Reverend Senator Raphael Warnock: Step, Stand, and Stay with Us, An Open Letter

February 25, 2024

The Honorable Raphael Warnock, Ph.D.
407 Auburn Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30312
 
416 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
 
Dear Senator Warnock:
 
It is a pleasure to worship with Ebenezer each Sunday morning and especially today with the preaching of Olu Brown. Besides growing up in the same region of East Texas, he and I share in common a concern for the gospel and for people.
 
My “transition” to Ebenezer took place several months back when two things happened: 1) my physicians told me to stay out of crowds lest I contract a disease and die and 2) my growing discontent with a white church with a smattering of Black sisters and brothers and a growing shift to the right and a lack of interest in engaging important matters in our larger community.
 
Besides our mutual degrees in theology, you and I share a deep concern for all to be included at the table and all to be included in farming across this great land of ours. I understand that you have been instructed by the writings of James Cone and Howard Thurman. I have only come to embrace their writings and ways of thinking and living in my senior years. As you share inside information as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I share a deep concern for the mistreatment of Black farmers at the hands of USDA. Since 1995 I have listened to injustices perpetrated upon Black farmers, I have heard and heard again of the pain and suffering that farmers and their families experience at the malfeasance of USDA/FSA that lands squarely in their laps. As a board member of BFAA, Tillery, NC, and as a representative of the Justice for Black Farmers Group and as a co-laborer with Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, I have had the pleasure and the pain of advocating on behalf of Black farmers and families at a whole different level, one upon which you live, move, and breathe. My speeches, publications, blogposts, and even a documentary are easy enough to find.
 
In Reverend Brown’s sermon this morning, as he touched on the three actions of faith as exemplified by the Israelites there at the Jordan: Step, Stand, and Stay, I was convicted that such actions can easily apply to the Black Farmer Movement by the farmers themselves, by advocates like me, and by congressionals with power like you.
 
Those three actions exemplify the Black farmers and advocates. We stepped out in faith that their cause was a worthy cause, convinced that Black farmers had been kicked to the curb since the earliest days of USDA, and likewise convinced that the investigative reporting verified the horror stories that we had heard for decades. We have moved into standing. We would not be moved by a different administration. We were unmoved by the rhetoric of promises following by a display of inaction. We are unmoved by the cherry-picking of USDA and its debt relief while Black farmers lose their land. And we have stayed. We stay as our people die. One of my studies has been the impact of the micro and macro-aggressions of the county office on the health and well being of farmers and families. You have heard of the death of some: Eddie and Dorothy Wise and Eddie Slaughter, just to name three. While we have life and breath, we will stay in the struggle. While we have life and breath, we will stay until racism has been removed from USDA and until all of God’s children are treated with the same dignity, respect, and funding for farming.
 
We wrote you a letter on March 4, 2021. That letter is attached to this letter for your convenience. The tragedy is that much has stayed the same. Things have not changed for the better the last three years for Black farmers. In fact, we think things are actually worse and land loss and its tragedies happen right before our very eyes.
 
We are asking that you step, stand, and stay with us. We respectfully ask that you meet with us and discuss the current status of Black farmers and that you work with us to find avenues of remediation. Avenues and actions are there: the Justice for Black Farmers Act should be enacted, greater transparency and accountability should be mandated for the USDA, Black farmers should receive the same benefits as any farmer in terms of funding for farming and farm operating loans and other matters, loss of land and livelihood must cease, and the White House and USDA must declare and show with actions that Black farmers from New York, down through the South, across to Texas and then the Midwest, and across the Southwest, and even to California and the western states all matter, Black the same as white in all matters related to farming.
 
Thank you for reading this letter. We eagerly await your response and an opportunity to meet with you.
 
Respectfully,
 
----S----
 
Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.
www.letjusticering.blogspot.com
www.blackfarmersinsearchofjusticefilm.com
Psychologist/Marriage and Family Therapist
Advocate/Researcher
Representative for BFAA, Justice for Black Farmers Group, and
  USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
903-271-4654
Waymon.hinson@gmail.com
 
CC: Lawrence Lucas
       Corey Lea
       Michael Stovall

Dear Congressionals in Texas, Whose State Has THE Most Black Farmers, The Clock in Ticking

August 8, 2023
 
RE: Concerns for USDA and Black Farmers
 
Dear Congressionals of Texas: Representative Crockett, Representative Green, Representative Jackson Lee, Representative Allred, and Representative Veacy
 
I am contacting you via phone and email since you represent citizens of the State of Texas and some of its most vulnerable citizens are under attack in Washington, DC by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
 
We are at a pivotal point in the history of our country and in this current election cycle. We want to share with you our concerns and make a request of you.
 
Texas has the most African American farmers of any state according to the 2017 Census of
Agriculture. At a national level, the Ag Census data indicates that there are 48,697 Black producers in the US and that there are 35,470 Black-operated farms. This is a significant decline from 1920 where there were upwards of 950,000 Black farmer operators and in 1910 Black farmers farmed 19 million acres. The losses have been horrendous and much of it is due to racism at USDA. These losses from the land, productivity, and generational wealth are estimated at $326 billion.
 
Our specific aim has been to find debt relief and compensatory damages for Black farmers. 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 now than they were before. These kinds of remedies can only come when systemic change is brought about within the halls and offices of USDA/FSA.
 
