Dear VIce President Harris: Can We Talk?

October 24, 2024

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

We represent the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers Group, and we have done so since our beginning with the United States Agriculture (USDA) in 1994 as we have advocated for Black farmers as well as for women within the institution who are being mistreated.

Our motivations for contacting you are simple. Vice President Harris, you have the President’s ear in these final days, and you have much influence with the American people and various subgroups want your support and for that, you get their votes.

We have had two in-depth conversations/interviews with Drs. Cornel West and Jill Stein. As you know, they are candidates for the presidency in 2024. We just talked a few weeks ago to Dr. Stein in Philadelphia regarding widespread abuses at the USDA. Both of them expressed a deep concern about the lack of leadership, accountability, transparency, oversight, and justice which are lacking at the USDA. We wish to hear the same from the two of you.

We recognize within a few short weeks that the people will have spoken and you, VP Harris, stand an excellent chance at being our next president. In these unprecedented times, much is demanded of our public servants, perhaps more than at most any time in the history of our country. This letter, then, will provide the justification for our list of asks.

Black farmers’ skepticism of President Biden remains entrenched and as his VP, some of that follows you. And, our opposition to the President appointing Vilsack goes back to the very beginning.

As we wrote in our most recent letter to you and President Biden on August 16, 2024, our message has been consistent since our inception in 1994 as the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees. From the earlies stages of our communications with Vilsack in 2011, the White House, staffers, and others, our message has been clear and our list of concerns lengthy and legitimate. In fact, a lengthier list is found in correspondence with President Biden in 2022 in which we advocated for systemic change.

We have previously chronicled some crucial historical points, beginning with Senator Elizabeth Warren during her campaign for the presidency, and the development of her policy to address Black land loss, racism, USDA’s failures, and a myriad of other matters in a document that became the standard bearer for the promotion of justice for Black farmers.

Several senators including Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Raphael Warnock succeeded in writing and submitting to the Senate an important piece of legislation, The Justice for Black Farmers Act.  It marked the significance of historical issues and mistreatment of Black farmers.

We have found the White House and the USDA to be closed systems, closed to us in particular in our efforts to address the concerns noted above to the officials who have the influence to take corrective measures. Secretary Vilsack ignored us except for one unsatisfactory meeting via technology as has President Biden. Only Cedric Richmond and William T. McIntee, in the Office of Public Engagement gave us a fair hearing.

We participated with the agriculture transition team, learned that it was steered by Tom Vilsack, and were informed eventually that what we were seeking was unconstitutional. Next came the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) that brought about the banking industry’s complaints and a slow walking process by Secretary Vilsack that allowed twelve frivolous and racist lawsuits to be filed by white farmers alleging reverse discrimination. See those details here.

With the passage of the ARPA, we celebrated with Senators Warnock, Warren, and Booker and numerous Black farmers and members of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers group, but our celebration was short lived and the courts and the white farmer cases stymied our progress.

Senators Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker have in the past shown their interest and concerns regarding the continued abuse at USDA; however, in the past few years because of their busy schedules and political obligations, they have been prevented from doing what is really needed at USDA…..to put the Department into “receivership.” The reason is that USDA is not properly carrying out or implementing its own rules and regulations. The decades of failures regarding Black farmers and abuse of women employees at the US Forest Service, has been long documented at USDA, in the Congress, and nationwide.

Next, Congress passed the race neutral Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 which allocated $3.1B for “distressed borrowers” who could be of any race or gender and their debts would be brought to zero. Additionally, a sum of $2.2B was allocated for farmers who could prove that they had experienced discrimination, regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, and gender. We critiqued this bill and its outcomes quite intensely in a letter to the President. The process proved to be laborious but ultimately approximately $1.76B was allocated to Black farmers and the remainder to others.

The process was laborious and complicated, some farmers died before they could see any benefits from the lengthy chain of events and entities. Relatively few of our friends received any benefits as it appears that the few who did were hand-picked by the USDA.

So, that is where we are with regard to finances. However, the saga continues with other matters, and we would like to outline them for you.

We know of zero Black farmers meeting with the President though we do know of a few who have met with FSA Director, Zach Ducheneaux. Their voices are important and unheard.

