July 16, 2021
Secretary Thomas
Vilsack
Attention: Chief
of Staff, Katherine Ferguson
Director, FSA, Zach Ducheneaux
Senior Advisor, Dewayne Goldmon
U.S. Department of
Agriculture
1400 Independence
Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC
20250
Secretary Vilsack:
We wish to acknowledge the meeting with you and your staff on May 28 which included Katherine Ferguson, Dewayne Goldmon, Monica Rainge, and the Office of General Counsel.
We had hoped that meeting would be the first of an ongoing series of meetings between you, your staff, and representatives from the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers Group. While we have not heard from your office regarding a follow-up with us, we will continue to persist on behalf of people who are important to us, Black farmers and employees of USDA.
Frankly, at that meeting, we were dismayed, frustrated, and disappointed by several things: we were not informed as to the length of the meeting; we were informed of the mode of technology at the last minute; the shift in confusing technology which proved problematic for some of our rural farmers; we did not have sufficient time to ask our questions nor have our questions answered; and misleading information was provided by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.
We have long advocated for major changes to be made within USDA. Six months into your administration as Secretary, our concerns remain the same. Therein lies our challenges and, hopefully, many opportunities for you and your staff to partner with us to create change within USDA on behalf of minority farmers, especially Black farmers and USDA employees.
Therefore, we respectfully request that you and your staff meet with us expeditiously. We prefer a Zoom-type call. We also request that the meeting last not less than an hour and a half.
We anticipate a speedy and early response to our request.
Respectfully,
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