The Environmental Working Group does an amazing job chronicling the sordid history of mistreatment at the hands of the USDA and its infamous county committee system. The judges have ruled in Wisconsin and Florida that the USDA debt relief plan is misguided. Maybe it is misguided against the other groups of Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, but the history is not in doubt relative to African American farmers. For those who eyes to see and ears to hear, I invite you into this journey of materials and stories.
This article discusses the length, the depth, and the breadth of the history of farming while Black in America. Yes, I am the author of this article, but I am not ashamed to place it in this list of references. The narrative extends from the shores of Africa, through the horrendous Middle Passage, standing on the auction block, purchased and living on plantations as enslaved people owned by the enslavers, Freedom, the challenges of Reconstruction, the indignities of Jim Crow south, and the stories of land acquisition against all odds and then the land losses at the hands of USDA and others, but especially USDA, powers that continue unabated to this very day.
This hour long conversation takes place between the radio host, Marti Oakley, the program host; Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and Representative of the Justice for Black Farmers Group; Tracy Lloyd McCurty, attorney and Director of the Black Belt Justice Center; and Lloyd Wright, Black farmer and former Director, Office of Civil Rights at USDA. They discuss the depth and breadth of the lawsuits by white farmers that are blocking the debt relief process of socially disadvantaged farmers and what might be potential solutions. They will discuss at length the challenges around accurate counts for Black farmers and other groups as the numbers move quite often. They also hit on the notion that the Black farmer litigation called "the Pigford Class Action Suit, or Pigford I," legitimizes the case for Black farmers while other cases for other farmer groups were never formalized. The numbers indicate that Black farmer groups are fighting for relief of all minority groups while other minority groups are seemingly stationed along the sidelines.
This article is one of several that explain the background and details of The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 which was signed into law by President Biden. The ARPA includes section 1005 and 1006. Section 1006 prescribes debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers. Section 1006 delineates funding via various programs and initiatives that benefit farmers. This article chronicles the law suits filed by various white farmer groups as they holler that they have experienced reverse discrimination with the major focus placed on the Florida judge and her decision. The readers can decide for themselves, but I have waded into this issue in other posts on this blog. They will be listed below.
This is another column that chronicles the narrative of debt relief, the law suits, and the current status of things. Written by a writer working for Progressive Farmer, the article includes comments by Ag Secretary Vilsack about how things will likely be in court for a while. This is a well written article regardless of where you land on these issues.
This article highlights the background issues and one of the principles in the fight for justice for Black farmers. Her voice was heard on the radio program above. The article leads up to an important zoom conversation with Senator Warren, Booker, and Warnock, but this was before the temporary restraining order from the judge in Wisconsin and the preliminary injunction by the judge in Florida. You'll see one of our group, Corey Lea, Tennessee advocate, with one of his horses at the beginning of this article.
This article includes the larger background while at the same time asserting what many of us fear, that it is too little too late, or rather what we know, that it is too little too late. The most heartrending part of this article is the story of Bernard Bates and how he was driven from farming in the area of NW Kansas named "Nicodemus," the site where a large number of African Americans lived and farmed until they were driven away. I'd encourage folks to read this article because it drives the point home even harder through the narratives of one community and one family.
For those who are willing to read a few more words that I've written, here are two specifically that address the ridiculous assertions of the white farmers. There will one more coming over the next few days. One thing that I point out in these pieces is that the first set of farmers who screamed discrimination actually benefited in three program areas to the tune of $523,000 and that the counties in which those farmers lived benefited in those same three program areas to the tune of $1.2B. Yes, that's what I said, $1,200,000,000. That's a lot of zeroes.
Here is the first article. It's called "Dear White People."
Here is the second article. It's called "Dear White People Part Two."
Yes, there are a lot of words and several articles noted here. I hope you'll take the time to check them out and join up with us to fight for Black farmers.
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