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 for debt relief and taxes for those farmers who had suffered discrimination in the farm/services division. Secretary Vilsack “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 USDA that disallowed them to pay Black farmers and other Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers. We believe this was a “self-fulfilling prophecy.”
 
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. We understand now that Vilsack was orchestrating the conversation.
 
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.
 
We can identify ten or so Black farmers who have received partial or full relief from their debts. We know that there are approximately 3,000 Black farmers whose indebtedness is under $210 million. As far as we can discover, only one Black farmer received full debt relief in Texas, a widow whose husband owed $200K. We think Vilsack is “cherry-picking” farmers and that this is an attempt to enhance his credibility. We are not buying it.
 
Additionally, the process that he has established under the IRA for relief due to discrimination, with its administrator, hubs, and cooperators is another circumvention of justice for Black farmers. We believe the power to provide relief from decades of discrimination rests in the hands of the secretary and that he will be ineffective. As a result, Black farmers will continue to suffer.
 
We are at a pivotal point both in history and in this election cycle. While things are chaotic on the Republican side of potential candidates, we see President Biden as the only viable candidate on the Democratic side. However, a new third-party candidate, Dr. Cornel West, of the Green Party has begun to cut into the Black vote that has gone to Biden in the past. As time passes, that can only deepen the challenges. Dr. West is also the ONLY presidential candidate who has spoken up for Black farmers. You can see our conversation with him here as well as sound bites from him our recent panel discussion with the Whistleblowers Conference and Film Festival.
 
We, therefore, would like for you to stand with us, in concert with our voices to President Biden (see attached letter of January 19, 2023 and the Proclamation). Specifically, we ask you to call for a meeting at the White House with President Biden, voice your concerns for maltreatment of Black farmers and demand that he initiate systemic changes within USDA to erase racism once and for all. Only then will there be hope for a brighter future for Black farmers of Texas and the entire country.
 
Respectfully,
 
    -s-
 
Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.
903-271-4654
Denison, Texas 75020
Representative, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association
Representative, Justice for Black Farmers
Representative, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
 
Cc: Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
       Representative, Justice for Black Farmers
       Representative Jasmine Crockett
            Jason Rodriguez, Chief of Staff
            Brandon Bradley, Legislative Director
       Representative Al Green
            Niha Razi, Chief of Staff
            Rachel Rodriguez, District Director
       Representative Sheila Jackson Lee        
            Lillie Coney, Chief of Staff
            Yuroba Harris, District Director
      Representative Colin Allred
            Paige Hutchinson, Chief of Staff
            Whitley O’Neal, Legislative Director
      Representative Marc Veasy
            Nicole Varner, Chief of Staff
            Luke Dube, Legislative Director

What is the 4th of July for Me and Those to Whom I am Committed?

Over on my oldest son's Facebook page, he wrote this this morning. I have seen it before. Seems that he posts it on July 4 each year. 

"July 4, 1776: The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress.

July 4, 1837: The first Chickasaw removal party, forced from their lands by the Indian Removal Act of 1830, arrived at Memphis, Tennessee, and were ferried across the Mississippi River into Arkansas, never to see the land of their ancestors again.

July 4, 2023: As usual, I'm struck by the intense, biting irony. A day of celebration and a day of dispossession rolled into one."

Then we can add January 1, 1863. 

Then we can add June 19, 1865. 

Earlier this week I posted on my own Facebook page these words: 

"You are sending a message to your community when you close your office, church or otherwise, for July 4th, but not June 19th. Maybe more than one message." 

Many passed right on by, but a few resonated with the comment. 

And then, I could not help but recall Frederick Douglass' famous speech from July 5, 1853 in his adopted hometown of Rochester, New York, entitled, "What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?" The entirety of that short speech is found here. 

Here is one pithy statement in large print and bolded because it is important:  

"Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, “may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!” To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave’s point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery—the great sin and shame of America! “I will not equivocate; I will not excuse;” I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be fight and just. But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, and denounce less, would you persuade more, and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man, (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgement that the slave is a moral, intellectual and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws, in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, their will I argue with you that the slave is a man!"

And then I wonder about today. I see all of the trappings of white American celebrating with BBQ cook outs, baseball games, and fireworks. 

I am left to wonder, how many of white American are reflecting upon America's call for freedom for all, all races, all genders, all colors, all creeds, all nationalities, or deep in our hearts do we assume that American is just for us, those of us who are anglo saxons, white, whatever color white actually is. 

Is today for whom? Is it also for those red-lined across town, those whose medical care is insufficient compared to mine, those who opt not to see an MD before it's too late, or those whose wages are inferior to mine despite similar levels of education? In short, is America, is July 4th, for those who pay the Black Tax to live in our country? 

Is the 4th of July for those who ancestors walked the Trail of Tears, who were relocated by the federal government to lands that looked nothing like their land? 

Is the 4th of July really for Black farmers of our land, those who have had their land stolen by the machinations and malfeasance of the USDA, those who have had white people lurking about looking to snag it at the lowest price? Remember Eddie and Dorothy Wise? They are two giants, legends, if you will, who typify what I'm talking about. Is the 4th of July for Black farmers who just want to work the land? Those who are holding on, those who are now 1.4% of American's farmers, those who hold some 4.5M acres when once they owned over 19M acres? 

