Mississippi Delta Experience 2021

A group of some 45 of us assembled in Cleveland, Mississippi at the Cotton Hotel recently for the Mississippi Delta Experience 2021. We came from Texas, St. Croix, Arkansas, North Carolina, Georgia, and other places in order to experience the impact that the Delta had on the Civil Rights Movement. Sponsored by the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and Spiritual Action, and led by its director, Dr. Jerry Taylor, the five day trip was more than we could have imagined. 

Led ably by our tour guide, Lee Alward, we started out at the memorial and burial site for Fannie Lou Hamer, an icon of the Civil Rights Movement and then we worshipped at her church in Ruleville, MS.It was stirring to know that we sat in pews where she attended and oftentimes spoke. 

We had lunch at the iconic Senator's Place in Cleveland where the chief of police spoke to us about the changes that he had brought to policing in the area. 

We had an all too fast tour through the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale and then listened to two speakers from the adjacent cultural center. One of them was an old friend of Dr. Taylor. You name the musician, and she or he will be featured there inside the museum. My favorite was the story of Muddy Waters and how he was recorded on the plantation where he worked by Alan Lomax of The Library of Congress. 

We then stopped in Mound Bayou, an all Black community that began during the Reconstruction periodand is fill with iconic places, events, and people. Then, after dinner, we worshipped with a church in Cleveland, the Lincoln Gardens Church, that has an inspired and inspiring minister. 

Thursday was another memorable day with a couple of hours at the B. B. King Museum in Indianola. It was inspiring to hear more of his story and hear more of the music he created. Next came the infamous courthouse and court room in Sumner where the trial for Emmitt Till's murderers took place when they were found not guilty by an all-white, male jury.

To see where the jury sat, where the lawyers sat, and where Mose Wright stood and pointed to his nephew's abductors will chilling. Then we traveled and toured the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center in Glendora.  And then we traversed to the location where the Bryant store once stood. We found it  ironic that the building is for sale at an astronomical price and is covered by vines. Its role in history is entrenched, but its viability as a site is diminished, as it should be. 

We then ventured to the Broad Street Historic Park where Stokley Carmichael first uttered the phrase, "Black Power." Here we paused, sang a couple of hymns, prayed, and discussed the significance of the location. 

On Friday morning, we traveled to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, noted as the best museum in the country, in second place only to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. Two surprises took place here. First, we were privileged to meet and talk with Hezekiah Watkins, the youngest Freedom Rider, and second, a young man who is the fourth generation Black farmer in his family. 

In the afternoon, we assembled back at the hotel, and Dr. Waymon Hinson introduced and showed the Black farmer documentary, I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight USDA. Much energy was expressed as we discussed the things that were currently happening with Black farmers across America and the shenanigans of the USDA that has led to much land loss. 

We wrapped up the Delta tour with an amazing worship experience at the Jackson Central Church of Christ. This location was the site of numerous gatherings of Freedom Riders in the 1960s and the site where Medgar Evers last spoke publicly prior to his murder the following evening. It was another inspirational service as the preachers were powerful and prophetic.

It is virtually impossible to capture the experiences of this tour. To walk where they walked, to worship where they worshipped, to stand where they stood was amazing. These five days will live on in our hearts for months and years to come. Perhaps we will even be changed in deep and meaningful ways, especially those of us who live in white America. 

Gut Punch: Too Many Deaths

This morning I had one of those gut-punch moments. It was a serious punch to my heart and soul. My grief is intense, and maybe it will remit as the day goes on. I hope so. Actually, I hope it doesn't. It is too deep. 

Several of us have been working with various congressional leaders and Secretary Tom Vilsack's office on behalf of Black farmers and their severe mistreatment at the hands of the USDA. Those people have been Senators Warren, Sanders, and Booker. We engaged with President Biden's policy team before the election. We have made calls, written letters, and helped write legislation. 

Socially Disadvantaged Farmers are on the precipice of a dream come true. Indebtedness that has been a function of discriminatory actions for years, as interest piled up upon interest, now has an opportunity to be erased. The term is "debt relief," which carries with it some technicalities. 

Several years ago, I interviewed a couple of Black farmers who had had their land and equipment taken from them via a contrived arrangement of the FSA office, a local bank, and the implement dealership. Those folks knew that foreclosure was coming before it landed in the laps of the farmers. 

One farmer died not long after I interviewed him. It was a short interview as he was in his hospital bed in his living room as his care taker hovered nearby. I made it brief. I had moved into his space and he was suffering. He was soon in the presence of his ancestors. 

