It is Time for Your Conscience to Interfere

November 13, 2024

President Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20050
 
Vice President Kamala Harris
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20050

The outcome of the election was certainly not what any of us expected. Just maybe your staff will recognize our names as we have written you on numerous occasions. We have sent a host of letters to you individually or collectively on 14 occasions, White House staff on 8 occasions, Secretary Vilsack on 12 occasions, and congressionals on multiple occasions as well. Our issues and concerns have been consistent and ignored.

However, given the time you have left in your administration, there are some important issues that we would like to discuss with you before the next Trump administration takes over. Perhaps you know of these matters because South Georgia went to the Republicans partially because of Black farmers.

In a lead-up to the election we had provocative conversations with Dr. Cornel West and Dr. Jill Stein. Our issues were important enough that they agreed to be interviewed by us on “Justice for Black Farmers” and “Seeking Truth and Justice,” the Marti Oakley Podcast Radio Show on Blog Talk Radio.

As we have written to you recently on August 21, 2024 and on October 24, 2024, there is a large number of items that are extremely important to us. These matters cut across very important areas in your administration: Black farmers primarily across the South and rural America. We are not convinced that your offices clearly understand the pain and suffering that has taken place on the farms and in the communities where Black farmers and their families reside.

We have long supported the Democratic party as it has been historically more supportive of our efforts than has the Republican party and we have still been punished. We can point to the Bill Clinton administration as the time when we experienced the most support and got things done.

It is time for your conscience to interfere. As we have said to your administration many times that “Tom Vilsack runs USDA like a plantation”……giving millions of tax payer dollars to those who agree with him and leaving the county committee system in place that has been known for decades to be the death knell for struggling Black farmers. The county committee system is a major indicator of this administration’s complicity in the demise of Black farmers and so many others. We have seen how Vilsack used his equity commission and its member organizations to justify leaving in place the county committee system process.

We warned you of the failed Vilsack political agenda using the race card. You were told by others that the continuation of Vilsack’s failed political agenda was not working and it played out in real time in Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and elsewhere in the Southern region during the 2024 election cycle.

The “go along to get along” strategy was thought to have been working until election day 2024. Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr., Princeton University professor has clearly stated that using race/identity politics and more to control has failed on so many levels for our nation to see. Yes, it failed on election day 2024.

In view of the Republicans again taking the White House and not knowing what the administration change will mean to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), we are taking our cues from Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr., professor at Princeton when he states, “This is us,” and Donald Trump, “he is the manifestation of the ugliness within us.”

Some may think we are too demanding given the fact that your administration is soon to conclude; however, we are reminded of Dr. King’s letter from the Birmingham jail when he said that for Black people, wait means never. The critique that the white ministers had of him was that he was moving too fast, that he needed to slow down, to do things incrementally. His quote, “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” From 1910 to 1997, Black farmers have lost approximately $326B from the loss of land and potential income. In 1920, 950,000 Black farmers operated farms. In 1910, Black farmers owned over 19,000,000 acres of land. Now, there are approximately 30,136 Black-owned farms of approximately 3,245,991 acres. There is immense pain that comes from the loss of their land and the generational wealth that will not go to their children and grandchildren. Yes, a few Black farmers received funds under the “distressed borrower” clause of the Inflation Reduction Act and some received funds under the discrimination section of the IRA, but we believe that is too little given their pain and suffering.

Time is growing short. We feel the burden of the clock ticking. Therefore, we would like to meet with you to discuss three large matters:  1) Black land loss and the USDA; 2) pain and suffering of Black farmers and their families; and 3) fixing the systemic institutional racism at USDA and the need there for new leadership, systemic change, transparency, accountability, and justice.

Both the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers Group would like to meet with you and other Black farmers and their advocates as did President Bill Clinton in the White House. He was effective in developing a plan with not only the problems but with implementing the solutions.