The 4th of July is a complicated day. Some of us just walk on past it. Others of us stop and ponder. 

So, on this day, following a week in which the Supreme Court of the US, perhaps one of the most crooked courts ever in our country, some of whom ascended via affirmative action, have worked to deny others the same privilege. The same court that has decided that some get discriminated against and others don't. When is a cake a cake and when is a web page a web page a web page? When do people really get to make their own choices about medical care and who to love? 

Yes, there are many of us for whom July 4th is a day of conflict. Some of us celebrate all they way from June 19 to July 4th. May our Great God grant us wisdom and courage for the living of these days. 

White Farmer, White Farmer

 

White Farmer, White Farmer

Waymon Hinson

February 22, 2023

 
White farmer, white farmer
Why are you so mean?
You got your land and more
You want a lot more it seems.
 
White farmer, white farmer
From where do you originate?
From England, Ireland, Scotland
From north to south you’ll spread your hate?
 
White farmer, white farmer
How much land do you need?
Are you really seizing theirs?
Why you all bound up with greed?
 
White farmer, white farmer
You know you got all the benefits.
You sit at the head of the table,
Black folks see your land grabbin’ blitz.
 
White farmer, white farmer
Do you know Jesus as Lord?
Then why do you do what you do
To seize their land by crook or the sword?
 
White farmer, white farmer
We know that you are in cahoots.
We see your wicked machinations
Lying awake at night, counting your fruits.
 
White farmer, white farmer
This land is your land.
You take that oh so literally so
With whom do you stand?
 
White farmer, white farmer
Friend of the county and the banks.
Black folks fear that you’re comin’
That you know how to fill in the blanks.
 
White farmer, white farmer
We know that you also work hard,
But your skin what’s that cost you.
When are you ever on your guard?
 
White farmer, white farmer
Got any conscience inside of you?
You watch them auction their land
And then what do you actually do?
 
White farmer, white farmer
You got your money, been saving a lot.
You sit on the sidelines at the auction.
We see your sinister plot.
 
White farmer, white farmer
How do you feel?
You got that land so cheap.
How does it feel to steal?
 
White farmer, white farmer
You know what I mean.
Don’t feign your ignorance
As you pick that carcass clean.
 
White farmer, white farmer
Pay day some day is what we know
When you meet your maker
Your grubby hands you’ll show.
 
White farmer, white farmer
Is it all worth the chase
To take someone’s land
Because you know their race?

White farmer, white farmer

You got them in your hands

Vilsack Biden and Big Ag

Stop trying to steal our lands. 

Dear President Biden

February 17, 2023

President Joe Biden

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President: 

Surely you agree with me that we live in perilous times with threats from Russia,  domestic threats from balloons from China and other places, and threats to democracy here in our own country. While I think you are, by and large, handling those threats well, there is one threat that you, sir, are not handling well, and that is the prompt for this open letter to you. 

You are mishandling the Black farmer issue. I am disappointed. I am bitterly disappointed and disillusioned with the manner in which you have handled the Black farmers of our land and their city cousins. Country cousins and city cousins are connected, know each other, and talk to each other. 

We were very hopeful back in the day when your campaign looked to be going down the tubes, when Representative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina stepped up and endorsed you, and we saw the winds of your campaign change. We saw outstanding successes among the Democratic Party in Georgia for both you and Reverend Senator Raphael Warnock.

Then, Mr. President, we began to wince at what some of that change meant. We had fully engaged the campaigns of Senators Warren, Booker, Sanders, and Warnock, and we engaged with Mr. Mike Bloomberg. As the ticket of Biden/Harris won, we then engaged the agriculture transition team. Much to our surprise, the gentleman with whom we had been working on this team and your policies was not actually the person in charge. We realized that former Ag Secretary Thomas Vilsack was pulling strings from behind. We were advocating for changes within the USDA, for accountability and transparency, and for full debt relief for aggrieved Black farmers. Then, in one particular meeting we heard that what we wanted was "unconstitutional." One of your team members, an attorney, told us that. We were flabbergasted. 

Then, we watched with much interest as a variety of people pressed you both publicly and privately not to appoint Tom Vilsack to another term as Secretary of USDA. Much had been written about the failures of his two terms under President Obama, and despite opposition from congressional folk and the NAACP leadership, the Justice for Black Farmers Group, and the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, and others, you nominated him anyway. And then we observed the "love fest" at the senate confirmation hearing and I, for one, was nauseated and alarmed. 

We were hopeful despite these things at the beginning of your presidency and now we are not so hopeful. We see where the winds of change have taken us. They have taken us down the road of "Big Ag," and because of that, Vilsack, who is owned by Big Ag, is your Secretary of Ag. We want to know if you indeed are also beholden to Big Ag or is it just Mr. Vilsack. We have our suspicions and we'd like for you to dissuade us of them. We see how Big Ag is getting the major source of funding from USDA. We also see that Vilsack's favored organizations are getting millions of dollars despite there being no open application process. 

What did you miss from the messages of "don't appoint Vilsack?" Was it when you were making decisions about your cabinet? And what other voices did you ignore? What about his previous terms did you respect? What did you anticipate being different under your administration? Were you indebted to Tom Vilsack in some manner? 

Surely you know because your team had done its research that he had an incredibly spotty history: a class action suit by Black state employees in Iowa, extreme favoritism of white, corporate Ag, and a racist, dismissive attitude toward socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. 

