For more than 60 years, African-American fisherman Ed Atkins has drawn his catch from the waters off Saint Helena Island, in South Carolina. But his way of life on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean is at risk. The land and culture of his community, the Gullah Geechee, descendants of African people enslaved in the coastal plantations of the southeastern United States, are threatened by climate change and the steady creep of housing developments.
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:10 It's not feasible to go out there and
00:23 catch your means of living anymore.
00:27 Like you can catch one meal today and what you're gonna do tomorrow.
00:32 When we used to go to and catch five or six meal and
00:37 put some in the refrigerator for the week.
00:40 [MUSIC]
00:50 [MUSIC]
01:00 Gentrification, displacement and destruction errors are all
01:12 the negative cocktail that has been poured on to our Gullah Geechee Nation coast.
01:18 And unfortunately, it seems like it's happening simultaneously,
01:22 as if these home builder associations are not getting the memo.
01:25 That we need to protect the coast in order to protect the mainland,
01:29 that these are called barrier islands for a reason.
01:32 [MUSIC]
01:42 Our generation didn't have money to leave us,
01:48 so what they left was precious land.
01:54 So right now, and for my children, part of that is their generation wealth.
01:59 So right now, as we look, we're standing on shoulders of greatness.
02:03 Right now, I hope my kids are standing on my shoulders to make things right for
02:07 the generation coming after them.
02:09 [MUSIC]