Black ranchers in El Paso, Colorado claim they’re being terrorized by the community

A viral controversy in El Paso County is quickly gaining attention nationwide. Black ranchers are claiming they’ve been “terrorized” by their white neighbors and others in the predominately white neighborhood.

The allegations involve trespassing, vandalism, racial slurs, brandishing weapons and animal cruelty. Their story took another twist Monday morning when the rancher, Courtney Mallery, was arrested and held in jail.

Starting a new life to find harassment
Courtney and his wife, Nicole, were displaced by Hurricane Harvey and moved to El Paso County to start a new life. Their American dream turned into a nightmare after experiencing harassment and more. The couple shared that things have significantly escalated in recent weeks as they’ve become more vocal online.

FOX31 talked with Courtney three weeks ago, before his arrest, and he shared that he felt defeated and feared for his life in El Paso County because of the ongoing harassment.

On Monday morning, video surfaced online that showed Courtney’s arrest. Shortly before being placed in handcuffs, he recorded a video saying, “I’m being arrested. Pray for me, world.” Nicole was taking the video as her husband was being arrested and could be heard yelling for support and asking the public to call the sheriff’s office. She could also be heard saying, “This is farming while Black in America.”

“We don’t want to become a hashtag,” Nicole told FOX31.


Nicole, a Marine, and her husband purchased Freedom Acres Ranch in late 2020.

“I believe that it’s being done because we are African American. We own, I guess if we were in the city, you could say the block,” Nicole explained. “We own 1,000 acres of land, which everyone wanted this piece of land, and I believe they’re trying to steal our land from us and think we don’t deserve it.”

Animals killed, trespassing, vandalism
The couple said they’ve faced repeated acts of “domestic terrorism” by white residents on their own property. They shared that their dogs have been poisoned and numerous farm animals have been slaughtered and gutted. They said residents have been trespassing on their land, have broken their fence and run over their fence posts, burnt their Black Lives Matter flags, spraypainted racial slurs on their land and even waved guns at them.

Nicole provided home surveillance video to FOX31 that showed a cow running on a dirt road and a white car driving on their property. Then you hear her yell, “Don’t shoot, I’m feeding my cows, don’t shoot.”

The couple also provided photos that show unknown vehicles blocking their property and parking on their land.

“They’ve talked about lynching us, bringing a public hanging, fire. They wanted to lock us in and set us ablaze,” Nicole said. “I am a United States Marine who has fought for this country. I fought for these same people who are terrorizing me, and at this moment right now, I do not have any trust in El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.”

Nicole also provided what she said are screenshots of now-deleted posts in a community Facebook page that show discussions between residents inquiring about restrictions on pitchforks and fire sticks, defending rights and the ranchers’ Black Lives Matter flags. She said she and her husband have called the Sheriff’s Office countless times over the last year and have gotten no action or thorough investigations of their claims.

“It is in fact El Paso County Sheriff’s Office that is the main reason that we do not feel safe on our property,” Nicole said.

released a statement about the allegations, stating they’ve investigated 19 different complaints and have responded to over 170 calls for service at Freedom Acres. In the statement, the office ”vehemently denies these allegations.”

“Sheriff Joseph Roybal and the nearly 1,000 dedicated sworn and professional staff of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office remain committed to fostering safety for our community and our neighbors while ensuring Constitutional and civil rights are upheld regardless race, color, national origin or any other legally protected characteristic. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office takes all allegations of crime and civil rights violations seriously.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has become aware of an online article alleging racial discrimination on the part of our Office and some of its employees. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office vehemently denies these allegations.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office feels the need to comment further because the article’s author did not seek comment from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office before publishing it and the article has garnered attention from within and outside of our community at a time when relationships between some law enforcement agencies and the communities which they serve are strained.

Within the last two years and through the end of January 2023, the El Paso County Sheriff’s has investigated 19 different complaints filed by and/or involving the individuals identified in the article against members of the Sheriff’s Office. Each of these complaints were individually and thoroughly investigated. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has also responded to over 170 calls for service that involve the individuals identified in the article

https://kdvr.com/news/local/black-ranchers-claim-terrorism-by-white-neighbors-in-el-paso-county/

 

the thing that gets me is that they say “pull yourself up by the bootstraps,” but then when people do, stuff like this happens

when I learned about Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Massacre, it was eye opening…u can build something and have it all destroyed and taken away simply because of your skin color and nothing else