You Must Choose a Side: Justice Demands It

You and I both know the tossed around phrase, "There's good people on both sides." We know from whence that phrase came. There's another phrase perhaps you've heard before, "Justice takes sides." Or maybe "justice is what love looks like out in the open," or something to that effect. Cornel West is fond of that last statement. 

I am also a fan of Dr. Jemar Tisby and his books, podcasts, and his words from substack. Here is one that struck me a day or so ago, so I've been turning it over and thinking of its applications. Do you do that at times yourself? This particular article has its background in the Montgomery Boycott in 1955, prompted by Rosa Parks and her determination to keep her seat, which led to a 381 day boycott of the bus system in Montgomery as Black Americans found alternate ways to work, shop, and to other events whereas prior they would get on the segregated bus and move to the back. 

One of the key decisions by the city's fathers and mothers was to find a new voice for the movement, and they found that voice in Martin Luther King, Jr., the new pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Other sisters had voiced protest against the segregated bus system, but it didn't stick like it did in 1955. 

Dr. King tells his version of those momentous days in his book, "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story." It is a riveting book. It's time for me to read it again and wonder out loud to myself why I underlined or starred or commented on certain paragraphs or sentences. 

In Dr. Tisby's substack article referenced above, there was a particular sentence that stuck with me. Without taking the world's opinion as to its orgin, I hunted through the entire book, and there it was, bracketed and underlined on page 51. Here is the quote: "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is cooperating with it." There is much more to that paragraph, but it'll wait for another day. 

So, while Dr. Tisby offers a well-articulated broad brush stroke for this riveting phrase, my mind, heart, and words go to a specific context: Black farmers, their oppressors, those doing the oppressing and those who idly stand by with a toothpick in their mouths, feigning ignorance or "not my problem." 

What the USDA/FSA  have done to Black farmers is indeed evil. "What evils do you recall?" Dr. Hinson, you might ask. Thanks for asking. I'll name a few. 

Selling land to a Black farmer, knowing that the land is over-priced and cannot produce the volume of cotton to make the payments on it, so your good friend can come along and buy it for a below market value price, that's #1.  Do you think others in that FSA office knew about these shenanigans? 

Foreclosing on a farmer because he got his loan too far into the planting season, that's # 1, and then when a disaster came, that is, too much rain, so that he could not get into the fields to harvest his crop, you don't offer him disaster relief, that's # 2, and then to settle his debt, you seize equipment that belongs to his parents, # 3. Or, when the farmer fills out paper work for the operating loan, you tell him to write it in pencil and you'll make it cash flow, and then in a depostion you lie about it, that's # 4, but your secretary says, "No. That's what he did." Do you think others in that FSA office knew about these shenanigans besides the secretary? At least she had courage to tell the truth. 

Farmers depend on operating loans long before the planting season draws near, but you, Mr. FSA guy, deny him loans, sending him again and again and again, demanding that he fill out his paper work differently, that's # 1. You deny them for so long, that his pigs actually die, # 2. Then, he appeals the decision up to the state level, and that office sides with Mr. Black farmer, but you take his check, place it in his file, and never tell him about it until it's too late, and his pigs were dead, # 3. Then, you force him and his ill wife out, sell the land at an open auction, and his neighbor, the white guy over there buys it for below market value, # 4. His wife dies and then he dies in an untimely manner. Do you think in a small office in rural America, that other people were standing idly by and watching it all unfurl? I think so. There are more than just four evil actions in this situation. There are too many to count, but they all have a common denominator. 

Those items listed above? Let's call them what they are. Acts of evil. Oppression is evil. Watching as it unfolds is evil. Call them what they are. EVIL. There are no innocent bystanders in this thing called racism. If you know, your guilty, as guilty as if you did the evil thing yourself. 

As an aside, I know of one farmer family in which an office person knew that such malfeasance was going on, so he pulled the farmer and wife in, laid out the materials and told them all that was going on, and they eventually won their case against USDA/FSA and the local bank. That employee was courageous, very courageous. 

