I hear the words. I hear the rustle of the papers. I see the faces of Secretary Vilsack on the screen along with his Chief of Staff, Katherine Ferguson, and Dr. Dewayne Goldmon, Senior Advisor for Racial Equity, and I want to believe. There is, however, a price to believing and not achieving. For far too long African American farmers (and other farmers of color and women farmers) have been kicked to the curb.
I want to believe in the words of Sam Cooke that "A Change is Gonna Come."
I've believed for a long time that change was necessary. In the face of my white friends and family, I have attempted to stay the course. For many of us, the details get lost beneath the rhetoric. For many of us, our hidden racist impulses emerge. For many of us, our blindness is deafeningly brutal. I've read stuff and heard stuff that makes my blood boil.
Even Secretary Vilsack has continued to apparently champion equity. Check out this sound bite on twitter. Apparently he is referencing the lawsuits by the white farmers in Texas and up north. I don't know if the Black farmers would want to change places with them. That is a stretch to assume that. What I do believe is that the Black farmers want the same opportunities and services and respect that the white farmers get. No more, no less.
They also believe that after decades of systemic racism and malfeasance at the hands of USDA and its county committee system, debt relief is a piece of rectifying the damage. Some but not all.
As I wrote in a couple of earlier posts, the white farmers appear to be pretty privileged. I'm not doubting that farming or ranching in this era is difficult, but farming while Black is more difficult.
So, I search around for information about Sid Miller, Texas Ag Commissioner, who is filing for himself and other similarly situated white farmers. His ranching operation is found in five counties here in Texas. Between 1995 and 2020, he received $185,490 in subsidies and CFAP. He also received some significant dollars for disaster relief for his tree business, though I did not count those dollars here.
The other five farmers in the second lawsuit live in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Ohio. Their names are Adam P. Faust, Christopher C. Baird, Jonathan P. Stevens, Jay T. Saba, and Joseph W. Schmitz. Their operations are found in six counties. Cumulatively they collected $338,506 in subsidies, MFP (the failed tariff war with China under trump), and CFAP (coronavirus relief funds).
The counties in which these six farmers/ranchers live received $1,128,900,000 in subsidies, MFP, and CFAP. The counties where Mr. Miller farms/ranches received $354,200,000.
If you doubt me, you can do your own research on these and other numbers here.
If the stats are correct, that there are only 35,000 or so Black farmers, the odds are that they are not found in those states and in those counties.
So, these farmers don't have a leg to stand on, that they are discriminated against because they are white. They have been the recipients of these funds and other benefits not measured in actual dollars because they are white.
That's the way the system is operated. Run by and run for white people. Read the history books. Read especially Dr. Pete Daniel's book, Dispossession: Discrimination Against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights
So, no, Mr. Miller etal. the designation under section 2501 for "socially disadvantaged farmers" is not unconstitutional, something we heard from Biden's policy team early on, so please move on down the road and admit that people whose skin looks like yours are terribly privileged.
And, Mr. Miller, when did you begin to proclaim that you are 2% Black?
Asking for a friend.
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