Blind Spot: Let Me Look Again

Last night on a radio program, The Marti Oakley Show, "The USDA: Results of Black Farmers Demonstration," a realization hit me. As we were talking, I was sitting at my desk, reviewing words and photos from the Demonstration on this blog. There were glaring omissions. Here's the backdrop to what you see below. 

Several months back, Tracy Lloyd McCurty, Executive Director of the Black Belt Justice Center, in DC, met up with Ramsess, a noted artist in Los Angeles. Currently, he is doing amazing quilt work.  Earlier in his professional career he had done political satire for a newspaper in Los Angeles. After a time talking with Ms. McCurty, Ramsess soon sent to us several photos of his work. Several months later, he again sent a few more photos of his work. I think he understands deeply what is going on. In fact, so much so that he was on the radio program a while back with Lawrence Lucas interviewing him and others. 

Someone coined the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words." You know that I believe that because during Black History Month, I posted a couple of volumes of "graphic art" that told various stories of the Civil Rights Movement. 

These images are designed to capture one's attention and to take someone to a destination not organized by words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, and articles or books. 

So, if you've read posts on this page, you know that we are pushing President Biden to fire Secretary Thomas Vilsack. And you know that Secretary Vilsack has been woefully misguided and absent in the USDA's treatment of Black farmers. In fact, we have evidence that he favors white farmers and especially large, white, corporate farms and farmers. 

As you may have read, we are also critical of President Biden and his mishandling of Black farmer issues. You've seen that sign, "We gave you the White House. You gave us Tom Vilsack." One particular letter to President Biden had several of the pieces of satire in the letter. Surely he and Secretary Vilsack saw the pointed pieces. Those are there for all to see. 

We have also been critical of the inaction from various congressionals. 

So, as part of the Demonstration on March 1 of this year, in front of the White House there on Pennsylvania Avenue, we agitated intensely, marched behind the large sign, chanted over and over again, spoke loudly, and held up signs with words and with these images. 

What do these images say to you. They can speak for themselves as they did that pivotal day in DC in front of the White House.  Photos by permission of Heather Malaika Hicks. 

What do you see in this picture? And how do you feel when you realize what it has depicted? 

What do you see in these images and the people carrying them? 

Look closely and see what is on the wall behind this woman in the poster that the gentleman is holding. 

See the political satire posters behind this 

groups of protesters? What do they say? 

How do you interpret this poster held up by this man? Look closely. 

What do you see and how do you interpret the image held by this woman in front of the White House? 

Three of Ramsess' images are held up by these farmers and advocates. What are they saying to those who see them? 

Let Justice Ring: America the Wounded

Let Justice Ring: America the Wounded: Oh, beautiful for spacious skies Except for the ones filled with our childrens’ cries. This land is your land, this land is my land ...

Dear Congressionals, Are You Listening?

March 14, 2023

Dear Senators and Representatives:

I am contacting you via phone and mail since you represent citizens of the State of _____and some of its most vulnerable citizens are under attack in Washington, DC by the USDA.

My understanding is that Texas has the most African American farmers of any state.  As Black farmers, their cases of malfeasance by employees of the USDA/FSA go back well into the 1960s, and that is just for those farmers who are still alive. Many have died in these battles for justice. That said, the latest Ag Census data indicate that there are 48,697 Black producers in the US and that there are 35,470 Black-operated farms. This document lists the number of Black producers by state: Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee. There has been a significant decline from 1920 where there were upwards of 950,000 Black farmer operators and from 1910 when Black farmers farmed 19 million acres. The losses have been horrendous and much of it is due to the malfeasance of the USDA. These losses from the land and productivity of the land are estimated at $326 billion.