A significant piece of research found that between 1910 and 1997, Black farmers losses amounted to approximately $326B. Those losses will never be made up. In terms of the pandemic relief funding of billions of dollars, only 0.1% went to Black farmers. This is one example of the many burdens placed upon our Black farmers in rural America.

Various studies from within the federal government have validated what we believe, that inadequacies impact all of us. In November, 2023, the General Accounting Office (GAO) provided a scathing rebuke of the internal tracking system for complaints. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported in September, 2021 that the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights was failing to process complaints in a timely manner and potential circumvention of the law. A recent doctoral dissertation provided a negative evaluation of the county committee system, one which continues to be protected by Secretary Vilsack.

Secretary Vilsack refuses to provide information about loans and services by race, asserting that to do so would be illegal, despite two Farm Bills that demand the collection and dispersal of this information. We know globally but not specifically these numbers.

Various investigative reports “The Machine that Eats up Black Farmland,” by Joyce, Rosenberg, and Stucki; ”Forced Off Their Land,” by Holloway; and “How USDA Distorted Data to Conceal Decades of Discrimination Against Black Farmers,” by Rosenberg and Stucki; and numerous internal and external reports, accumulated by the Environmental Working Group, all tell the tragedies of white farmers being advantaged in all areas by comparison to Black farmers. These matters of racism and injustice have been occurring under the current administration as well as that of Obama, Bush, Clinton, and previous administrations for decades. The USDA acts as if it is a law to themselves and fails at too many levels to display transparency, accountability, and a commitment to removing racism from its halls and offices. The Equity Commission of Vilsack and the failures of the County Committee system are two that are most obvious to us.

While this is merely the tip of the iceberg for us as advocates, we have not been silent nor invisible. We have written numerous letters to the White House, the USDA, and to others. We have published many letters in various open forums. Perhaps you know that on March 1, 2023, a large number of us demonstrated in front of the White House with placards, signs, and megaphones.  

We, therefore, have several asks of you, Vice President Harris. We hear you say that you are not afraid of good ideas and that you will not shy away from them. Here, therefore, are our issues to discuss with you and/or your top advisors.

Work together with us and meet with us as have Drs. West and Stein;

Place USDA at the top of your list of priorities and create practical options for rural America and Black farmers;

Hear and validate the pain and suffering of Black farmers and families; 

Address the problems within the Office of Civil Rights and compel the office to settle complaints of Black farmers that are languishing there;

Appoint a new Secretary within your administration, one with the trust of Black farmers and other advocates;

Compel USDA to develop a course of action that eliminates sexism and sexual assaults and other abuses experienced by women in the forestry division, Western Region; 

Compel USDA to develop a course of action that eliminates racism and unfair practices that disadvantage Black farmers and favor white farmers; 

Compel USDA to develop processes that create justice, accountability, and transparency throughout the Department; and 

Require the leadership within USDA address the area in which most discrimination occurs, the Farm Service Administration at the county committee level. 

Many African Americans in urban America are only one or two generations away from the farm in rural America and it is important to know the deep connections between the two. Some of us feel forgotten because of the extensive focus on urban America. To begin to address these matters even prior to the election would make a dramatic statement to our people. Black farmers and families are rural America.

 

We follow you and your campaign closely and appreciate the town halls that you have been in including the one on CNN last night. We understand your time constraints as you travel and speak over the next two weeks. Therefore, we request an immediate conversation with one of your closest advisors, Cedric Richmond, to discuss our issues and concerns relative to Black and minority farmers and abused women within USDA and larger systemic issues.  

We stand available to answer any and all of your questions and assist you in this regard. Many Black farmers and their advocates feel abandoned by our Black leadership in Washington and in rural America. We are “the voice of the voiceless.”

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

 

 

Demonstration at the White House, March 1, 2023: My Personal Reflections

The event had been scheduled for quite some time. It was designed to serve as the anniversary of the Fairness Hearing before Judge Friedman on March 2, 1999. We believed then as we strongly believe now that the Pigford v. Glickman Consent Decree was a gross miscarriage of justice. White America thinks Black farmers made off like bandits in Pigford I and Pigford II, but those walking closely with Black farmers know the truth, and that brutal truth is that most Black farmers are worse off now than they were before Pigford I. 