Research about Vilsack has been published in numerous places under numerous names such as Lloyd Wright in the Washington Post, Rosenberg and Stucki in numerous publications where investigations are published, and even me here on this blog. 

A painful political cartoon is out in public spaces. It is insulting to you. It shows you as Jim Crow Joe with Black voters in your right hand and Vilsack and Dr. Dwayne Goldmon, his equity advisor, as marionettes on the strings in your left hand. It is insulting and I cringed when I saw it, but the people with whom I work and respect say that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and have made in public in various social media. 

Your appointee knows that we are displeased with him. You know that we are displeased with him. We have written both of you numerous letters. We met with him and members of his team several months back, but he did not listen to us. Instead he spent a few minutes filibustering as to his accomplishments. That is not why we called the meeting. In a follow up letter we told him so. 

We believed that he slow-walked the process under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and by doing so, he allowed time for 12 or 13 class action suits by white farmers to be filed in various courts around the country. My own research into the USDA database shows that not only have they NOT been discriminated against, but that the were very successful at receiving subsidies, MFP, and CFAP funds as well as the counties within which their farms and ranches are located. This research was on the first 6 litigants. There was no need to go any further although the data is there. 

Even though the language was modified under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to "distressed" borrowers, from the appearance of things, most of those funds have gone to white borrowers and to very few Black "distressed" borrowers. At last note, Vilsack has wiped out the debts of 11,000 borrowers to the tune of $800M. We know of less than 10 Black farmers who have been recipients of that relief. We have little hope that he will disburse the $2.2B for those have experienced discrimination. We understand that he is actually trying to change the ways the second set of funds is to be managed. 

We have it on good evidence that Mr. Vilsack thinks that distributing millions to favored organizations for technical assistance and to 1890s have been good for Black farmers. He is misguided and his assertions are insulting. Until Black farmers receive relief for the USDA's blatant malfeasance and discrimination toward them, injustice and injury will continue to live on. 

As you may recall, it was Black farmers who reluctantly formed the Class Action Suit, Pigford v. Glickman. Only 4.8% of those successful litigants received debt cancellation. Those Black farmers have continued to vote for Democratic presidents only to see their hopes for remedies to USDA's discrimination dashed on the shores of Washington DC. I personally participated in a mediation hearing before USDA and DOJ in 1997 and learned first hand how the federal government treats Black farmers. It was not a pretty sight. 

We were hoping to see things different this time. While Senator Warren's policy for Black farmers was thorough and well publicized, we had to hunt via the internet for your policy. Your policy was less than satisfactory by comparison. 

Bottom line, Mr. President, we gave you the White House. You gave us Tom Vilsack. 

His racist policies continue. Sadly, you are now implicated in the process. His efforts are only putting lipstick on a pig. We know it's still a pig. 

The Democratic Party did well in the midterms. Congratulations on that. We fear that similar results may not be in the cards for the upcoming general elections. We are suspicious but that your reelection may indeed be hanging on by a thread.

City and country cousins talk to each other. They know how your secretary continues to favor unchecked, corporate Ag to the neglect of Black farmers of the land. 

There is time to turn that around, but there is not much time. The clock is ticking. 

We are hoping, praying, and demonstrating for a better day. We hope you will meet us in those spaces of hope, prayer, and conversation. 

Respectfully, 

Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.

Representation, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association 

Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group

Representative, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees

Interview with Shoun Hill and Waymon Hinson

Later this week the documentary will be viewable via the Food Justice Film Festival portal. Here is an interview of Shoun and me with Jennifer and Linda of the Center for Biological Diversity.

Reflections on Juneteenth from a White Guy

I'm like most white Americans who learned little to nothing about slavery, the real roots of the Civil War, life for the enslaved, tortures at the hands of the enslavers, patrollers, and freedom, or Juneteenth. 

We know a little about the Emancipation Proclamation, yet we do not know the limits of the decree. We do know of the death of President Lincoln, yet we do not know of his complexities in arriving at freeing enslaved people. 

We do not know a whole lot. As I told a friend this morning via FB, our educational system let us down. Let us down badly. 

So, here I sit on June 19, ponder a lot of things. Personally, it is the birthday of a good friend. I honor him this day. It is also the second anniversary of my cancer surgery. I honor God and good physicians for that successful treatment, especially the physician who performed robotic surgery on me at UT Southwestern. 

As a curious aside, I've also spent time this morning attempting to inform a white guy that Black farmers faced insurmountable racial discrimination and that losing their land was not a function of mismanagement. You can follow those sound bites here. Just scroll down and you'll see several of them along with my replies. 

Most of my mental meanderings this morning have been about Juneteenth, now a national holiday. For years I have personally celebrated this day more so than July 4 given my investment in the stories of African American farmers and their battle with the USDA. You can find the trailer of that film here.

For me the question is whether or not the designation of June 19 will become an opportunity to learn about the history of African Americans in America or will we simply take it as another day off, one in which to party and BBQ our favorite foods on the grill. I'm not a super outdoors cook, so I'll pass on that one. 

I will, however, continue to learn and ponder things related to Black America. As you know if you've followed this blog, I've spent the better part of 30 years or so learning about people of color in our country, that there are at least two Americas, the one I live in and the one my African American friends live in, the things I attempted to teach my sons and the things they have to teach their sons. 