There are more stories, but I think you can see the points I'm making. Some people intentionally make decisions that harm people. People in positions of power and influence decide that farmers who skin is Black should not have that much land, do not need to farm that much land, do not need to have that much money from their harvests, and do not need to have those expensive pieces of equipment. Those people are evil according to the quote from Dr. King. Other people who sit around and watch it happen, other office employees, other agents of the federal government, other powerful people in powerful positions are just as evil as they turn a blind eye, accepting evil behavior without protesting. They are just as complicit as it the person who signed the documents that led to the farmer's foreclosure on his property and way of life. 

Racism is evil. Turning a blind eye and saying nothing about racist behaviors is racism also. 

There's a lot of evil-doing these days as the plight of Black farmers is being ignored: Mr. President, Mr. USDA Ag Secretary, Mr. and Mrs. Senators, Mr. and Mrs. Congressionals. Mr. and Mrs. employees of the USDA, you who have your fingers on explosive information, but the Secretary says not to release it via the FOIA process because, "It'll make us look bad." 

Yes, there is a lot of evil going on over in the agriculture world these days. There is a lot of complicity going on. The people I know and respect will not look away. They and I are truthtellers. We are whistle blowers. We demand accountability and transparency. 

I hope you do, too. Call your senators and congressional folks and tell them what is going on. Feel free to use anything captured in any of the posts on this blog. 

The wheels of justice grind slowly and along the way, those wheels and those sitting in powerful postions all the way from the local level to the highest offices in our land, they are responsible for the grind that destroys our people. Two of our people have met their ancestors the last few weeks. We grieve and we mourn, but we do not give up. 

The Price Exacted by USDA for Farming While Black in America

The saga continues. Details have been written in numerous places, that white farmers have the advantages in terms of total farms, total acreage, ability to keep their farms, and likelihood of obtaining loans in an appropriate time frame so as to plant. For Black farmers, the mantra is too little too late, and when the note comes due, the land is sold. There are many stories of collusions between white farmers, bankers, and FSA, and even at times the local implement dealer. The following trailer puts human faces on the whole, complicated issue. And, it'll continue until the occupant of the White House has the moral courage to do something about racism in the halls and offices of the USDA and FSA. This trailer is from the Hill and Hinson film, "I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight Against USDA," an award winning film that tells the truth about farming while Black in America. 

 

Farming While Black in America: Against All Odds

By now most of us may know about the failed effort by white farmers to get a piece of the pie from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and its most vulnerable category, section 1005. Those funds were built into the bill to redress the history of discrimination by white America in the county offices of the USDA, but somehow or other, white farmers across the country believed that they were owed some of it. The Commissioner of Ag in the State of Texas, Sid Miller, was one of the litigants. 

In another blog post somewhere in here is an accounting of funds received by the first six litigants from streams of subsidies, coronavirus relief funds, and Trump's failed war with China. It is telling as to how pitiful their farmers and lives are. 

The Senate has passed a bill entitled Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and it contains funds to address those farmers who have been discriminated against, though it does not call out "Black farmers," and another section that addresses "at-risk agricultural operations." More on that later. For now, you can just scroll down to page 565 and begin your reading there. It ends at page 570.

Some of you may have seen the film or the trailer for "I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight USDA." If not, here is the link to that page.  Some think that compensatory damages for discrimination is a handout. That's blatantly rediculous. 

In the film, nine Black farmers' stories are told in their own words, their own stories, their own faces, and their own tears. Listed below, and de-identified, are the acts of discrimination that your government, the USDA, the FSA, the County Committee, and various and sundry employees perpetrated upon Black farmers, folks who just wanted to live and to farm. 

Any Black farmer who settles with the USDA and DOJ, if they are actually settled, requires a "findings of discrimination" document. Generally, the USDA then offers compensatory damages, debt relief, and priority of services. Sometimes the USDA honors its agreements and sometimes it doesn't. I hope you caught that last sentence fragment, "sometimes it doesn't." Yes, here in America, "sometimes it doesn't."

Imagine if you were on the receiving end of what they experienced. 

