Robert Raben, a lobbyist consulting for the ETIC, talked about the issue with his friend Barack Obama. They went through the public relations issues of a white man profiting from Black trauma. “Nobody in the family is for it,” Marvel told me. Former president Obama said to buy it no matter the price, understanding that owning land is the only way to tell the truth about it. Eventually Marvel agreed to not oppose the purchase. She understood intellectually its value even as she struggled emotionally with the transaction.