We weep on each occasion when we read the names of the Black farmers who have died early in the fight against racism within the halls of USDA as they poured body, mind, and spirit into saving their land and livelihood. Countless women and men have died all too early because racism with it weight and burden is all too heavy to bear. And so the words to the Bob Dylan classic, “Blowin’ in the Wind,” ring all too true, especially the question, “How many deaths will it take ‘til we know that too many people have died?” The answer comes, “The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

We are the voice of the voiceless. Too many people have died.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

---S---

Lawrence Lucas
President Emeritus, USDA Coalition for Minority Employees
Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064681597169
www.blackmeninAmerica.com
LawrLCL@aol.com
856-910-2399

 ---S---

Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.
Representative, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group
www.letjusticering.blogspot.com
Psychologist
Waymon.hinson@gmail.com
903-271-4654

 

Proclamation to President Joe Biden Regarding the Racism at USDA

THIS LETTER FURTHER EXPLAINS THE LETTER TO THE TEXAS CONGRESSIONALS THAT FOLLOWS. 

Proclamation to President Joe Biden Regarding the Racism at the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

June 23, 2023

On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed enslaved people in areas of the country. Then on April 9, 1865 the war ended with signatures at Appomattox Court House. Neither ended the brutality of bondage for enslaved Black agrarians. Two and a half months later on June 19, 1865, the word of freedom came to the shores of Galveston. However, slavery of Black people continued in this land.

Arising from this tragedy of plantations and bondage, Black agrarians came to possess significant numbers of farms and acreage. At the height of Black farmer ownership during the early 20^th century, 950,000 Black Americans owned approximately 17 million acres, comprising 14% of all farmers. Today, approximately 48,687 Black producers farm some 4.6 million acres, or 1.4% of all farmers and .5% of all farmland. While there are many factors that have historically shaped Black land loss, the major contributor is racism within what said to be “The Peoples’ Department.”

Decisions are being made to this day that lead to the continual confiscation of Black farmers’ land and loss of generational wealth at a tune of $326 billion. President after President, Congress after Congress, Secretary after Secretary, Black farmers are still being left out of the American agriculture mainstream.

There must be a reckoning for the decades of neglect and outright racism. We have lost too much land and a way of life. Our people are aging. The stress of facing persistent racist attitudes and behaviors day in and day out is killing our Black farmers. Now is the time for Black farmers to receive their justice. It is time for the Biden Administration and the American people to compensate them fully for their pain and suffering. It is time for USDA and its leaders to be held accountable for their malfeasance. Racism must be rooted out of USDA and accountability, transparency, equity, and justice found within “The Last Plantation.”

 

 

Dear Congressionals, Are You Listening?

March 14, 2023

Dear Senators and Representatives:

I am contacting you via phone and mail since you represent citizens of the State of _____and some of its most vulnerable citizens are under attack in Washington, DC by the USDA.

My understanding is that Texas has the most African American farmers of any state.  As Black farmers, their cases of malfeasance by employees of the USDA/FSA go back well into the 1960s, and that is just for those farmers who are still alive. Many have died in these battles for justice. That said, the latest Ag Census data indicate that there are 48,697 Black producers in the US and that there are 35,470 Black-operated farms. This document lists the number of Black producers by state: Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee. There has been a significant decline from 1920 where there were upwards of 950,000 Black farmer operators and from 1910 when Black farmers farmed 19 million acres. The losses have been horrendous and much of it is due to the malfeasance of the USDA. These losses from the land and productivity of the land are estimated at $326 billion.

Our specific aim has been to find debt relief and compensatory damages for what is known as the “Pigford Legacy Farmers,” or those who did not find debt relief under Pigford v. Glickman. To this end, 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 before than after. Pigford promised either a $50K sum plus debt relief under track A, or a sum not determined plus debt relief under Track B. Over 22,000 applied for inclusion in the class, over 15,000 prevailed for inclusion, and only 371 received debt relief. In the face of decades of verifiable discrimination, debt relief is precisely what they wanted and precisely what they did not receive.

One sign from the Demonstration that resonated deeply with me was this one:  "We gave you the White House. You gave us Tom Vilsack." 

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. These funds were for debt relief and taxes for those farmers who had suffered discrimination in the farm/services division. However, Secretary Vilsack, in our opinion “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 the USDA that disallowed them to pay Black farmers and other SDFR.

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.

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.

At this point, Secretary Vilsack has released $800 million to approximately 11,000 “distressed” farmers and ranchers, and our group, The Justice for Black Farmers Group, can only identify nine Black farmers who have received partial or full relief from their debts. We also are aware that they are receiving 1099s from the IRS. This is reprehensible. Their debts are paid off and now they are under the economic boot of the IRS. We know that there are approximately 3,000 Black farmers whose indebtedness is under $210 million. We think he is “cherry-picking” farmers and that this will enhance his credibility. We are not buying it.