Our specific aim has been to find debt relief and compensatory damages for what is known as the “Pigford Legacy Farmers,” or those who did not find debt relief under Pigford v. Glickman. To this end, a large group of us met in front of the White House on March 1, demonstrating near the anniversary of the Fairness Hearing for the Pigford v. Glickman case before Judge Friedman, March 2, 1999. We believe now, as we believed then, that Pigford was a debacle and that Black farmers were worse off before than after. Pigford promised either a $50K sum plus debt relief under track A, or a sum not determined plus debt relief under Track B. Over 22,000 applied for inclusion in the class, over 15,000 prevailed for inclusion, and only 371 received debt relief. In the face of decades of verifiable discrimination, debt relief is precisely what they wanted and precisely what they did not receive.

One sign from the Demonstration that resonated deeply with me was this one:  "We gave you the White House. You gave us Tom Vilsack." 

As we all know, Congress had  appropriated 120% of the indebtedness of socially disadvantaged farmer and ranchers within the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. These funds were for debt relief and taxes for those farmers who had suffered discrimination in the farm/services division. However, Secretary Vilsack, in our opinion “slow-walked” the process and allowed 12 white farmer class action law suits to be filed and for two courts to issue restraining orders against the USDA that disallowed them to pay Black farmers and other SDFR.

In fact, many of us protested against Vilsack’s appointment long before he was appointed, but President Biden ignored us. In fact, we participated with the Biden/Harris transition team and were told at one point in the process that what we wanted, “race-based remediation to a historical anti-black process” was “unconstitutional." We told President Biden and Secretary Vilsack about this.

Then, in 2022, Congress signed the Inflation Reduction Act which made allocations available to “distressed” farmers and ranchers, a race neutral language that circumvented frivolous law suits. In that bill, $3.1 billion was allocated for “distressed” farmers to bring them into compliance with their debts with USDA/FSA for those with guaranteed loans. It also allocated $2.2 billion for farmers who can show that they were discriminated against. The Ag Secretary is slow-walking these processes as well.

At this point, Secretary Vilsack has released $800 million to approximately 11,000 “distressed” farmers and ranchers, and our group, The Justice for Black Farmers Group, can only identify nine Black farmers who have received partial or full relief from their debts. We also are aware that they are receiving 1099s from the IRS. This is reprehensible. Their debts are paid off and now they are under the economic boot of the IRS. We know that there are approximately 3,000 Black farmers whose indebtedness is under $210 million. We think he is “cherry-picking” farmers and that this will enhance his credibility. We are not buying it.

There is much more history to Secretary Vilsack’s acts of malfeasance than we can discuss in one letter. However, my blog outlines a number of matters related to him. We believe that he is owned by Big Ag. In fact, a simple google of funds released to various agencies within Big Ag will validate this point.

There are numerous investigative reports about the failures of USDA to honor its contractual obligations to Black producers, and the consistent theme is that Secretary Vilsack has failed us.

We, therefore, would like for you to stand with us, join in concert with our voices to President Biden, to accept the resignation of Secretary Tom Vilsack, and put in that position someone who can settle these matters once and for all. Black America is watching. 

Respectfully,

Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.
Representative, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association
Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group
Representative, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees

Demonstration at the White House, March 1, 2023: My Personal Reflections

The event had been scheduled for quite some time. It was designed to serve as the anniversary of the Fairness Hearing before Judge Friedman on March 2, 1999. We believed then as we strongly believe now that the Pigford v. Glickman Consent Decree was a gross miscarriage of justice. White America thinks Black farmers made off like bandits in Pigford I and Pigford II, but those walking closely with Black farmers know the truth, and that brutal truth is that most Black farmers are worse off now than they were before Pigford I. 

So, my wife, Charla, and I organized our schedules, worked on our flights, and made our way to Washington, DC. Flying into Reagan International was stirring as we flew over and saw the most prominent of the buildings of the US government, knowing that we were there to protest in front of the White House. 

Charla oftentimes attends these sorts of things with me. Not only is she my Beloved, she is our partner in fighting for justice. We live in a red state and go to a red church, and she has red friends, so she knows well these complicated matters. 