So, my wife, Charla, and I organized our schedules, worked on our flights, and made our way to Washington, DC. Flying into Reagan International was stirring as we flew over and saw the most prominent of the buildings of the US government, knowing that we were there to protest in front of the White House. 

Charla oftentimes attends these sorts of things with me. Not only is she my Beloved, she is our partner in fighting for justice. We live in a red state and go to a red church, and she has red friends, so she knows well these complicated matters. 

We gathered with old friends and new friends in the lobby of the Cambria Hotel Riverfront DC. It was a sight to behold, folks we had not seen since 2005 or 2008 or 2019. It was an inspired and inspiring gathering. 

Some 75 or so of us gathered for dinner later that night. We heard from key leaders, Lawrence Lucas, Tracy Lloyd McCurty, and Lloyd Wright, members of The Justice for Black Farmers Group. We got our marching orders. We heard a short speech from Danny Davis, D(VA), a man who knows well the plight of the Black farmer. 

For those who follow this blog, I have mentioned before these three soldiers in the war against discrimination: Lawrence Lucas, Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group, and President Emeritus, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees; Tracy LLoyd McCurty, J.D., Director of the Black Belt Justice Center; and Lloyd Wright, Black farmer and former Director, Office of Civil Rights, USDA. 

We knew that Wednesday would be a long, tiring day, so we dispersed after dinner. 

We met up early the next morning over breakfast and then shortly thereafter to get our assigned protest signs. Again, it was an energetic crowd as we moved about, chatted with folks, and talked about the day. 

We arrived in front of the White House at about 11:30 and assembled on the sidewalk with our banner and our signs and the Demonstration was underway. "We Gave You the White House. You Gave Us Tom Vilsack," "No Check No Vote," "USDA The Last Plantation," and others. We chanted as we moved behind the large banner. We had only one-half hour to create a ruckus, and that we did. Many passers by stopped and watched and some even asked questions. 

We could not stop. We were not to use megaphones, which we did, which was against policies. At one point an angry female police officer got in my face saying, "Sir, if you don't keep moving, we may arrest you." I simply stepped down onto Pennsylvania Avenue, and then the woman demanded documents from Tracy and thankfully Lloyd had brought copies. That was an intense moment. Senior citizens had to stop and rest, and they did so with their signs next to the fence with the White House in the background. We observed what must have been Secret Service Agents on the roof top, dressed in black with guns and cameras. We wondered if they could hear us. They could certainly see us. That's what we wanted, for the White House and the US Department of Agriculture to know that we were there. We had caught wind that the USDA told two HBCUs not to attend the demonstration. 

Then at noon, we stepped off the side walks and onto Pennsylvania Avenue, with documents in hand from the US Park Service, and began our public relations event. We encircled the speakers, the microphone, and the amplifier. We listened as speakers stayed on task, "Tom Vilsack must go!" For over an hour, farmers and advocates spoke both to and in front of the White House. Some of us referenced the USDA, its malfeasance, and the White House, and President Biden's blindness to what Secretary Vilsack was doing. Secret Service folks circled around us. One employee of the USDA stood over and watched us from the vantage point of the trees of Lafayette Park. We were adjacent to the church where former President Trump stood, surrounded by staffers and police, holding the Bible upside down. 

Our mantra was clear: "Vilsack must go!" "No check, no vote!" Black farmers, families, and advocates are tired of being sick and tired and waiting for the USDA and the White House to do right, to rectify decades of gross and calculated discrimination. 

At one point, as a group of kids high fived the Secret Service agent, I stepped to him and quipped, "I guess it's ok to talk to you," and he laughed and we chatted for a good five minutes about who we were, where we were from, and why we were there. His face and voice softened and he listened respectfully, and at that moment one of his co-workers, a young, Black woman walked up to us. I shook both of their hands and walked back to the group. 

Shortly thereafter, Lawrence Lucas, the gentleman in charge of keeping things going, motioned from beneath his mask with his right index finger. That signal was for me to get prepared to speak. I was not on the speaker list. I suspected that he might ask me to speak up, and so I did. I spoke a few words of appreciation about being with them. I spoke about Gary Grant, BFAA President, and I spoke about the occupant of the White House, and how White America does not know about Black farmers and their struggles, and I voiced my commitment to telling white people every chance I could get about stories of Black farmers. The applause and shouts said that they got it. Charla actually recorded it for me to hear later. I'm thankful that I didn't come off like some misguided, ineloquent fool. 