There is much more history to Secretary Vilsack’s acts of malfeasance than we can discuss in one letter. However, my blog outlines a number of matters related to him. We believe that he is owned by Big Ag. In fact, a simple google of funds released to various agencies within Big Ag will validate this point.

There are numerous investigative reports about the failures of USDA to honor its contractual obligations to Black producers, and the consistent theme is that Secretary Vilsack has failed us.

We, therefore, would like for you to stand with us, join in concert with our voices to President Biden, to accept the resignation of Secretary Tom Vilsack, and put in that position someone who can settle these matters once and for all. Black America is watching. 

Respectfully,

Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.
Representative, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association
Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group
Representative, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees

Wright Hits Back with Data on Vilsack Nomination

 

A Few Annotations as to Why Biden's Nomination is a Bad One for Black Farmers

The following links and comments are all pertinent to the Vilsack nomination for Ag Secretary by President-Elect Joe Biden. As much as I wanted trump out and Biden in, and as much as I wanted Perdue out as Ag Secretary, this decision is a clear betrayal of rural America, Black America, and Black farmers. Joe Biden can do better. I am not convinced that he was fully informed ahead of time as to the baggage that Vilsack bore. If he didn't he should have. Those who vetted Vilsack did not do a good job of vetting, or, Mr. Biden simply ignored the obvious. We will not stop even though his nomination is in place. We will fight even if he is confirmed, but we will also advocate for justice until we have no more breath in our bodies.  

https://www.motherjones.com/food/2020/12/biden-vilsack-usda-agriculture-shirley-sherrod/

Vilsack is the same guy who worked under President Obama for two terms. He is pro-big ag at the expense of small family farms, his support of corporate interests rather than workers in the meat packing industry, his support of pesticides at the expense of peoples' health, and his woeful narrative around civil rights for Black farmers and women employees is criminal. 

https://thecounter.org/tom-vilsack-biden-usda-civil-rights-betrayal-lawrence-lucas/

This article gets personal. Lawrence Lucas and I have become partners in the effort on behalf of Black farmers. We talk several times a week. I have listened to him, and he has listened to me, and we have supported each other during the heavy days of the effort. He led the way to push back against Elizabeth Warren's support of the heirs property factor as key to land loss. She listened to us, developed an expansive Black farmer policy, and spearheaded The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2020 before handing it off to Cory Booker. Lawrence was at the helm of that movement. I have watched him work. I have experienced my grief and angst alongside his. You will find his narrative of betrayal deeply compelling. 

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/09/black-farmers-tom-vilsack-agriculture-usda-biden-cabinet-444077

You'll find several of my friends quoted in this article. You'll find several quoted who will appear in the Black farmer documentary. Yes, we are seething over this nomination. 

https://thecounter.org/usda-black-farmers-discrimination-tom-vilsack-reparations-civil-rights/

This expose by Nate Rosenberg and Bryce Stucki reveals the truth behind the Vilsack administration. No, the Vilsack administration did not settle scores of civil rights complaints. No, civil rights complaints did not fall to an all-time low. No, the USDA did not reduce disparities between Black and white farmers. No, the number of Black farmers did not increase. No, the Pigford Settlement did not close a painful chapter in the USDA's history of discrimination. 

They Kingdom Come in Heaven and in Mississippi and Alabama and Arkansas

On this Thursday morning during the season of Advent, my reflections turn, given my readings, toward Jesus incarnate in my life and work, and the place and space of God in the misguided creation that is our world.

The people with whom I am involved are Black farmers. They know their history and that history is one of oppression and subjugation at the hands of the powerful and privileged. Advocates like me are deeply involved

The stories are full of pain and suffering. They tell of staying up all night and watching lest the sheriffs come and remove them from the land. That has happened. I remember at this moment Eddie and Dorothy Wise. In the case of one in which it did not happen, she had a psychotic break. Loss of land, loss of livelihood, are real to these people. White people, uninformed as they are, come along and insult them by saying, “They must not be good farmers.”

The truth is that all advantages at the county committee level belong to the white farmers in terms of programs and services. When a Black farmer finally gets his operating loan and it is too little and too late, and the white farmer’s crops are already growing, that’s discrimination.