We gathered with old friends and new friends in the lobby of the Cambria Hotel Riverfront DC. It was a sight to behold, folks we had not seen since 2005 or 2008 or 2019. It was an inspired and inspiring gathering. 

Some 75 or so of us gathered for dinner later that night. We heard from key leaders, Lawrence Lucas, Tracy Lloyd McCurty, and Lloyd Wright, members of The Justice for Black Farmers Group. We got our marching orders. We heard a short speech from Danny Davis, D(VA), a man who knows well the plight of the Black farmer. 

For those who follow this blog, I have mentioned before these three soldiers in the war against discrimination: Lawrence Lucas, Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group, and President Emeritus, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees; Tracy LLoyd McCurty, J.D., Director of the Black Belt Justice Center; and Lloyd Wright, Black farmer and former Director, Office of Civil Rights, USDA. 

We knew that Wednesday would be a long, tiring day, so we dispersed after dinner. 

We met up early the next morning over breakfast and then shortly thereafter to get our assigned protest signs. Again, it was an energetic crowd as we moved about, chatted with folks, and talked about the day. 

We arrived in front of the White House at about 11:30 and assembled on the sidewalk with our banner and our signs and the Demonstration was underway. "We Gave You the White House. You Gave Us Tom Vilsack," "No Check No Vote," "USDA The Last Plantation," and others. We chanted as we moved behind the large banner. We had only one-half hour to create a ruckus, and that we did. Many passers by stopped and watched and some even asked questions. 

We could not stop. We were not to use megaphones, which we did, which was against policies. At one point an angry female police officer got in my face saying, "Sir, if you don't keep moving, we may arrest you." I simply stepped down onto Pennsylvania Avenue, and then the woman demanded documents from Tracy and thankfully Lloyd had brought copies. That was an intense moment. Senior citizens had to stop and rest, and they did so with their signs next to the fence with the White House in the background. We observed what must have been Secret Service Agents on the roof top, dressed in black with guns and cameras. We wondered if they could hear us. They could certainly see us. That's what we wanted, for the White House and the US Department of Agriculture to know that we were there. We had caught wind that the USDA told two HBCUs not to attend the demonstration. 

Then at noon, we stepped off the side walks and onto Pennsylvania Avenue, with documents in hand from the US Park Service, and began our public relations event. We encircled the speakers, the microphone, and the amplifier. We listened as speakers stayed on task, "Tom Vilsack must go!" For over an hour, farmers and advocates spoke both to and in front of the White House. Some of us referenced the USDA, its malfeasance, and the White House, and President Biden's blindness to what Secretary Vilsack was doing. Secret Service folks circled around us. One employee of the USDA stood over and watched us from the vantage point of the trees of Lafayette Park. We were adjacent to the church where former President Trump stood, surrounded by staffers and police, holding the Bible upside down. 

Our mantra was clear: "Vilsack must go!" "No check, no vote!" Black farmers, families, and advocates are tired of being sick and tired and waiting for the USDA and the White House to do right, to rectify decades of gross and calculated discrimination. 

At one point, as a group of kids high fived the Secret Service agent, I stepped to him and quipped, "I guess it's ok to talk to you," and he laughed and we chatted for a good five minutes about who we were, where we were from, and why we were there. His face and voice softened and he listened respectfully, and at that moment one of his co-workers, a young, Black woman walked up to us. I shook both of their hands and walked back to the group. 

Shortly thereafter, Lawrence Lucas, the gentleman in charge of keeping things going, motioned from beneath his mask with his right index finger. That signal was for me to get prepared to speak. I was not on the speaker list. I suspected that he might ask me to speak up, and so I did. I spoke a few words of appreciation about being with them. I spoke about Gary Grant, BFAA President, and I spoke about the occupant of the White House, and how White America does not know about Black farmers and their struggles, and I voiced my commitment to telling white people every chance I could get about stories of Black farmers. The applause and shouts said that they got it. Charla actually recorded it for me to hear later. I'm thankful that I didn't come off like some misguided, ineloquent fool. 

