An Obvious Lack of Political Courage: An Overview

To tell Black people to wait means never. That's what I'm told. That seems to be the case now for Black farmers. Here are details that I'd like for you to know about. 

In 2020 and 2021, Senators Booker, Warren, Sanders, and others introduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act on the senate floor. Everyone knew that it would go no where under the Trump administration, but at least it was in plain sight. Then, it was re-introduced in 2021, again was going nowhere, but this time there was a new senator in town, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock. 

Senator Warnock moved several pieces from the JFBA into the new bill, the American  Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and this bill immediately became a flash point for Black farmers. Now "Black farmers" were relanguaged to "Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers," consistent with 2501, well known in the USDA. It included a payment of 120%, complete debt relief for those who had suffered discrimination at the hands of the infamous county committee and its malfeasance and 20% for taxes. 

A large number of white farmers and their attorneys, led by the chief wordmeister of some of Trump's efforts, some twelve class action suits were filed across the country, initiated by the lightening rod of an agriculture secretary here in Texas (also known for being a churchman as well as one who uses curse words to describe others with whom he disagrees including at time, Ms. Clinton) who claimed "reverse discrimination. Two district courts with conservative judges agreed with them and put a restraining order on USDA, forbidding USDA from forgiving the debt and paying the taxes of SDFRs. We believe that Vilsack, Secretary of Ag, slow-walked the process that allowed these ridiculous lawsuits to see the light of day. It should never have taken over 100 days for these farmers to have their indebtedness discharged. 

Then, in 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. This Bill, with its authors knowing what had happened previously, and knowing that conservative judges were sitting on the bench, many appointed by Trump, changed the language in the debt relief provisions to "distressed borrowers," defined as those farmers and ranchers who are at least two months in arrears of their indebtedness with loans to USDA or banks. The total in that provision of the IRA was $3.1B. Anyone distressed would qualify. Also included in the Bill was $2.2B for "discrimination" and those who could prove it. 

See how wide open this have become? A department of agriculture that has discriminated against Black farmers for centuries, is now allowed to benefit anybody and everybody. 

At this point, we know that Vilsack has released $700M to some 11K distressed borrowers early on. Now, of late, he has released another $193M to another group of borrowers. We have asked, in fact, a wide ranging group of people, have asked for an accounting of debt relief by race. The person in charge of equity efforts for USDA says that they are following the law and are not collecting that information despite the legislation that demanded it in the 2008 farm bill. 

As I have said on several occasions, our efforts reach out across the country, and while it is not precise in our conclusions, we know of only nine Black farmers who have had their debts cancelled partially or totally. NINE. N...I....N...E.....

Here is a real life story of what is going on. More from ABC to come. 

Along with this, the Bill did not contain any provisions for the payment of taxes.  So, whatever the amount is wiped off the books, the farmer is required to pay 30 to 40 percent in taxes on that amount. At the moment, Senator Booker's office has negotiated with the Department of the Treasury and it looks like there will be a wash, and no taxes will be incurred. We are pleased with that. Time will tell if this is correct. 

Our opinion is that Vilsack is doing what Vilsack does, privileging white farmers and tossing some scraps to Black farmers, and perhaps to other socially disadvantaged farmers. 

Our opinion also is that once again, white farmers are benefitting from the pain and suffering of Black farmers. We see racism all over the USDA and from the man in the secretary's position, and the current actions under the latest two bills are evidence of that. 

We know that he left Iowa in the wake of a huge class action suit of 6,000 Black employees of the State of Iowa. 

All of this is why we demonstrated in front of the White House on March 1. Yes, that is the Demonstration that caught the attention of the Secretary who sent one of his employees to watch us and then later to intrude upon us in Senator Booker's office. Scroll down and you'll find two posts about those events. 

Bottom line? Black farmers and advocates, myself included, are sick and tired of the acts of malfeasance on the part of USDA. We are weary of their pitiful efforts. 

What do I observe? "An Obvious Lack of Political Courage," as the title of this post suggests. Who lacks courage? Here is the briefest of lists:  President Biden, Secretary Vilsack, senators, and representatives who know better. 

References for You to Explore: The Black Farmer versus USDA

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.