I pretty much anticipated today. Though sleep was deep and healing last night, I knew what this day would bring. I'm no prophet, but my instincts were correct.
On the one hand is a crowd of some size gathering in various places to be near him as he is sworn in. They wear their predictable regalia. They say predictable things. And if the cameras are on them and an interviewer stands before them, their answers will chill our bones. Yes, we've seen it before.
On the other hand, this is a federally recognized holiday for one of America's most significant leaders. MLK Day means different things to different people. For most white churches, it's just another day and the offices will be open and the pulpits will be silent. For many in professional settings, offices will be open, the employees are not given a day off, and the doctors are plying their trade. Restaurants will be open, people need to eat, and servers need to earn their minimal salaries and earn the tips.
Like many of you, I have read Dr. King's speeches, listened to his soaring rhetorical style, and even visited some places where he trod. The Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama was chilling, to walk where the protestors including Dr. King walked, got beaten, and where the blood ran. With my wife and a good friend, we visited Sweet Auburn, noting that several years prior, we could not have walked that area together. We walked into Ebenezer Baptist Church and observed the pulpit from which Dr. King preached. We encouraged our friend to stand where he stood. Reluctantly he did. It was a treasured moment.
We lived in Memphis in the early to mid-70s and then the late '70s into the early '80s, and our home was not far from where the horrendous event occurred with the trash truck crushing the workers. We walked the streets where the shot rang out that startled America and showed us who we were.
Dr. King understood the plight of the Black farmer. This one brief film captures his understanding. My friends and I remember the four years of Trump's first time in the oval office. We recall his erratic style of leadership and his appointment of various people who would do his bidding. We recall Sonny Perdue in particular. We remember that Trump and Perdue dismantled portions of the Office of Civil Rights, much like Reagan did back in the '80s. We know that many complaints of discrimination simply were tossed aside, much like former Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Espy, recalled in our interview with him for the documentary about Black farmers versus USDA.
No, I am not thrilled that Trump was re-elected. I hoped better for America. We deliberately stayed home and did not vote, or went to the polls and voted for a convicted criminal to the highest position in America. We voted our values, including our racist and sexist values, and the most qualified person, a woman, a Black woman, a Black, qualified woman, will do something else for the next four years rather than lead our country.
While on the one hand we are not pleased with what the Democratic administrations have done or not done on behalf of Black farmers. We've written much about that on these pages. Just hit the key words in the search bar and you can read them. We are not at all pleased with what Trump's previous administration did during and after his presidency. Again, Miller's shenanigans are recorded on these pages as well.
So, while I am torn on this day, an inauguration that I do not support and a federal holiday in honor of Dr. King, I commit myself to work with my friends on behalf of Black farmers of our country. Yes, we are parts of the larger "Black Farmer Movement," and we will protest, write, speak, research, film, and all manner of other things on behalf of a marginalized farmer group of our country.
We will strategize. We will research. We will know a lot about who is in the secretary's office in that monolitic USDA office building in Washington, DC. We will connect with her, ask for meetings, demand change at the county level, the source and origins of many problems of Black land loss.
We will not stop just because a new administration is in place. We will work that much harder. There will be a different philosophy permeating the halls of office buildings, ag office buildings in our states across the US, and in meetings of the county committees in those states.
We will demand change. We know what got us here. We also know what will destroy us if we let it. Until every breath is gone from our bodies, we will work on behalf of what is of ultimate value to us.
So, on this day of multiple ironies, these thoughts of mine are now placed here for your viewing and consideration.
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