And, as President-Elect Joe Biden goes about the business of selecting his cabinet members, one he is making is strongly opposed by Black farmers and advocates. Vilsack had his chances for eight years, and during those two terms, Black farmers were woefully mistreated. The investigative reporting of Nate Rosenberg and Bryce Stucki confirm what we knew all along. When stories from within the USDA, plus the statistics, all converge with the dominant narrative of marginalization, that seals the deal for me.

So, what of meditation in this world of conflict and rage? I have always been at odds within myself, the part of me that is strongly oriented toward justice and that part of me that yearns for quiet and contemplation. When I am out there, writing, speaking, advocating, researching, attending meetings, and such, is Jesus there? Does Jesus attend with me and through me in those settings? How can I step out of justice and into contemplation? What are the mechanisms and personality traits and spiritual gifts that allow that to happen? Are they perhaps two aspects of the same spiritual gift?

The Christ child is soon to arrive with his parents in Bethlehem. Our children are soon to hear the gospel narrative read from Matthew and Luke. We are already listening to the songs on our XM radios as we travel about.

I want my soul to be prepared for His coming. I want His coming to be transformative in my life. On the day in the near future and on this day, today.

Black farmers deserve justice. I do not want Vilsack to be reappointed. I experience vicariously the rage of the people in these moments. I experience my own anger, disgust, nausea, and bitter frustration and powerlessness over this decision.

So, until I discover something else, my prayer will be “come Lord Jesus into my life and heart and as I work on behalf of your people, shine the light of transformation on me and in me and through me such that your will is done and not mine, and that your Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven, in Washington DC and in Grady, Arkansas, and in Columbia, Mississippi. And, like the persistent widow, I know what I want. I know what the people want and what they do not want. While we protest and write and protest some more, we will plead with you, and we will in the words of the text, ‘wear you out with our coming’ so that your will and ours will align.”

LETTER TO THE BIDEN/HARRIS CAMPAIGN

 LETTER TO THE BIDEN/HARRIS CAMPAIGN

September 16, 2020

Subject: Discovery of Significant Information

Only days after we released our “Open Letter to Vice President Joe Biden,” September 6, 2020, we received a copy of the letter from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law dated January 9, 2009. We were shocked that this letter affirms the legitimacy of the work that we have been trying to accomplish with the Biden/Harris campaign for months.

 This letter clearly highlights a legacy of discriminatory actions by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). These include areas of farm loans and benefit programs along with “outright displays of bias against minorities and minorities and women, especially in the county-level offices of USDA.” Given this legacy within the USDA and its challenges, the committee made four recommendations: “(1) a moratorium on foreclosures against minority and women farmers with pending complaints, (2) a requirement that county office interactions with farmers be documented; (3) a mandate to generate better data on socially disadvantaged farmers: and (4) establishment of a minority farmer advisory committee,” all of which were spelled out in the 2008 farm bill. If the administrations had followed the edicts of the farm bill, many of the problems of USDA civil rights would have been resolved.

The author of the letter concludes, “It is appalling that any American today should still face the kind of entrenched discrimination at the hands of a Federal government agency that minorities and women face when dealing with the USDA.” The author predicts that “unless the foreclosure moratorium is implemented immediately, more of these farmers will lose their farms.”

The problem is we have too many sitting in a room planning the destruction of other peoples’ lives instead of improving them. Where was the rush to fix the problems addressed in this letter....by the Vilsack administration?

We absolutely agree with the Lawyers’ Committee addressing key strategies for changing the systemic racial and gender inequality at the USDA. History tells us that their appeal landed on deaf ears. President after president, congress after congress, secretary after secretary, and lastly, election after election, civil rights at USDA remains dysfunctional. Our demands for justice at USDA are further justified as a result of this letter.

We appealed to the Biden/Harris Campaign to adopt the civil rights fixes in the Warren and Sanders plans. However, after many months of meetings this recommendation was not taken seriously. To add salt to the wound, you stated that our request to address Black farmer issues was unconstitutional.

The Biden/Harris Campaign shows an unwillingness to address issues that could change the course of USDA. Warren and Sanders listened to Black farmers, urban farmers, and their advocates and produced comprehensive strategies that would fix USDA civil rights once and for all. They seemed to have understood the gravity of the injustices done to Black farmers. They understood the need for systemic changes at USDA…. not putting a band-aid on a cancer.