At about 1:15, we divided into two buses, those going back to the hotel, and those delegates who were going to the Hart Senate Building to meet with the senators. As we drove there, it was inspiring to visit with Earl Ijames, curator for the North Carolina History Museum, and his efforts to keep stories alive, working his farm with plants and crops that had actually originated in Africa and brought here by the enslaved. 

We arrived at the Hart Senate Building, made it through check in procedures which were much like the airports, and moved up to the fifth floor to meet in the conference room with staffers and eventually Senators Warren and Booker. I was pleased to finally be able to meet Senator Booker's staffer, Adam Zipkin, a gentleman who had worked for him for 25 years, way back when he was mayor of Newark. We embraced and shared words of mutual encouragement. We had met up many times via Zoom meetings, but face to face was inspirational. 

I moved to the back of the conference room and stood along the wall. Seating for us was at a premium. We had planned for 18, but some 35 showed up, and we were not going to tell the farmers that they could not come. 

Dr. Dwayne Goldmon, equity advisor for Secretary Vilsack, had somehow gotten invited to the meeting. We were mad. As we began our meeting, he attempted to take center stage and would have said and done more if our leaders had not challenged him to cease and desist, my words not theirs. It got hot in the room. Tension was at a feverish pitch and rightfully so. An interloper had arrived whom we had not invited. 

Then at about 4:00 pm, Senator Warren came in. She brought with her a spirit of calm, one of gracious respect and concern, and for about 30 minutes she listened intently to our concerns. We felt her compassion. We thanked her for her work in developing her policy about Black farmers. At one point, I commented something like:  "Senator Warren, thank you for allowing us the privilege of working with your policy team on your policy for Black farmers (She commented, "They are here."). It is obvious that you are meeting today with the survivors. We have many who are not here who died prematurely in the fight for justice. While it is important to talk about these matters, it is also important to know that decades of relentless discrimination wears people out, and they die prematurely." It felt to me like she was listening as I spoke that which was both on my heart and in my head, so to speak. 

After she left the USDA Equity Advisor took center stage again. Again, he was challenged. 

Around 4:45ish, Senator Booker came in, a big, imposing, kind, and generous spirited man. He spoke a few words, listened to things, and then assigned his staffer, Adam, to secure information from USDA that they were stone-walling us from receiving, payments by race, and not by state that had been released earlier and published by NPR. 

After he departed to go vote, we continued for a bit, the shouting match continued and then Lloyd Wright pulled the meeting to a close when he, as I recall, pulled down his mask and said, "And I have a few things I want to say in closing." He went on and called for Vilsack's resignation. He had worked for Vilsack and knows that he will say one thing and do another. 

From there we departed, said a few goodbyes, and went to hail our taxi back to the hotel. I shared a ride with Lawrence. We talked about the meeting and how Goldmon got it. A curious point was that Lawrence recognized that our taxi driver was from Ethiopia, a country he had lived in for five years decades ago. They talked in the language of Ethiopia. I was clueless as to what they were saying, but I enjoyed the generosity of spirit between my friend and the taxi driver. 

I was just a little disappointed that Charla had not been able to attend the meeting in the Senator's office. 

We chatted in the hotel lobby, disbanded for the evening, and then shortly thereafter I met in the restaurant with Charla and our good friends, Robbie and Heather, who wanted to know about how things went. With Charla and Robbie (before Heather arrived), I shared "content and process," family systems language they understood. We both laughed and groaned. 

Shortly thereafter, Alfred Gross sat the table with us, and we wrapped up the day by swapping stories of hunting, field dressing deer, family shennanagins, skunks, and other uproariously funny stories. 

The following morning, we met for breakfast and conversation and then headed out to the Museum of African American History and Culture. We had a limited amount of time and wound up  on the top floor enjoying the history of Black singers and performers. 

