The documentary
has been a dream for Shoun Hill and me for a long time. A near miss on a grant
opportunity followed by another application that was not awarded to us was then
led by a completely “out of the blue,” shot in the dark application that was
accepted. We are now on our way.
You
are on your way to what, you might ask.
We are on our way to the telling via audio, video, text, and other means
the untold stories of the “Davids” of the black farmer movement versus the “Goliaths”
of the black farmer movement. We understand David versus Goliath, small,
seemingly weak and under prepared and limited in resources against Goliath,
strong, fierce, undefeated, prideful, and limitless resources and power.
Several
black farmer cases were filed against the USDA in the 1990s and alleged
unbelievable yet believable and egregious acts of benign and willful discrimination
based simply upon the color of their skin. This does not happen in America,
many have said to me, family and friends. Yes, it does happen in America. It
did and it still does.
Someone
had to catch the vision of litigating these cases. That attorney was found in
Texas and one by one a large number of farmers found their way to him. Self-described
as a black man who understood walking in the white world, an activist, and one
committed to representing the marginalized, he moved to the forefront of the
battlefield. Competent, prepared, resourceful, and ostentatious, James Myart was up for the fight.
Recently,
Shoun and I spent a day with him as he reminisced about the early days and the
battles won and lost on behalf of farmers. Surely, he would do some things over
again, but he finds great pride in winning some battles, and grieved that he
did not win more. We sat for several hours, talked, remembered, and cried.
Without Attorney at Law James Myart, there might not have been a farmer
movement. With him, cases were settled out of court via administrative
processes, and with those farmers, wins, and trials and tribulations, the Black
Farmer Movement would eventually emerge in what is called the Pigford Class
Action Suit. Mr. Myart played a pivotal role then, and he’ll play a pivotal role
in the documentary.
Recently,
Shoun and I traveled to rural Georgia to meet with the Long brothers and to
hear their stories of their parents’ fight as Davids against Goliath. We met on
a Saturday morning in the shade of the shop of one of the brothers. A cool southerly
breeze caressed us as we talked, filmed, and walked about on a hot and humid
day. They were full of stories of their parents.
They were into truth-telling
in its most intimate ways. They reflected a commitment to telling their parents’
stories in a way that mirrored their parents’ commitment to justice for themselves
and for all black farmers. With intense emotion intermingled with tears and laughter,
the brothers three told story after story after story that limned the edges of their
father’s farming while black against all manner of odds and discriminative behavior,
farm/home plans altered, operating funds received too little too late, too few
consults from the local FmHA office, and on and on the story went. These
legends in the black farmer movement died too young. Farming is hard work,
farming while black is even harder, and farming while black while fighting
Goliath is even more arduous, painful, and life-shortening.
We
broke for lunch of southern fried catfish, hush puppies, and cole slaw and more
story telling. We wrapped up a full day by walking the old home place. The win
over Goliath allowed their parents to hold on to the farm and even to fix it up
some. A story of a white friend went beyond the bounds of friendship. The white
friend bought the farm which kept the FmHA from seizing it. When the Long case
was settled, Goliath defeated, the farmer bought the land back from his white
friend.
Shoun
and I have much, much more to do. We will go southwest, south, and up even into
the DC area. We are covering a lot of territory. We are hearing a lot of stories.
We
have more to tell.
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