Farmer A and wife were set up by a retiring FSA County employee. Given their trust of him, they bought a farm at an overly high appraisal value. Their land’s productivity was likewise over estimated. Pest infestation was worse than they’d been told. They were denied operating loans by a hostile FSA office, favorable rulings by FSA were overturned. The “put a scar in me that will never heal,” said Farmer A’s wife.

Farmer B was denied operating loans and debt settlement options. The FSA illegally seized his disaster and crop payments. Early on, the FSA office lost his application for debt settlement, resulting in a drawn-out process in which he had to apply a second time. This person demanded that Mr. Farmer B sign blank settlement papers and perjured himself in depositions. The FSA unfairly liquidated his assets.

Farmer C and his wife were denied technical assistance and operating loans in a timely fashion. They were also provided inadequate farm operation loans. The local county office delayed information to him that was crucial to his farm operation, yet gave it to white farmers. They failed to provide him with loan applications and denied him loans despite the loans being collateralized. He was compelled to buy a larger combine than he needed, and then he lost both money and the combine. When farm operation loans came in, they were oftentimes late and less than half of what he needed to farm. The FSA officer demanded for four years that loans be filled out in pencil. His loan applications were altered. He received small loans well into planting season.  The local FSA office put his farm loans against old debts rather than toward the current farm operation. He was caught in the middle of collusion between banks and real estate agents. Loans were accelerated and foreclosure was started. The local office reneged on loans such that he could not pay for seeds or fertilizer.

For Farmer D, the needlessly prolonged process of loan applications meant that he missed out on prime opportunities for a chicken operation because the chicken company had moved on to a white farmer on a select rooster house by the time he got his money. When he did receive operating loans, he was micromanaged via a supervised account, something never done with white farmers. There was an absence of accountability for wrong doing at the county level. Land that he was leasing was sold out from under him and bought by a USDA county official who knew of its availability despite him having a lease/purchase agreement. His cows were shot and killed. He was nearly run off the road on one occasion as he was leaving the county office.

Farmer E was denied farm ownership loans during a time when white farmers were receiving them. The justification by the FSA was that he did not have farm experience despite having grown up on a farm. He was denied low interest operation loans and forced to pay higher interest rates. Similar young white farmers were not penalized. Lease agreements were sometimes terminated unjustly. The county FSA office failed to provide him with assistance. The FSA county agent was told to minimize support in order to insure failure. The FSA office reneged on lease agreements he had made in conjunction with them. His credit was ruined by FSA’s failure to support his efforts.

Farmer F was denied debt relief despite this being a legitimate option for him and his farm operation in years of natural disasters. The FSA withheld payments to him. They stopped payments on federal disaster relief following a severe drought that affected all area farmers. The FSA’s discrimination against him destroyed his credit and cost him $500,000. To this day, promised debt relief has never been provided.

Farmer G was denied loans based upon his status as a Black farmer. He was excluded from loan programs because he was Black. When he did receive loans from the FSA, he was charged exorbitant interest rates. The FSA delayed his receipt of loans which cost him financially. He was forced to work under a supervisory loan agreement unlike white farmers. On one occasion the local FSA office attempted to block his purchase of additional land. The seller worked cooperatively with him.

Farmer H was farming successfully. Despite owing the USDA a modest sum of money, it was only after he voiced support of his parents, Farmer I and his wife, that the USDA initiated foreclosure proceedings against him.

Farmer I and his wife were denied access to disaster relief funds despite disasters in the area for several years in a row. The FSA failed to offer to restructure loans in the face of natural disasters. They refused to allow his adult children to assume the loan, which was very modest at the time. The USDA compelled Farmer I to work under a supervised loan arrangement unlike area white farmers. The USDA settled and reneged on their agreements four times with them. They were told overt threats, “We’re going to sell you out.”  They were denied loans while at the same time the USDA failed to work with them to restructure their loans. The County Supervisor mishandled the USDA’s leaseback/buyback program and failed to follow their usual and customary loan servicing policies. The Department of Justice refused to settle despite the Office of Civil Rights decision that discrimination had occurred. Pigford I was on the horizon and DOJ wanted to wait. The USDA refused to offer debt write-down/write off in keeping with USDA policies. The USDA refused to provide homestead protection options. 