Then, as we left the hotel, Rod Bradshaw, farmer from Kansas, rode with us to Reagan, talking serious matters along the way, including his conversation with Goldmon both the previous day and on this particular day about the heinous practice of the federal government doing "administrative offsets," or taking percentages of Black farmers' income from them monthly. We understood that Goldmon said that this practice is illegal. We shall see. 

From there, Charla and I arrived at Reagan, settled in to wait for our flight and for the hours that would pass before we could arrive home. We did arrive despite 80 mile per hour winds, overturned tractor trailer rigs, and a delayed landing because of the bad weather. 

We knew that we had much to ponder and much to discuss. 

Here are some photos from the day. 

Charla Hinson, advocate for Black farmers, wore what I think is the most provocative sign, "WE GAVE YOU THE WHITE HOUSE. YOU GAVE US TOM VILSACK."

We marched up and down the side walk for 1/2 hour, chanting as we went. 

Farmers and advocates "wearing" the signs with our distinct messages.

Senator Elizabeth Warren listens to the farmers and advocates.

Senator Booker speaks to the group of Black farmers and advocates. 

Lloyd Wright, former Director, Office of Civil Rights, offers his parting shots while Eddie Slaughter waves his hand, and Edith Gross, Michael Stovall, Tracy Lloyd McCurty, and others look on. 

Below, a Black farmer voices his opinion by the sign he wears.

Lawrence Lucas, Michael Stovall, and Waymon Hinson at the hotel. 

Weary feet and bodies, but the signs speak the truth. 

Dear White America: A Primer for Understanding Black Farmers, Discrimination, and Land Loss

Dear White Americans:

Understanding the trauma of land loss for Black farmers is oftentimes beyond our comprehension. It is not normally within our experiences nor scope of understanding. In this brief, bulleted summary, I hope to line out key events and facts about why we are pressing for debt relief and compensation for damages done to Black farmers. As a white senior citizen, I am respectfully asking white America to take off our blinders and see the truth of what it means to farm while Black in America.