There is much to be learned about those horrendous stories: from the shores of Africa, through the horrors of the middle passage, to the auction block, to the plantation and its unspeakable horrors, from ownership to owning land, through freedom to Reconstruction then Jim Crow and now. Yes, there is much to be learned by us white Americans, but, I think we are lazy. There is a summary of sorts in the first few pages of this publication 

Yes, I said it. I think white America is lazy. Either we are lazy or we are disinterested or we are too occupied. I think we are lazy, or we would learn. 

I think we are also steeped in our whiteness, the only skin color that matters. In fact, I'll go ahead and link up a poem that I wrote last year on this day. Maybe you'll find it offensive. Here is the link to that. 

So, today I am filled wonder. Wonder at how far we've come in order to honor the narrative of those who fought so hard for freedom against insurmountable odds. And the narrative of those who learned on this day in 1865 that they were free, two and a half months after the end of the Civil War.  Against those narratives, I cannot help but see the plethora of voting laws in so many states that harm people of color and their rights to vote.

So, today, I'll ponder freedom. I'll learn more about this day. I'll move beyond the myths to the realities. Yes, General Granger did come ashore, and he did announce that all enslaved were free. I'll also learn that the enslaved probably knew that it was coming. The general's decree was to the enslavers who had found their ways from other states into the state of Texas where slavery was held with impunity even after the war was over. Yes, I'll learn that through violence and intimidation, though the war was over and that these people were free, their enslavers kept them in bondage. One narrative is that the powers that be knew it and they knew that they knew it, but they let them have one last planting and harvest season. 

Yes, today, I'll honor many people, names, faces, and places, for whom this day is sacred. 

Yes, today, I'll honor those whose ancestors lived in bondage and eventually set free. I'll honor the stories of farmers who've traced for me their ancestries back to slave days. 

I'll use this day to continue to learn and grow.

I'll use this day to encourage people who look like me to continue to learn and grow. 

#JUSTSAYNOTOTHOMASVILSACK

Thomas Vilsack, former Ag Secretary under President Obama, and now President-Elect Joe Biden's nominee for what appears to be a third term in office, a rather rare thing. 

His supporters are lining up left and right, and there should be no surprises here. No, not any surprises, unless, of course, we have been hiding under rocks the last few weeks and months, and maybe even years. You’ll notice from the list that it is the big whoevers who are most likely to endorse him. These are the groups who represent folks who are most likely to gain from his ascending to the chair inside USDA.

Here is the lengthy list: United Food and Commercial Workers, Iowa farmers and ranchers, American Farm Bureau Foundation, Wisconsin Farm Groups, American Seed Trade Association, Major farm and nutrition groups, National Milk Producers, American Ethanol, National Grange, Hemp Advocates, Farm Credit Corporation, United Fresh Produce, National Potato Council, National Farmers Union, National Pork Producers, National Association of Manufacturers, Native American Agriculture Fund, North American Meat Association, Feeding America, Food Research Action Center, North Dakota Farmers Union, US Dairy Export Council, and more. There will be more.

In short, “Big Ag” supports Vilsack. Industrial agriculture supports Vilsack.

Who, on the other hand, does not support Vilsack? First of all, there are numerous Black farmers who know the way this man led USDA and marginalized them. These farmers are found individually and in groups of farmers. They are nested in civil rights groups, animal advocates, farm workers, and anti-monopoly groups. Women who were woefully mistreated and kicked to the curb during his two terms in office are speaking out now, and they have been. They are women who filed class action suits against USDA for violence, sexual assaults, and rapes that he left unaddressed.

Here is a brief listing of groups opposed to Vilsack: Environmental Working Group, NAACP, small farmers, food safety and labor groups, Food and Water Watch, Independent Black Farmers, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, Family Farm Action Alliance, Mercy for Animals, Center for Food Safety, Real Organic, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, Justice for Black Farmer Group, Acres of Ancestry, and over 100 individual and farmer groups supporting the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and Lloyd Wright and his efforts. There are more. There are many more.

In short, justice-oriented people do not support Vilsack.

We are those who speak of environmental justice. We speak of safety for employees in the meat and poultry plants. We speak of justice and equity for loans and services at USDA on behalf of Black farmers and other minority farmers.

Thomas Vilsack, former governor of Iowa, left his state with a class action suit of 6,000 employees hanging over his head. It still remains unsettled. He had his opportunities to advance civil rights issues within USDA for eight years. While his communications team apparently did a slick job of making him look good, a key investigative report plus the perspectives of an insider turned outsider, Lloyd Wright, former director of Civil Rights, at USDA, say otherwise.

Wright, Rosenberg, and Stucki expose the five myths of USDA under Thomas Vilsack. Those myths are as follows: first, that USDA resolved a backlog of civil rights complaints from the Bush years; second, new civil rights complaints fell to record lows; third, USDA reduced funding disparities between Black and White farmers; fourth, the number of Black farmers increased; and fifth, the Pigford settlement closed a painful chapter in our collective history. Those myths are compelling and are thoroughly explored in Rosenberg and Stucki’s 2019 publication. I’d encourage you to read it.