I hope the picture is clearer for you and me here in white America. 

White Lash or White Resentment, and "Dear Mr. White Farmer"

Just the other day I was conversing with a longtime advocate for racial justice, especially justice for Black farmers, and I quipped something like, "You know what's going on, don't you?" Of course he knew what was going on. But, "What?" he replied. "We are experiencing a white lash, a reaction to all of the things going on in the world." 

I went on to tell him what I thought were evidences of the white lash. We've had a Black president, now a Black V-P, we have Blacks represented in congress, various agencies in the government, and some think that Black people are stepping out of line. "What more do you want?" I can hear some say. 

The white farmer lawsuits that stopped debt cancellation is one sign. Another set of signs is the proliferation of Critical Race Theory laws across the country. All of the voter suppression laws going into place across the country constitute a third set of signs. 

What do we want? Justice, fairness, equality under the law and the constitution, no more, no less. 

So, here are a few words to "Dear White Farmers:" 

"I knew you were watching and waiting. You knew all along about the race-based remedies for bias and discrimination in the USDA. I think you were waiting for a time and a leader to pounce. You found that leader in Stephen Miller, a lawyer, a Jewish lawyer, who helped Trump craft various policies around immigration and who knows what else. A staffer for a US senator confirmed today that they saw it coming as well. 

Your attorneys know about the host of documents and studies that confirm racism within the USDA all the way back to 1962, all the way up through CRAT and CRIT, the Jackson-Lewis Study, and others. That's just for the legal background. It's all found in other writings here on this page and over on the ewg.org website. 

Then, you pounced once the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was signed into law. You saw that $1B was allocated for debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, and so you pounced. 'Reverse discrimination,' you cried in feigned disbelief that you, white farmers and ranchers of our land who also work hard and find yourselves in debt (or do not find yourselves in debt), and so you played the 'reverse discrimination' card. It worked. Some 12 or 13 lawsuits have stopped the debt relief effort. Yes, we believe that Secretary Vilsack slow-walked that process for over 100 days, ample time for you and your leaders to move into attack and defend mode. Yes, we saw it and the senator saw it. 

However, some of us know your games. The first six litigants of the white farmers cases pulled in $540K in subsidies, coronavirus relief funds, and Trump's failed tax war with China. The counties in which those farms and ranches are located pulled in $1.2B. So, you want to talk about reverse discrimination? Looks to me like you've done quite well for yourselves, if those first six are anywhere close to a representative sample of all of you. You get the main course and Black farmers get the scraps. The data is out there for you and the world to see. 

I have a few more questions for you, as you claim reverse discrimination. 

Mr. White Farmer, have you been set up to purchase a farm at a high appraisal value so that you'll lose it and the next guy over will buy it for pennies on the dollar? Ever been denied operating loans? Ever been denied debt settlement options? Had your diaster and crop payments illegally seized? Lost out on a productive crop because the county office stalls the process so that while others have planted their crops, you are just now getting your seed in the ground? Ever been spit on or called racist names or been told to wait several days while other farmers come in and out of the director's office? Ever been told that there's money there, but not for you? Ever been told that you and your kind don't need that much land even though the land is from several generations of your family back years and years? Ever been denied technical assistance? Ever been provided half of what you need to farm too late in the planting season? Ever had the county officer demand that you submit your application in pencil so he can change it to what he wants? Ever had a farm operating plan cash flow when you submit it, only to find out when it had been reworked that it no longer cash flowed? Ever been caught in a colusion between banks and real estate agents? Ever had the local office renege on loans so that you couldn't pay for seeds or fertilizer? Ever run out of money so that while your cotton crop is ready for harvest, you don't have enough money for diesel to harvest it, and nobody will loan you that much money? Ever been denied farm ownership loans despite years of working the farm? Ever lost out on prime opportunities because the county office dallied in getting your loans to you? Ever been micromanaged when you actually got money? Ever worked under a supervisory arrangement so that you spend all day getting signatures for a $50 piece of equipment that you could have purchased and fixed by mid morning? Ever had the county office renege on lease arrangements? Ever had your leased land pulled out from under you by the county office and given to the officer's good friend? Ever been denied legitimate debt relief options that are available to all farmers and ranchers? Ever had your credit and your good name destroyed by the county office's malfeasance? Ever been denied disaster relief funds that go to all farmers around you? Ever been told, 'we're going to sell you out?' 

