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​​​See page titled Legal Battle for details. Betty's efforts to (1) preserve her parents' legacy, (2) deliver affordable housing and (3) build on the generational wealth they intended, for their heirs, were blocked by elected Black Democratic officials. Betty is not a White person or a Black person (1) of their choosing and (2) under their control. Therefore, Betty believes that whether wittingly or unwittingly, systematically loyal to the Black Codes of Mississippi, they deliberately denied her constitutional rights. 

"Black Code Sec.1: The provisions of this section shall not be so construed as to allow any freedman, free negro, or mulatto to rent or lease any lands or tenements except in incorporated cities or towns, in which places the corporate authorities shall control the same…. Congress passed the 14th and 15th Amendments, in 1868 and 1870 respectively. These amendments guaranteed freedmen equal protection under the law and the right to vote. In light of these new guarantees, the Black Codes were no longer operable. However, many of the same restrictions and limitations were again put in place through the propagation of Jim Crow laws throughout the South." https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1866-mississippi-black-codes/