In early December, 2020, Lloyd Wright published a blistering three-page report on Vilsack’s terms in office and his own assessment of those myths. Less than a week later, a letter pushing back on Wright’s letter was published under Joe Leonard’s signature. It is our considered opinion that Vilsack’s team developed the document and that endorsements are currently being secured for it. Wright’s letter has numerous individual and group endorsers. We have no idea who is endorsing Leonard’s letter.

In addition to these accusations, Vilsack also failed women employees of USDA. Women in the forestry service were sexually traumatized, raped, and assaulted according to several who have spoken on the record in recent radio interviews. One woman recently told of her rape and her being ignored and shuffled off by Vilsack to someone who never did anything. These and other egregious behaviors were addressed during a December 1, 2016 hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives. The culture of violence continues unabated.

Vilsack is making the rounds these days, speaking before various Zoom panels and groups of a number of people, including those involving many of us who are in the civil rights advocacy business on behalf of Black farmers. Many of us, however, have not been invited to those tables for discussion. And I often wonder why, but I think I know the answer.

Back during the summer, 2020, a group of us had engaged the Biden Policy Team. We thought we were making significant progress. Then, in late July we were given a page and a half policy statement by the team. We assumed that this was a work in progress, so we pushed back on a couple of paragraphs that specifically spoke to improvements under Vilsack. We could not in good conscience affirm those paragraphs. In that same conversation, one of Biden’s lead policy experts asserted that what we were asking for was unconstitutional. We were astonished by such an egregious and fallacious assertion. Then, the meetings abruptly ended. Within the week, the policy that we thought was a work in progress was published on the Joe Biden for President web page, though hidden deeply within it, and not terribly well paginated. Simultaneously, two other articles were published, one by Glickman and Vilsack, and another by four representatives from the South.

We have ample reasons to oppose Vilsack’s nomination. We know who he is. He had eight years to prove to us otherwise. When someone tells you who they are the first time, believe them, said Maya Angelou. Now, Vilsack is pleading for understanding, that he grasps more fully the issues, and that he will take care of them.

We know who Vilsack will take care of, and it is not Black or other minority farmers, and it is not women employees of USDA.

#JUSTSAYNOTTOTHOMASVILSACK

Black Farmers in Search of Justice Film

The web page has been live for several days. For those who have not seen it, here it is:

https://blackfarmersinsearchofjusticefilm.com/

If you hit that link, it'll take you to the web page for the documentary about Black farmers and their fight against the USDA.

Historically, Black farmers got the short end of the proverbial stick when it came to loans and services. Without loans, it is impossible to farm in these days. If what you need comes late into the planting system, the cycle starts and from there it never ends. Then, if you do get a loan and do not receive adequate support, advice, consultation, etc., as do the white farmers, then the cycle continues to deepen and deepen. 

However, when the loans come due, and they always come due, the plot thickens. Failure to assist in the farming business is hidden beneath layer upon layer of bureaucracy. The problem never is claimed by the FSA/USDA, local officials, county committee. The lack of transparency is blatantly obvious. Few if any of those who were guilty of discrimination ever lost their jobs. The farmers lost their land, but the USDA officials kept their jobs. In one situation that I heard about, an FSA county official was actually transferred to another county/parish, and then promoted to the state office. Inhumane!

This film chronicles in their own words and lived experiences the trauma of fighting, though winning, and the battle with the USDA. Fifteen Black farmers prevailed against the USDA between '97 and '99. Shoun and I interviewed nine of them. Some had died. Some simply did not want to be interviewed, and a couple had their own deals in the making. These are courageous people. Every single one of them. 

This web page will give you several things: 1) the intent of the film, 2) the trailer, 3) pictures and a few quotes of the farmers we interviewed, 4) videos of why we made the film and what we hope for it, and 5) information about us and how to contact us for what reasons. 

We are currently in search of a distributor. If you have any leads for us, please let us know. 

Press Release for the Black Farmer versus USDA Documentary

 

Worlds Still Colliding

This morning my wife and I do what we normally do on Sunday mornings at our house. We worship online with our church family here in Denison, then we listened in on our old church home in Ada, OK, and then we enjoyed the worshipful music from The Hills Church in Ft. Worth, and then wrapped it up with an old, old church of ours, the Highland Church in Memphis, TN. We don't always do that much worship time with other churches, but we did today and it was rich.

Why am I sharing this with you? Here's why. I found myself terribly preoccupied with what is going on in the world, brutality, injustices of all sorts, BLM movement and who loves it and who despises it, and other things. I was especially burdened by what is happening on the political scene. Our current president does not have a civil rights plan, and he does not have a workable plan for farmers, nothing for small family farms of our land and especially nothing for Black farmers of our land. We have hope with what can happen with the Biden/Harris presidency. They have a plan, though some of us working in a couple of different areas find the plan woefully lacking.

Woefully lacking is an understatement. That is why we wrote the "Open Letter to Vice President Joe Biden," and we are pleased that Politico picked it up and that one member of congress has picked up on it. We hope for more. That is why there are several projects going on, a book soon to be released that talks about land loss, a documentary that tells the stories of mistreatment of Black farmers by the USDA, and another expose of larger matters after the election. 

That still is not the point of this post.

There was an emotional collision this morning as on the one hand I was preoccupied with the politics of the day around civil rights and Black farmers on the one hand and on the other hand I was trying to worship with Christian sisters and brothers in our region. The two collided as they often collide. 