I didn't think so, Mr. White Farmer. I really didn't think so. You know it and I know it. 

Senator Warren had some great ideas, and put them into a constructive Black Farmer Policy. Senator Booker picked that up. When Senator Warnock was elected, he took over the lead on the initiave. Senator Warnock got Section 1005 and 1006 written into the ARPA of 2021, but he had the language changed from 'Black Farmer' to 'Socially Disadvantaged Farmer and Rancher.' The game changed. Lawyers took over and seized upon a 'race based remedy' and took it way far afield. 

There is no doubt that a lot of people have been mistreated by the powers that be. But as a group, White Farmers, you have had the advantages from the get go. The USDA system works the way it has always been designed to work. Check out Dr. Daniel's book, "Dispossession," if you doubt that assertion. 

So, until you, Mr. White Farmer, have experienced the kind of discrimination that Black farmers have experienced, until your case has been investigated, until you have a set of findings that prove your case, then you can sit down and shut up about reverse discrimination. It's all in your heads and in your hearts. It's a part of your entitled whiteness. That is a desease for which cures are hard to find.

Regards, 

Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D. Researcher, Advocate, Film Co-Producer"

Yes, we are in the midst of a white lash. These law suits are a part of it. Black farmers are still losing their land or dying. In some families both are happening. 

Why Am I Writing This? The Threats and Threads of Racism

I frankly do not know what I am writing this. There are too many entanglements for the sake of clarity. Here, however, are a few random thoughts.

Jemar Tisby, Reparations, and the American Rescue Plan Act

Jemar Tisby. I was listening to his podcast this morning while exercising. He spoke of reparations and why the need for. I had read in days gone by Ta-Nehisi Coates and his compelling article about reparations. I recall Senator Mitch McConnell’s comment about sections 1005 and 1006 of The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 as reparations. Tisby and Coates get it, and McConnell does not.

Sections 1005 and 1006 are not reparations in the strictest sense of the word. They are about debt relief for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers who experienced egregious maltreatment at the hands of the county FSA office of the USDA. Debt relief was allocated for those who had one of three different types of loans guaranteed by the USDA. But then, the white farmers stepped in and claimed their privilege so as to be included in the debt relief despite the fact that they are not members of the class of SDFRs and neither have they been discriminated against. Nobody ever said that farming was easy, but it should not be made more difficult because of the color of one’s skin. And that, my friends, is the root of the story of discrimination within the USDA.

White Farmers Feel Discriminated Against

To add fuel to the fire, the litigation on behalf of white farmers against the USDA and the debt relief is Stephen Miller, and also Mark Meadows, via American First Legal. As we know, Miller was in charge of trump’s aggressive immigration policy that marginalized all sorts of people. It’ll take a while to overcome those policy decisions and for trust in America to be restored. Many see this move on behalf of Miler and American First Legal as another white nationalism effort.

White farmers never ever experienced the degradation of discrimination by employees of the USDA at the County Committee level. There are literally dozens and dozens of federal reports and reports and briefs done by outside consultants which explain definitively what happened to Black farmers. For a briefer story, check out details in Hinson 2018.

The Numbers of Enslaved People Who Made it to Our Shores

I reviewed the numbers for those enslaved Africans who embarked for the Americas and those that arrived in the Americas and those that arrived in American ports. The numbers are astonishing: 12,521,335 embarked and 10,702,657 disembarked in the Americas. Into American ports disembarked 388,747 and then 835,000 were moved across the Second Middle Passage. Check out Hinson 2018 for more details.

I then reviewed some numbers of whites and Blacks back to 1790 in the census for that year and up this way. In 1790 there were 607,681 Blacks and in 1860 there were 3.95M. In 1790 there were 3.17M whites and in 1860 there were 26.92 million. And, there were 59,527 free people of color in 1790 and in 1860 there were 488,070. Whites outnumbered Blacks and free people of color.

