Racist Trees

Cut off from the glitz and glamor and eclipsed by towering Tamarisk trees, lies a historically Black neighborhood known as Crossley Tract. Planted in the late 1950s along the 14th fairway of a city-owned public golf course, these trees have become a symbol of segregation, sparking frustration among locals. For decades, residents have been forced to put up with the tangled overgrowth of a species so invasive, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has officially categorized them as pests. Until now.