• Black Africans who were primarily agrarian were captured and enslaved oftentimes with the help of warring tribes. 
• They were stuffed into slave ships sardine-style and brought to the Americas, some 400,000 of them to cities in the United States. This is called the "Middle Passage." Many died and many wanted to die. 
• They were herded like animals and then sold on the auction blocks to the highest bidder.
• They were then taken and introduced oftentimes with violence into the culture of the plantation where they would live out their days or perhaps sold down the road to another enslaver. 
• Some 835,000 enslaved Africans were later sold into the deep South as slave trading was outlawed by the US Congress in the early 1800s. 
• Enslavers appropriated the crops they had grown in Africa and used them to enhance their holdings: cotton, corn, okra, rice, and various melons were imported via seeds that the enslaved brought with them.
• They were owned as property by their enslavers. 
• As the price of cotton escalated, so did the demand for enslaved people to work the land, and the price for an enslaved worker also escalated. 
• The planter class with 15 or more enslaved people would be the millionaires or even billionaires of today. 
• Many Black farmers can trace their family stories back to days of enslavement. 
• "My DNA is on the land," or "farming is in my blood," or "I was born to farm."
• At Freedom, once the war was over, all enslaved people were free to move on. Some did and some stayed and worked for their enslavers, and eventually the sharecropping system developed.
• By 1910, Black Americans had become prodigious land owners. By 1920, 950,000 Black Americans owned approximately 22,000 farms, and they owned 19 million acres. 
• They had become landowners despite organized lynchings, Black codes, refusals by white land owners to sell the best lands, and they worked against all odds to hold on to their property.
• In 2017 there were only 35,470 Black-owned farms with 4,673,140 acres. 
• In 2017, Black producers comprised 1.4% of all 3.4 million producers.
• This precipitous land loss is explained to a large degree by various acts of discrimination by employees of the USDA in the Family Service Agency at the local county level. 
• These are facts supported by eleven reports that were developed internally by the USDA or by outside experts who did their research.
• The USDA employees acted out their racism by ignoring, denying loans, refusing to send them on up the change of command, giving Black farmers too little funding too late in the crop season, and then foreclosing on them when they could not pay their loans off in a timely fashion. While white farmers were being offered disaster relief funds in times of drought or flooding, Black farmers were neither informed nor offered the same assistance. Restructuring of loans, a commonly held practice for farmers and ranchers, was not offered to Black farmers. At times even the checks written by the USDA were held in file folders until the land was foreclosed upon. This only scratches the surface of acts of malfeasance (wrong doings) done by white USDA officials. 
• Research the Eddie and Dorothy Wise story for verification of these practices. 
• Complaints began to be filed with the USDA as early as the 1960s, but in 1983, President Reagan dismantled the Office of Civil Rights. Complaints were thrown into trash cans or ignored or misfiled in the filing system of the Office of Civil Rights, per former Ag Sec Espy. 
• The Office of Civil Rights was reestablished under Lloyd Wright, Director, and Mike Espy, Secretary of the USDA.
• Between 1997 and 1999, 15 Black farmers settled with the USDA and Department of Justice. These cases had "findings of discrimination" and they were offered debt relief, compensation for pain and suffering, and promises for "priority of services." Some of these things were not offered as promised.
• Economists estimate that Black farmers have lost in land and productivity of the land to the tune of $326 billion to upwards of $1 trillion.
• The Pigford Consent Decree was confirmed in 1999 and 22,551 applied and 15,645  prevailed, but only 371 received debt relief. 
• Pigford II was later developed but most of the Black farmers received nothing. 
• All during this time, white farmers received most of the funding for subsidies and other programs, but Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, Asian Americans, and women were denied. Class Action Suits were filed on behalf of each of these groups and eventually settled. 
• Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Congress passed a bill that would address centuries of discrimination, but 12 white farmer class actions suits, along with the Ag Sec slow-walking the process, derailed compensation of debt relief plus 20% for taxes for "socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers." 
• Then, in 2022 Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act which shifted compensation to "distressed" farmers and ranchers, in a "race neutral" manner so as to avoid the courts. The Ag Sec is now providing funds to white farmers but little to nothing for Black farmers. 
  
• In the IRA of 2022, funds were also available to farmers who had been discriminated against with a cap of $500,000, a large sum to many of us, but to farmers who have been fighting foreclosure and discrimination since the 1960s, this amount of money is a drop in the bucket. 
• We know that approximately 3,000 Black farmers are indebted to the tune of $210 million, but the Ag Sec is not doing what the bill promised. 
• During President Trump's term, white farmers received 97% of the Coronavirus Relief Funds of CFAP, or $3,398 for white farmers by comparison to $422 for Black farmers. 
• The first six litigants in the white class action suits which in 2021 claimed "reverse discrimination" benefitted greatly. Those first six litigants received $523,996 during a five year period. The counties in which their farms and ranches are located received $1,200,062,666. If 1.4% of the farmers in those counties are Black, and that is likely too high of an estimate, then the lawsuits were not legitimate as under subsidies, coronavirus relief funds, and the failed tax war with China, the white farmers did very well. 
• One final thought: Black farmers experience significant loss of life and health when discrimination is ongoing and relentless. 

This is only a short, concise list. There is more. Follow this blog and Waymon Hinson, or research the names Stucki and Rosenberg or read the following: 

Here is one painful investigative article. See it here.  $326 billion dollars. Painful. 

The Environmental Working Group has some great research. Check out this link. 

 I have written a couple of things, but this article is the most extensive. Check it out here. 

The documentary, "I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice:" White Farmers Fight Against USDA, is important for truth-telling. See that link here.    

And, these are the reasons why we Demonstrated in front of the White House. President Biden can instruct his Secretary of Ag, Tom Vilsack, to do right by Black farmers, to implement in an appropriate fashion the debt relief to "distressed" Black borrowers and compensate them for decades of discrimination.