The Economics of Slavery

 Then, I perused an online article entitled “Measuring Slavery in 2020 Dollars” published by the Measuring Worth folks. You can find the article here: https://www.measuringworth.com/slavery.php.

Slavery had incredible influences on the economic, political, and social fabric of our country.  Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. The average price of an enslaved person in 1850 was $400. In 2020, the price would be anywhere from $14,000 to $240,000. $400 was much larger than the average person’s income during 1850, so why would enslavers want to spend so much money on them. Profits. It was all about the profits. If an enslaved person costs $400 but was able to generate well up into the 100,000 during his or her lifetime, then the investment would be worth it. When compared to the costs and profits of hiring someone to work the cotton or the corn or the rice or the whatever was much, much less.

Despite the horrors that enslaved people had to endure, up to the point of death, and living on meager amounts of food, working sun up to sun down and longer, and wearing woeful clothes, the profits were clear. Take a good look at what Frederick Douglass said in chapter 7 of the “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass,” and the glaring distinctions between life in the big house and life in the row houses were brutal.

Divided by Commitment to Enslaving People for Economic Gain

And still, as we attempt to litigate or deconstruct or defend whatever our position is in terms of the Civil War, some say it was all about states rights. Others declare it was about slavery. However you cast it, it was about slavery and the right to own people because it was the best economics of the time. Here is one pivotal quote: “Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth.” The entire document is found here:  https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp

Black Farmers then and Now

And then switch to more modern times.  Black farmers, just a generation or so removed from slavery owned something like 16-19M acres, and there were approximately 925,000 of them. Now, there are approximately 37,000 Black farmers who are farming somewhere around 4M acres. White farmers are far more numerous and farm substantially more acreage. Their farms are larger, something like 436 acres to 120 acres. 

And then move this way a little further. In 1990 the Farm Bill designated a group of farmers as Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers.  Not a lot of noise about that until 2020 when hidden within the America Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was a sum of money for debt relief for Black, Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian farmers and then a sum of money for programmatic sorts of things.  And then the white farmers come out en masse and file lawsuits in federal courts in Texas, Wisconsin, and Florida, led ostensibly by one of trump’s henchmen in charge of the immigration policy. Their complaints have several layers to them, all nuanced around white privilege and white supremacy, alleging that the designation of SDFRs was unconstitutional and that debt relief for that group was unconstitutional and that white farmers should have their fair share of it.

Mistreated, Discriminated Against, Now, How is That?

So, I decided to see how unfavorably the first six litigants were treated. Those six pulled in $523,000 in subsidies, MFP, and CFAP, the latter two of which are for Trump’s failed war with China and the other is coronavirus relief funds. That’s a lot of money for being mistreated between 1995 and 2020. Farmers and ranchers in the counties within which those farms and ranches are located pulled in over $1.2B during those same years. If indeed there is an appreciably small percentage of SDFRs in those counties who received little if any support in terms of subsidies, MFP, and CFAP, then I would not say that the white farmers have been treated poorly. In fact, in keeping with how the USDA has worked since the beginning, the system continues to work the way it is supposed to work, toward those who have white skin.

What About Those Threads?

So, do you see the threads of this post?

What do you see?

If you and I were talking, and if I were saying the words printed above, what would you hear me saying?

Dear Secretary Vilsack, Respectfully, the Coalition

June 2, 2021

Secretary Thomas Vilsack 
Attention: Chief of Staff, Katherine Ferguson
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250

Secretary Vilsack:

We wish to acknowledge your presence last Friday morning along with key USDA personnel Katherine Ferguson, Chief of Staff; Dr. Dewayne Goldmon, Senior Advisor for Racial Equity; and Monica Rainge, Esq., Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Civil Rights (OASCR); David Grahn, acting General Counsel; Chris French, Associate Deputy Chief, Forest Service/Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Conservation; and perhaps others. We hope that this is the first of an ongoing series of meetings between you, your staff, and representatives from the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers Group.