This morning, I decided to call the other farmer. I was thinking that perhaps provisions for debt relief under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, with its sections 1005 and 1006, might be useful for him and his wife. I knew that they were indebted to the USDA, but how much I don't recall. 

Then, upon doing a google search, I received the sucker punch. This farmer had died earlier this year. Yes, he also had passed on to his ancestors, just like his partner had several years ago. I watched the video of him and his family there on the web page, and I wept. 

Those tears are for him and his wife and family. Those tears are for numerous other Black farmers who did not live to see justice. From Texas to North Carolina to Georgia to Kansas and to points betwixt and between, they are dead. Yes, they have died, and in many instances, the stress of farming while Black in  America took them to early graves. I see their names, I hear their voices, their documents are in my filing cabinet, their interviews are in my voice files and transcribed in most places. 

They passed to glory without seeing justice, without seeing their debts forgiven. 

I left a message on their home phone. I hope his wife will call. If she doesn't, I still was able to leave a word of condolence. 

Yes, the Black Farmer Movement is real and the farmers are worthy of justice for their pain and suffering. Yes, their families deserve debt relief that they never received. 

That is my commitment, to work on their behalf, before any more Black farmers die. 

Too many have died. 

Therein lies my grief. 

Dear White People Part Two

Here on these pages several weeks back, I wrote a long, perhaps too long, post about the plight of Black farmers from 1910 to now. I wrote extensively about land acquisition and dispossession. Situating Black farm income in the trump era is a travesty when white farmers made off like a bandit with subsidies and relief from the former president's war with China. You're welcome to go here for more information.  I hope you do. That would mean a lot.

Why is that important? Good question you ask. 

I jotted that little paragraph down with the link for more information because there is a new set of litigants in town. Sid Miller, Ag Commissioner of the State of Texas and five other white farmers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Ohio have filed two lawsuits against the USDA, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, and FSA Director Zach Ducheneaux. You can find all of the details about the suit by Miller here and the lawsuit out of Eastern District of Wisconsin here. 

Their are claiming that many groups suffer from discrimination, and they produce lists. They also allege that they are being discriminated against because they are not recipients of the $4B and $1B for debt relief afforded to "Socially Disadvantaged Farmers," which they consider to be an injustice. They fuss with the legal definition and applications of SDF, or category 2501 with its definitions. 

So, I did a brief dance through the database for farmers thanks to the Environmental Working Group. Anyone can access that data here.  The database is rich. You can research by state, type of subsidy, county, and even those who receive subsidies. Those who received Market Facilitation Program funds, allocated to farmers after the debacle of the trade war with China, and the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program funds, funds allocated to farmers in view of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sid Miller and his fellow litigants benefitted enormously from subsidies, MFP, and CFAP, to the tune of over 1/2 million dollars for the time period 1995-2020. Also, the counties within which these farmers and ranchers locate their farms and ranches benefitted enormously. Those eleven counties received Over $1B in subsidies, over $41M in MFP, and almost $30M in CFAP.  The total? Glad you asked. Here is a staggering number:  $1,200,062,666 in total funds to those counties. 

If Black farmers are a miniscule percentage of farmers in America, and if those Black farmers benefit in very, very small ways from subsidies, MFP, and CFAP, then it seems to me that these eleven white litigants do not have a leg to stand on. 

Perhaps they do not stand to get rich, although Mr. Miller here in Texas appears to be doing quite well, the system is doing what the system is designed to do, benefit farmers who are white, and they are white. They are not in the group defined as "Socially Disadvantaged Farmers." Only "minorities" or "people of color" go there. That was decided a long time ago.

They are wasting resources in filing these suits. Already there has been pushback from Black farmer groups. I support those pushing back. 

So far, the powers that be in Washington with the USDA and FSA are saying that these cases have not impeded their progress toward debt forgiveness for those who deserve it, those who have historically discriminated against, those who have lost their land livelihood, families, and health, and who are in debt to the USDA as a result of discrimination and interest piled upon interest piled upon interest. 

No, the white farmers are wasting their time and energies, and just stirring up things. 

Biden Thinks Debt Relief Will Save Black Farmers From Extinction

Let Justice Ring: Dear White People:

Let Justice Ring: Dear White People:: The rhetoric has been loud and rowdy since President Biden signed The American Relief Act Plan of 2021 . Most of us know very little about w...