—Vanessa Edwards, B1Daily

Courtney “CW” Mallery and Nicole Mallery wanted what generations of Americans have been told represents independence: land of their own, a family business and the freedom to build something that could outlive them.

Instead, the Black owners of Freedom Acres Ranch in Yoder, Colorado, say they have spent years fighting simply to remain on their land.

Their allegations are disturbing. The Mallerys have reported trespassing, surveillance, racial harassment, vandalism and animals being found dead on their property. They have accused some neighbors and local authorities of contributing to or failing to adequately address the hostility surrounding their ranch. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has denied allegations that it discriminated against the couple.

Now the confrontation has taken an even more frightening turn.

Shots Fired at Freedom Acres

During Easter weekend in 2026, the Mallerys reported gunfire at their ranch.

“Shots were fired at our ranch,” the couple said afterward, according to Black Enterprise. They said they survived the incident but were deeply shaken by what happened.

Capital B independently interviewed the couple following the shooting. The Mallerys said they did not consider the incident random and connected it to what they describe as years of escalating harassment and inadequate responses from local law enforcement.

Those claims should be investigated thoroughly rather than automatically accepted or dismissed. But the history surrounding Freedom Acres Ranch makes the latest allegations impossible to casually shrug off.

The couple’s fight has been unfolding publicly for years.

Colorado Newsline reported as far back as February 2023 that supporters rallied at the Colorado State Capitol after the Mallerys alleged racist and destructive attacks against their property. CW Mallery’s message at that rally was painfully simple:

“I just want to farm in peace.”

Three years later, apparently even that remains difficult.

They Were Arrested. Then the Charges Were Dropped.

The story becomes even stranger when the criminal justice system enters the picture.

In 2023, Courtney and Nicole were arrested and faced felony stalking charges following their dispute with a neighbor.

Then prosecutors dropped the charges.

CBS Colorado reported that the couple’s attorney said prosecutors could not prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. The Mallerys subsequently maintained that they had been unfairly targeted while their own complaints were inadequately investigated.

That history matters.

Nobody should automatically assume every allegation made by either side of a bitter neighborhood dispute is true. But when Black landowners repeatedly report harassment, subsequently find themselves arrested, have the charges against them dropped and then continue reporting threatening incidents years afterward, public scrutiny is not unreasonable.

It is necessary.

This Ranch Represents More Than Property

Freedom Acres is not simply several hundred acres of Colorado dirt.

The Mallery family established the ranch after Hurricane Harvey devastated their lives in Texas. Their operation raises cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep, goats and other livestock, while emphasizing regenerative agriculture and food access. Freedom Acres says its products are certified through the Homegrown by Heroes program.

The family has also described educating young people about agriculture as central to its mission.

That makes the struggle surrounding Freedom Acres particularly important in the context of Black farming.

America has already witnessed an extraordinary decline in Black agricultural landownership. Black farmers once operated roughly 14% of American farms in 1920, according to USDA historical data, before discriminatory lending, dispossession, heirs’ property problems and other economic pressures helped dramatically reduce Black participation in agriculture.

Against that history, watching another Black farming family say it is being pressured and intimidated on its own land should ring alarm bells.

Don’t Turn Their Allegations Into Background Noise

There is a danger that Freedom Acres becomes one of those stories people encounter online, become furious about for 48 hours and then forget.

The Mallerys cannot afford that luxury.

They still have animals to feed. Property to maintain. Security to finance. Legal expenses to confront. A business to operate.

Their GoFundMe says donations are intended to support enhanced security, fencing and legal expenses. As of the latest page captured by search, the fundraiser reported more than $409,000 raised toward a $450,000 goal from roughly 8,700 donations.

Those are substantial donations, but the fact that the campaign continues also demonstrates how prolonged this fight has become.

Freedom Acres’ official website currently prominently displays a “DONATE TO SUPPORT RANCH” option.

Freedom Acres Ranch official website and donation page

Freedom Acres Ranch GoFundMe

Black Landownership Must Mean the Right to Stay

Buying land is supposed to mean something.

It is supposed to provide security, independence and the ability to build generational wealth. For Black Americans especially, agricultural landownership carries historical weight because so much Black-owned farmland disappeared during the twentieth century.

That is why Freedom Acres Ranch deserves attention beyond Colorado.

The Mallerys’ allegations against specific individuals and authorities still deserve the same evidence-based scrutiny applied to any serious accusation. But the documented history is already substantial enough to demand attention: years of public complaints, a state Capitol rally, arrests followed by dismissed charges, repeated allegations of vandalism and intimidation, and now a reported shooting at the ranch.

Freedom Acres Ranch should not have to become another chapter in the long history of Black Americans acquiring land only to discover that owning it and being allowed to peacefully keep it can become two entirely different battles.

Whatever authorities ultimately determine about individual incidents, one principle should be nonnegotiable:

A Black family has exactly the same right to farm its land, protect its property and live without intimidation as anyone else in rural America.

Freedom Acres Ranch says it intends to stay.

The public should make sure the world keeps watching.

—Vanessa Edwards, B1Daily