We were dismayed and disappointed by several things:  1) we were not informed as to the length of the meeting; 2) we were informed of the mode of technology at the last minute, i.e., 7:37 pm EST on the day prior; 3) the shift in technology from Zoom to Microsoft Teams proved problematic for some of our rural farmers; 4) we did not have sufficient time to ask our questions nor have our questions answered; and 5) misleading information was provided by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.

We are of the opinion that good leadership begins by asking questions. As we had previously stated in our letter to President Biden on May 11, 2020 and our correspondence with you and your office on May 12, 2021, we had a list of issues and concerns for us to discuss. Given the meeting’s brevity and focus, we were not able to present them. We did, however, appreciate Ms. Ferguson and Dr. Goldmon extending the meeting by an additional 15 minute per our persistence.  Because of our insistence to get questions answered, we were told by your Chief of Staff to email our concerns. The courtesy of an additional meeting time was refused.

We were obviously concerned regarding debt relief, and your team managed that well; however, we remain disturbed that this process is apparently going to be complicated and lengthy, prolonging the economic suffering of Black farmers. We were also deeply disturbed by the report from Deputy Assistant Secretary Rainge. She stated that OCR does not have a backlog of cases. This does not explain the enormous number of civil rights complaints that have been in her office for decades. As we stated, historically the USDA’s Office of Civil Rights has been called “a closing machine.” We have no evidence to suggest the contrary. In fact, several farmers on the call currently have ongoing cases within OCR. We are led to believe, then, that Deputy Assistant Secretary Rainge was providing us false information. Based on her response, we are also not convinced that there is indeed a “fire-wall” between OGC and OASCR as stated by Deputy Assistant Secretary Rainge.

Our concerns go beyond debt relief. The major purpose of the meeting was what the Secretary’s plans were to address the decades of systemic discrimination at USDA that harms especially Black farmers and USDA employees. Many of the items that were offered during the Secretary’s presentation do not get to the solution/resolution of the many systemic concerns that we had previously addressed in our communications. Recent reports and investigative news articles confirm our allegations of continued widespread racism and other abuses at USDA. For clarification, we were also concerned about cases that were not processed timely and are still sitting at USDA. And we clearly expressed our concern about the county committee system that still inflicts pain and suffering on Black farmers.

Accountability, transparency, and other matters are found within The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2021 and could easily be enacted under your leadership. There are many other matters that we have and, therefore, we respectfully request a follow-up meeting with you or your top staff. A half hour is by far an inappropriate amount of time to resolve our issues and concerns.

In short, the meeting left us frustrated, disappointed, and insulted. We believe we can be allies in the effort to root out racism at USDA.

We are extremely proud of the work our Coalition put into the passage of Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock’s bill, “Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act of 2021,” and Senator Cory Booker’s legislation, “The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2021” and should not be penalized by USDA for it. Please remember it was the Biden/Harris transition team that you headed up that told us that debt relief for Black farmers was "unconstitutional."

Silence is not an option for us……

Respectfully,

Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus
USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group
www.agcoalition.org
LawrLCL@aol.com
856-910-2399

Then He Went to Church

On Monday he ignored a loan application from a Black farmer
Then on Sunday he went to church.

On Tuesday he changed the farmer's farm home plan to match what he wanted
Then on Sunday he went to church.

On Wednesday he called him a lazy ass nigger
Then on Sunday he went to church.

On Thursday he made the farmer wait and wait and wait while he sat at his desk
Then on Sunday he went to church.

On Friday he signed the foreclosure agreement
Then on Sunday he went to church.

The following Monday he failed to advise the Black farmer of disaster relief options
Then on Sunday he went to church.

The following Tuesday he told the farmer that his loan would be supervised
Then on Sunday he went to church.

The following Wednesday he told the farmer that his funds were in, too little too late
Then on Sunday he went to church.

The following Thursday he told the farmer that there was no money for him
Then on Sunday he went to church.

The following Friday he initiated yet another foreclosure agreement
Then on Sunday he went to church.

He attended the foreclosure sale on the courthouse steps
Then on Sunday he went to church, and he sang,
And he prayed,
And he may even have taught his Sunday school class.