We want the Biden/Harris Campaign to implement the recommendations per the Lawyers’ Committee as well as the Warren and Sanders Plans.

That said:

·         What actions will you be taking regarding this newly surfaced letter from the Lawyers Committee?

·         What is the relevance/connection in USDA 2009 and today’s USDA’s civil rights?

·         What impact, if any, does the Lawyers Committee letter have on your “plan” for fixing systemic discrimination at USDA?

This widespread racism and sexism have become a social justice issue which cannot be side-stepped with your sudden silence. Is your silence the punishment for speaking the truth regarding USDA civil rights?

This is our appeal for justice, dignity, and respect. This is for the living and for those who died waiting for justice from USDA.

Black Lives Matter,

Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus

USDA Coalition of Minority Employees

www.agcoalition.org

Justice for Black Farmers

justice4bf@gmail.com

856-910-2399

CC: Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

        Others

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. 

OPEN LETTER TO VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

OPEN LETTER TO VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN 

September 6, 2020

Subject: Civil Rights, Programs, and Employment at the Department of Agriculture (USDA)

It has become very apparent that the working relationship between the Biden Policy Team and USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, Justice for Black Farmers, and Advocacy Groups (rural and urban) has been terminated. However, we had worked vigorously and hoped for a better outcome.

We have found very discouraging the absence of a solution driven civil rights policy similar to that of the Elizabeth Warren plan, Addressing Discrimination and Ensuring Equity for Farmers of Color, August, 2019, located here: https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/equity-farmers-of-color. We have requested on many occasions that you adopt this policy. Our anticipation was to develop a policy that would serve the good of Black farmers, minority farmers, and USDA employees.

Senator Sanders’ commitment to Black farmers and civil rights is similar to Senator Warren’s plan. His plan is found here: https://berniesanders.com/issues/revitalizing-rural-america. Some of these factors are included in his comprehensive plan for Black farmers. His entire plan is found as an attachment below. He was fully committed to systemic change within the USDA. The Biden campaign does not include these issues.

We mistakenly thought that the Biden Policy Team was searching for real solutions. When you presented us with the Biden Team policy on July 28, we expected further discussion. However, we were met with defensive posturing and then silence. Shortly after the Democratic National Convention we discovered published articles that partially contained a false narrative. Here is the policy that you proposed to the Nation: https://joebiden.com/racial-economic-equity.

Additionally, we were insulted by the policy team’s position that our request to address Black farmers issues was unconstitutional. This is a marathon from the truth. Politics, politicians, and others have operated in an “American systems built on the notion that Black lives don’t matter as much as others.” That is what your response is saying to us. To invoke the constitution to deny us opportunity provided to others goes totally against our sense of justice. That is the same constitution that did not include us from it's very beginning.

We actually had surmised that Tom Vilsack’s team was shaping your rural agriculture policy. Since the Clinton administration civil rights at the USDA has continued to deteriorate. Our position is influenced by the following and more. Jillian Hishaw’s book, “The Impact of U.S. Land Theft,” will address Black land loss at the hands of egregious practices within the USDA. The documentary, “I’m Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight Against the USDA,” produced by Shoun Hill and Waymon Hinson, chronicles stories of Black farmers who prevailed against the USDA and DOJ between 1997 and 1999.

The investigative reporting of Stucki and Rosenberg’s article, “How the USDA Distorted Data to Conceal Decades of Discrimination Against Black Farmers,” in The Counter which critiques the Vilsack administration is found at: https://thecounter.org/usda-black-farmers-discrimination-tomvilsack-reparations-civil-rights.

Further, this Op-Ed piece from the Kansas City Star addresses the inadequacies of the Vilsack administration: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/readersopinion/guest-commentary/article240721906.html

Rural America is intricately connected to urban America. Many in rural America have a difficult time believing that the Biden campaign cares about them. Your campaign has a battle in overcoming this real and perceived attitude that you are taking US for granted. Such an obvious rejection of the issues we shared with you and that you ignored…. continues to perpetuate a legacy of discrimination that has long been known by many, both inside and outside USDA. Black farmers and employees deserve justice that is long overdue.

We will continue to demand justice for Black farmers and employees.

Black Lives Matter,

Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus
USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
Justice for Black Farmers
www.agcoalition.org
Justice for Black Farmers
justice4Bf@gmail.com
856-910-2399

In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King, Jr.