Black ranchers, White racism?

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe in part, and in part other things.

Black Country and white racism. That's the gist of a Barbed Wire piece saying that calling Blacks "country" is a general put-down that often has racism behind it.

Well, sometimes white racism, or the claims of White racism, to be more precise, as one of the Barbed Wire's links is WAY more complicated, and probably the Black ranchowners are as much more sinners than sinned against.

The Mallerys’ [the Black ranchers] time in Colorado has been marked by a litany of encounters with neighbors and law enforcement — and it goes beyond the dispute with Clark [the White rancher neighbor]. 

On April 7, 2021, Jake Saksteder arrived at Freedom Acres Ranch to serve Courtney Mallery with civil papers regarding a property case. 

The 24-year-old said he had delivered countless legal documents during his job as a process server. Sometimes people would try and evade him or yell, he told The Post. But he’d never had an encounter like the one at the ranch that day. 

Saksteder told The Post that he walked around the property, knocking on several doors, but didn’t get an answer. 

Nicole Mallery then burst out of the shed with a shotgun pointed at his head, Saksteder said. Much of his encounter is captured on video from his phone, which was released by El Paso County authorities this week. 

“What the (expletive) are you doing?” Nicole shouts at the process server, according to the video. Saksteder tries to tell her several times that he’s there to serve Courtney Mallery with legal papers. 

“I swear to God, relax, I’m leaving!” Saksteder says in the video. 

He told The Post that he saw Mallery cock the weapon and that’s when he took off running, chased by a dog. Audio from the video makes out the sound of a shot fired into the air. 

“It was aimed well above me,” Saksteder said. “It wasn’t a shot to kill — it was definitely a warning. Like, keep moving fast.” 

In statements to El Paso County deputies that day, Nicole Mallery allegedly gave a false date of birth and changed the state of her identification, according to an arrest affidavit. She told deputies that she kept asking the process server to produce identification, demanding he say why he was trespassing on her property.

Result? This:

Mallery was charged with felony menacing, fraud, bribery of a public servant and making a false report, court records show. She ultimately pleaded guilty to making a false report, a misdemeanor, and received two years probation, the documents show. The district attorney dismissed the remainder of the counts.

And, there is another case, that was facing trial as of the time this story was written in early 2023. 

Here's another:

In one event, in April 2021, Nicole Mallery allegedly kicked a sheriff’s deputy repeatedly in his legs and bit him on his forearm, according to a summary of the encounter. She was charged with second-degree assault of a peace officer and received a two-year deferred sentence, court records show.

As for an NAACP person asking why a SWAT team was sent? Well, if early April 2021 was after April 7, 2021, shit, that's easy to answer. 

And this old chestnut:

In body-camera video, Nicole Mallery can be heard calling one of the Black sheriff’s deputies a “field negro” and other personnel “white trash” and Klu Klux Klan members.

Well, there you are. 

Well, let's add in that the sheriff is Hispanic. And that, per other pieces at The Barbed Wire, Taylor Crumpton has a history of going over the top. 

And, the Barbed Wire's editorial staff didn't look through that piece, nor did they note the 2023 pending trial, nor do a follow-up. (The charges were dropped just months later. That still doesn't mean that El Paso County deputies were racist, nor were neighbors. That said, they claim that one neighbor — not mentioned by name —was "disapproving" of their being there from the start. We assume they're talking about Ms. Clark, who reportedly threatened the NAACP's Prescott and reportedly sexualized one interaction with CW Mallery, per this. Another story, from Springs TV, also shows the issue seems to be "complex.")

As for where we stand? The Mallerys threatened a suit when charges were dropped. No way they would have defeated sovereign immunity, if filed against El Paso County. No way they would have beaten Teresa Clark, given Nicole's past history. 

Per this long piece from another Springs TV station, El Paso County Sheriff's Office at one time had some sort of response to The Ark, the online news site beating the drum for the Mallerys, but that's been taken down. Well, except for the Wayback Machine. The SO said it was hiding nothing and asked why the Ark didn't contact it for comment. There's not much on Ark Republic's "about" page. And, it doesn't report on the process server issue at all.

Off the top of my head? 50 percent entitled old rancher privilege, 25 percent racism, 25 percent newcomers not making more effort to fit in from the start, and 85 percent of that 25 percent being Nicole. 

Colorado Springs Gazette has a lot more, including the murder conviction of a man who killed a Mallery ranch hand. Contra the Mallerys' claim, the case seems to indicate drug issues, with the Mallery hand hugely high on meth. He was killed  in 2021, shortly after the process server showed up. Per this piece, the Mallerys bought the land in August 2020. So, it took not much more than six months for everything to explode, per the guesstimated percentages above.

And, it was about an easement mentioned in several stories above, and related items, per this:

The dispute began not long after the Mallerys moved to Yoder in 2020 and set up a video security system along the fence that borders the easement between their 1,000-acre property, Freedom Acres Ranch, and Clark’s land. The easement is a spur of dirt road that, while it technically lies on the Mallery property, was set aside by the county for use by residents, including Clark, who need it to access their properties. A gate along the easement opens to the Mallery land, but it lies more than a half-mile from the main entrance to their ranch and even farther from the couple’s residence and outbuildings.

This fits the last 25 percent to a T. You just don't block easements out west. Hell, you don't do that in Tex-ass and they should know that. Also, putting up video cameras as soon as you move in makes it look like you're prepared to be untrusting from the start. 

As for the Mallerys wanting a CAREN Act passed in Colorado? Yes, Amy Cooper was a Karen. And? Jussie Smollett cried wolf. 

The sheriff's page was deleted due to charges being dropped after mediation failed. Contra both the Ark and White wingnuts, it seems like both Clark and the Mallerys were committing lawfare by 911.  Elsewhere, Sheriff Roybal called out Nicole Mallery.

And, that's another half-hour of my life wasted because modern editors are lazy and modern staff writers like to go down the advocacy hole. 

 Also, interesting, High Country News, with both its real "wokefulness" its wrongful version of this decade, has nothing about the Mallerys.