, Nashville Braces for Disaster Capitalism
In the wake of a severe tornado, local housing activists fear that a wave of speculators could prey on North Nashville’s vulnerable homeowners.
Early on the morning of March 3, hours after a tornado devastated parts of Nashville, Anne Barnett grabbed her chainsaw and got to work.
A friend with a truck drove with her to North Nashville, a predominantly African American neighborhood that was struck especially hard by the storm. Felled trees blocked the roads. Telephone poles were snapped in two. Downed power lines snaked across streets. Other volunteers showed up with heavy work gloves and trucks, ready to help haul tree limbs away. It was hard to know where to start or where to go, Barnett says, because the damage stretched in every direction.