The collision is something like, Waymon, why do you do these things. I have never known you to be a political sort of guy. Well, the truth of the matter is that I have typically had the philosophy that I don't have to be in charge, but if nobody is, I'll take the reins. So, from high school to college to graduate school to work on various campuses and now to the Black farmer movement, I have maintained a "political" stance. Politics, after all, is what happens when more than one person is in the same space. But now, I am not in charge of anything. I am trying to be a good ally and to create space where stories of Black farmers can be told with all of their truthfulness. 

While the Black farmer movement is a deeply political movement with its roots in racism that go back to the very start of this country all the way up through the antebellum south, the Civil War and the attempts to maintain slavery, into reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Black Codes, and all the way up until now. 

Politics must of necessity be involved as those in political power work to maintain the power that is in their hands, and they work to keep policies going that marginalize people of color and women and children. 

For me, these issues are political and they are personal and they are deeply spiritual. The God who created us has a better way for people to be treated. The God who fashioned all of these things we see in the universe, however that all happened, has a better way for us to relate to one another. 

So, when I see the tears of a Black man whose farm was stolen from him, when I see the angst in the face and voice of a Black woman who did not know if her husband was going to return from the farm at the end of the day, and when I see the tears and hear the sadness from three sons of a Black farmer and wife who died too early because of the relentless pressure of discrimination and the fight for justice, then, I take it all very personally. It is very personal and it is a spiritual battle. 

Such mistreatment of people is wrong. From the halls of congress to the Oval Office in the White House, to the campaign trail, to the rows of cotton and wheat and peanuts and soybeans, treating people in unjust ways because of the color of their skin is just plain wrong. 

In my files are copies of documents in which the USDA acknowledged wrongdoing, which coincidentally no one has ever gotten fired for doing, so this thing is real, and not just in the minds of a few misguided social justice advocates, including me. No, it is real, and when I read those documents, I see the blood, sweat, and tears of men and women who love their country and farming. 

So, I do what I do because it is the right thing to do. I follow the lead of brothers and sisters who have been in this fight for years, even decades because it is the right thing to do. 

On the Day of Judgment, I will stand before God and if I am asked why I spent my life doing what I did, I will simply say, because it was the right thing to do. Yes, Lord, it was THE RIGHT THING TO DO. 

Deconstructing the Premier of the Black Farmer Documentary

It's been a while since I last wrote an update for you our followers on this page. As you can see, it was once a fundraising page, but now it is used for updates. The two photos here are with permission from Heather Malaika Hicks who attended her first Summit.

November 8 and 9 were special days in Roanoke Rapids, NC as we prepped for the 16th Annual Land Loss Summit. It was a stellar program with people I'd followed over the last few months and years. So, on Friday afternoon Shoun and I showed the first half of the film and then on Saturday we showed the second half of the film. Each slot included a conversation with the attendees about what they saw in the documentary and what they'd recommend for us.

Even though I had seen it all the way through several times with an eye toward micro changes that I'd suggest to Shoun, I also watched it from two perspectives, one because I was there when we filmed the farmers laughing, crying, and pondering those bitter days of the fight for their land, and second as a viewer as if I were seeing it for the first time. Frankly, both were painful.

Seeing it with both sets of eyes and ears was deeply moving. Despite my familiarity with their stories, those stories brought on laughter and then, surprisingly, the stories brought on tears as moments that caught me off guard.

The audience was very friendly at the Summit. They understood the deeper, underlying message of racism in America, living while Black, and even farming while Black. White people seem to be moved differently than are Black people. White people are stunned and experience the burden of disbelief that people are so brutally mistreated. By and large, African Americans say in different ways, "Of course, that's the way things go." They way things generally go.

So, Shoun and I heard compliments. We heard suggestions. We were validated by words of "you have it all there." "Work on two or three things and you have it," or something like that.

So, we anticipated showing it, we showed it, and we learned from showing it, all with a sense of what needs to be done between now and when we formally put it out in the real world.

That we look forward to finishing it. The farmers and families told us their stories. We want to do well with our obligation to do well with their stories and for those stories and the telling to make a difference in small spaces and places and bigger, larger places and places.

