“Blowin’ In the Wind,” originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan back in the ‘60s sends a chilling message to those of us who are involved in the Black Farmer Movement. Here is a cover by Pentatonix that moves me deeply. The line, “How many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?” sends chills down my spine. And the refrain, “The answer is blowin’ in the wind” rings true. Sometimes in radio programs or presentations or even the Whistleblowers Conference and Film Festival, we will read the names of Black farmers who have died fighting these battles. Seeing that list and reading those names brings tears to our eyes as our emotions run deep.
By now many know that checks have been written to various farmers of all races and genders from the United States Department of the Treasury. We know that some are pleased and some are still in agony, and those are just the ones who applied.
But the questions remain, how did we get here? And what were the governmental processes that allow for these decisions to be made?
You will find in other places my opinions about how Black farmers have been discriminated against since the very beginning of the US Department of Agriculture from the days of President Lincoln all the way up to now. Those articles of mine and of others tell the brutal truth of “farming while Black in America.” It is an ugly picture, especially for those of us who value our country and freedom to choose and the knowledge that we will be respected as all of us are created equal.
The Justice for Black Farmers Act never saw the light of day, but we appreciate its authors, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Raphael Warnock, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and perhaps others.
While the American Rescue Plan Act was being debated back in 2021, Senator Warnock placed a couple of things into the Bill that was a stroke of genius. That Bill, had it not been sabotaged by a group of white farmers with their racist, in my opinion, attorneys, would have covered 100% of the farmers’ indebtedness plus 20% for taxes. However, as I have written elsewhere, Secretary Vilsack slow-walked the process, American bankers protested, and lawsuits were filed in the name of “reverse discrimination” across the country. Two judges made decisions to halt the process of covering the indebtedness of Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (SDFF).
Then, Congress, knowing that a “race neutral” approach must be used, developed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2023 and with it were two significant areas for farmers, regardless of color or gender or any number of other areas where discrimination can occur. Section 22006 offered $3.1B for “distressed borrowers” and wiped out the debts of Black farmers back to owing $0 plus one extra check to give them a heads up. We know of several who were recipients of these funds.
Section 22007 provided $2.2B for those who could prove that they had been discriminated against. Some thought of this as a great deal, but others of us knew better.
This is where it gets interesting for those of us in the Black Farmer Movement.
The USDA, first of
all, issued an announcement about it. It even had a catchy acronym, the DFAP
program, the “Discrimination Financial Assistance Program.” For those who like a lot of details, here is the website.
The DFAP evaluation guide is a 201-page document. Those wish to do deep dives into processes for receiving application forms, how they were adjudicated, and all, this source is invaluable.
Second, there were a number of flaws in the process and we protested about it. For instance, no immediate ag economist was involved, no fees for lawyers, no appeals process, and Black farmers had to submit a 40-page document while white farmers completed a three-page process. We understand that white farmers had their checks almost immediately, as within a few days, while Black farmers had to wait and wait and wait.
Third, the USDA appointed two “hubs” with a rather limited range of experiences with farmers in general and aggrieved farmers specifically. USDA paid these entities millions of dollars. Those hubs were Analytic Acquisitions and Windsor Group. The national administrator group was The Midtown Group. See this page for details.
Fourth, a number of “cooperators” were brought on board, most if not all without any application process, but instead were those identified by Secretary Vilsack as “friendly” to the USDA. I wrote about them in another location, about how this process was flawed from the get go. On the other hand, it is true that these “cooperators” were able to surface, meet, and inform Black farmers as to processes. I listened to one early on as the speaker informed listeners as to broad generalizations of the program. Then, later I listened to a person with more details about the process. Here is the announcement by USDA as the process came to a close.
Fifth, the process dragged on for months, deadlines were changed, and eventually an announcement was released with a number of curious details. While Secretary Vilsack has maintained that releasing data by race is illegal despite the fact that it is mandated in the 2008 Farm Bill and again in the 2018 Farm Bill.
“The recipients include over 23,000
individuals who have or had a farming or ranching operation, who are receiving
between $10,000 and $500,000 of assistance, with an average of nearly $82,000.
Recipients also include over 20,000 individuals who planned to have a farming
or ranching operation, but reported they were unable to do so because they
couldn’t get a USDA loan. These individuals are receiving between $3,500 and
$6,000 of assistance, with an average of $5000.”
Other sources released information as to numbers and dollars. These details add to the information we need but that the USDA is concealing from us, because “it would make us look bad,” so an insider told us. We are informed that 58,000 applied for the funds for discrimination, 48,000 “prevailed,” and received some sum of money from the $2.2B pot. A majority of the 48,000 were Black farmers and ranchers and they received $1.76B of the total pot of $2.2B. Over 80% were Black farmers who received these funds. Over 70% of the Black farmers are from the southeastern region of the US. Those who attempted to farm but were kept from it received anywhere from $3,500 to $6,000. The average payout was $82,000.
At the end of the day, it is a mixed bag. Some farmers are very pleased with their check. Some are extremely disappointed. At face value, probably there is not a Black farmer in the country who received a check in the total amount of damages incurred. Some readers may remember that scholars estimated that between 1920 and 1997 Black farmers lost approximately $326B in generational wealth that their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will never see.
In addition to those disappointed with the numbers on their checks, there is a sizeable group of Black farmers who did not trust the process that USDA utilized, so they did not apply for the DFAP funds. There is another group of farmers who were told by at least one person who had at one point held a high position with USDA that applying for these funds would disallow applying for other funds via individual lawsuits or class action suits. That is not the case, but some of our people trusted misinformation.
Ultimately, “the last plantation” lives on and as it does Black farmers and family members continue to suffer under the boot to the neck of injustices. Until USDA wipes out racism from its halls and offices and personnel, discrimination will continue.
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