It Seemed to be a Huge Deal

Washington, DC was beautiful that afternoon, September 23, 1997, so beautiful, in fact, that after landing and settling in to the hotel down Pennsylvania Avenue, I went out for an afternoon run. It was quite surprising that things were much closer than I'd expected.  There was the White House, over there the Washington Monument, and over there office buildings of all sorts.

On the run back to the hotel, off to my right, suddenly there in my path was a face that I recognized. It was the former governor of the State of Texas.  I instinctively darted toward her, held out my hand and said, "Hello, Governor Richards, I'm Waymon Hinson from Abilene and I am glad to meet you."  She registered surprise, but still managed to say in her Texas drawl, "Well, I'm glad to meet you."

I felt a little foolish, but what was done was done. I had shaken hands with Anne Richards.

My reason for being in DC was much more important. The first of the mediation hearings was scheduled for the next day. I recall sleeping sluggishly that night, but all preparations had been made.

The next morning, after a snafu in terms of what building we were to go to, we all assembled in the correct building and the correct conference room.

Walking in, I knew something was up.  This felt huge, much more significant than I'd imagined. So, I pulled out pen and paper and drew the schematic of the room, who sat where, what the energy was like, and other details. I knew this was a significant event and wanted to memorialized it. There were the two mediators at the opposite end of the table. There were the two attorneys for the farmers on the left, along with one farmer couple. I sat on that side, just to the right of the one attorney who was a graduate of both USC and Harvard. Across the table were two people whose names I did not get along with Michael Sitcoff, Secretary Reno's appointee to the process, and Pearlie Reed and Lloyd Wright, Secretary Glickman's appointees to the process. Reno was the DOJ secretary and Glickman was the USDA secretary. Along the back wall sat a woman and a man, both general counsel.

One of the first orders of business was whether or not I should be there and whether or not I could speak and if so, for how long.  The conversation felt like it took forever, but eventually the mediators decided I should speak, but for a very brief period of time.  My prepared white paper was boiled down to seven minutes. I talked fast. One of the most striking memories was how Sitcoff fought for me to leave and how he drummed his sharp pencil on the glass table top the entire time.

It was a hostile environment.  The USDA and DOJ wanted to low ball the farmers. The farmers' attorneys were obligated to fight for justice economically and in other ways for them.  The mediation was on and it was intense and it lasted all day long. The negotiations took place in the conference room as well as in another conference room. The mediators went back and forth, back and forth.

All manner of numbers were put on the table as well as all sorts of administrative recommendations. For the first time I came to understand how policies at the federal level were implemented at the state and county levels.  I also came to understand how prejudices could easily be a part of the equation. The farmer at one point said, "It's easy to talk in Washington, but hard to live out" where I'm from. Or something to that effect. Ultimately his farming details were taken care of by an FSA office in another county, not the one where he lived. That was wrong. Should never have been put on the table. The attorney at one point said, "This is not a good offer." The hearing went on and on. I was pleased that no one had a heart attack or a stroke. It was that intense. The most hostility was evident between the lead attorney and Sitcoff.

At some point in the hearing, the magical numbers, $50K and $70K were put on the table.  Later on that year when the Pigford Class was certified as a class, those numbers came back to me.  This article discusses the significance of those numbers.

Yes, the federal government was lowballing the farmers, in my opinion, because they knew that an extremely larger number of black farmers were filing complaints and it was going to be costly.

What is an eye worth? What is the cost for a kidney? How much should the US reimburse a farmer for a heart attack or a stroke?

Living while black is costly in the US.   Farming while black is very, very costly in our country.  Those are the words I used when being interviewed just this morning.

Yes, I remember the mediation hearing.  I have the notes. I recall the debate. I remember that we left the meeting that day with no decision in place. I had seen things that left me disturbed.

I am still disturbed.