Reflections on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has taken on a new complexion this year for those who live at our house. That would be Buddy, Charla, and me. To say that gratitude fills the air would be an understatement. While Charla is the go-to person for getting things done, I am the go-to person for pondering things. She tolerates and most times engages me around things that are deeply meaningful to us both.
At the top of the gratitude list would be Charla. Her "let's just get the job done" mentality has been more than evident for a long time. She drove Shoun and me from Denison, Texas, to Huntsville, AL with stops along the way to interview farmers. That was a lot of hours and a lot of miles. Then, from June 19 until now, she has been faithfully taking care of me. Lest that sound like something goofy, she has been the one who managed the doctor schedule, cleaned out ports, woke up with me during the night, and sat with me and grieved and wept, wondering when wellness would be amongst us again.
She, Buddy, me, and recovery have organized our lives since June 19 around illness. Long ago and far away, I would engage students, especially in the course, Special Topics in Family Therapy, or whatever it was called, in the notion of how illnesses become the organizing principle for families. They tell us what to do, when to do it, how to do it. So, five and a half months later, I am saying thank you to her for keeping me sane, for taking care of me when I could not take care of myself, and nurturing our relationship along the way. As we gently tell illness and surgeries to step back, that we can now handle things, I am simply overwhelmed with thankfulness for her.
On another note, I am thankful for my cancer diagnoses, cancer of the kidney and small cell lymphacytic lymphomena, because they remind me that nobody died and made me king of the universe. I find myself identifying with those who struggle with cancer and with those who are cancer survivors and those who do not know if nor when it will read its ugly head again. I am thankful to a God who heals and who is there with us in the healing. I am thankful to a God who loves, even when healing is not in the cards. I do not know how it is decided who gets well and who gets sick and transitions to the other life. All I know that God is present in the ER and the OR with all of us regardless of the outcome. I am thankful for the marvels of modern medicine. Without MRIs, CT scans, robotic surgical techniques, and those who make those things work, I would have less time on this earth than I actually have now.
No, I do not know how God and modern medicine dance. I am grateful for an attending Father, and I am grateful for attending physicians and their fellows.
In a few minutes five of our grandchildren will burst through the door. Two will travel an hour and a half to get here. Their parents and youngest brother will stay home and nurse their viruses. I am grateful for a son who knows that I do not need what they have. The youngest three will come through the front door. Buddy will greet them as he always does. The oldest grandson is already here. He came in last night and is asleep in the guest bedroom. I am thankful for all seven of them. I want to grow old and to watch them grow up.
I am grateful for an organization, its leaders, and its mission to make the world a better place for those who are farming while Black. BFAA invited Charla and me into its midst in 2005 and we have been there ever since. Gary Grant and his family invited us in and we have become family with them and they with us. I am grateful to be able to write, develop, and advocate for African American farmers. I am grateful for Shoun Hill as we have partnered and developed the documentary of those courageous 15 farmers who faced down the USDA and DOJ back in the late '90s. I am thankful for African American farmers and their families across this country who have trusted me with their stories. I recognize the fact that it's people who look like me who work in positions of power who have harmed them at times irreparably. They trusted me anyway. That trust will be evident when you see the documentary.
My heart weeps for those who died in this battle long before they saw justice arrive at their doorsteps. May God have mercy on their souls and may they rest in power. I am thankful for those hundreds of people who have contributed to the BFAA cause, focused on the documentary. Your support and friendship, frankly, blew me away.
I am thankful for my church, imperfect as it is, and its people who desire to serve the Lord in this region known as Texoma. I long for some things with my fellowship that may not happen in my lifetime.
I am thankful for friends who keep me honest, for other friends who join me in political, social, and justice-oriented things. That fellowship of head and heart keeps my mind moving, my agenda sharpened, and my faith strong.
And, finally, I am grateful for those follow me on Facebook and on this blog. Your encouragement in doing so moves my heart and inspires me to write more.

Tomorrow is the Day We Have Anticipated

Tomorrow is the day that Shoun Hill and I have been planning for over the last two years. It is with both anticipation and excitement that tomorrow we premier the Black farmer documentary. We will engage the farmers in a discussion of the film and what the interviewees have brought to the film. We will show half of it tomorrow and the second half on Saturday. What do we expect? I am not sure. Some know it is coming, and some have come just to see it. Others do not know it is coming and will see it as well for the first time.

For those of you who have followed this page, you know that it has been over two years in the works. Shoun, Charla and I have traveled from Texas, to New Jersey, to Maryland, and to DC, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alabama.

BFAA funded the initial stages of the work, and you, friends, and family funded a very large sum of money for its completion. Without you and BFAA, this project would not have occurred. Along the way, we faced opposition as some farmers or family members did not want to be interviewed, legal counsel for the DOJ rebuffed us, as did legal counsel for PIgford I and a number of others.

Still, we found extraordinary stories from the farmers who prevailed as David against Goliath between 1997 and 1999. The stories brought their pain to surface. Shoun, Charla, and I walked into sacred spaces in hearing their stories and honoring their stories. It is impossible to get every story and every nuance of a story in a documentary of an hour and forty minutes. That has been Shoun's burden. My burden was to negotiate itineraries, times, and places, and whether or not a farmer and family would engage with us.

With each burden came a huge amount of respect for the lived experiences of these brave people. They believed that their cause was just. They believed that they were fighting for themselves and for the movement.

Therein lies the burden and the challenge for Shoun and me. We believe in their stories. We believe in the movement that they started. We believe that justice is still being denied.

It is for the cause of justice that we have made this documentary.

Black Farmers Still Struggling, But Continue to Survive!

Black Farmers Still Struggling, But Continue to Survive!

16^th National Black Land Loss Summit

November 8 and 9, 2019

Hilton Garden Inn

111 Carolina Crossroads Parkway

Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870

Friday, 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Topics include wills and trusts for farmers; legal, political, and legislative issues; Black farmer documentary; and dinner and awards.

Speakers include Omari Wilson, Lawrence Lucas, Lorette Picciano, Waymon Hinson, Shoun Hill, and Gary Grant

Friday, 9:00 to 4:00pm. Topics include niche farming and urban gardening; how the USDA distorted data to the detriment of Black farmers; part two of the documentary; and what the future holds.

Speakers include Nathan Rosenberg, Bryce Wilson Stucki, Michael Stewart, Gary Grant, and others.

Full conference: $150; Friday only $59; and Saturday only $100.

Some scholarships available first come, first serve.

There is vendor space for nominal fee.

Call Gary Grant at 252-826-3017 for more details.