At about 1:15, we divided into two buses, those going back to the hotel, and those delegates who were going to the Hart Senate Building to meet with the senators. As we drove there, it was inspiring to visit with Earl Ijames, curator for the North Carolina History Museum, and his efforts to keep stories alive, working his farm with plants and crops that had actually originated in Africa and brought here by the enslaved. 

We arrived at the Hart Senate Building, made it through check in procedures which were much like the airports, and moved up to the fifth floor to meet in the conference room with staffers and eventually Senators Warren and Booker. I was pleased to finally be able to meet Senator Booker's staffer, Adam Zipkin, a gentleman who had worked for him for 25 years, way back when he was mayor of Newark. We embraced and shared words of mutual encouragement. We had met up many times via Zoom meetings, but face to face was inspirational. 

I moved to the back of the conference room and stood along the wall. Seating for us was at a premium. We had planned for 18, but some 35 showed up, and we were not going to tell the farmers that they could not come. 

Dr. Dwayne Goldmon, equity advisor for Secretary Vilsack, had somehow gotten invited to the meeting. We were mad. As we began our meeting, he attempted to take center stage and would have said and done more if our leaders had not challenged him to cease and desist, my words not theirs. It got hot in the room. Tension was at a feverish pitch and rightfully so. An interloper had arrived whom we had not invited. 

Then at about 4:00 pm, Senator Warren came in. She brought with her a spirit of calm, one of gracious respect and concern, and for about 30 minutes she listened intently to our concerns. We felt her compassion. We thanked her for her work in developing her policy about Black farmers. At one point, I commented something like:  "Senator Warren, thank you for allowing us the privilege of working with your policy team on your policy for Black farmers (She commented, "They are here."). It is obvious that you are meeting today with the survivors. We have many who are not here who died prematurely in the fight for justice. While it is important to talk about these matters, it is also important to know that decades of relentless discrimination wears people out, and they die prematurely." It felt to me like she was listening as I spoke that which was both on my heart and in my head, so to speak. 

After she left the USDA Equity Advisor took center stage again. Again, he was challenged. 

Around 4:45ish, Senator Booker came in, a big, imposing, kind, and generous spirited man. He spoke a few words, listened to things, and then assigned his staffer, Adam, to secure information from USDA that they were stone-walling us from receiving, payments by race, and not by state that had been released earlier and published by NPR. 

After he departed to go vote, we continued for a bit, the shouting match continued and then Lloyd Wright pulled the meeting to a close when he, as I recall, pulled down his mask and said, "And I have a few things I want to say in closing." He went on and called for Vilsack's resignation. He had worked for Vilsack and knows that he will say one thing and do another. 

From there we departed, said a few goodbyes, and went to hail our taxi back to the hotel. I shared a ride with Lawrence. We talked about the meeting and how Goldmon got it. A curious point was that Lawrence recognized that our taxi driver was from Ethiopia, a country he had lived in for five years decades ago. They talked in the language of Ethiopia. I was clueless as to what they were saying, but I enjoyed the generosity of spirit between my friend and the taxi driver. 

I was just a little disappointed that Charla had not been able to attend the meeting in the Senator's office. 

We chatted in the hotel lobby, disbanded for the evening, and then shortly thereafter I met in the restaurant with Charla and our good friends, Robbie and Heather, who wanted to know about how things went. With Charla and Robbie (before Heather arrived), I shared "content and process," family systems language they understood. We both laughed and groaned. 

Shortly thereafter, Alfred Gross sat the table with us, and we wrapped up the day by swapping stories of hunting, field dressing deer, family shennanagins, skunks, and other uproariously funny stories. 

The following morning, we met for breakfast and conversation and then headed out to the Museum of African American History and Culture. We had a limited amount of time and wound up  on the top floor enjoying the history of Black singers and performers. 

Then, as we left the hotel, Rod Bradshaw, farmer from Kansas, rode with us to Reagan, talking serious matters along the way, including his conversation with Goldmon both the previous day and on this particular day about the heinous practice of the federal government doing "administrative offsets," or taking percentages of Black farmers' income from them monthly. We understood that Goldmon said that this practice is illegal. We shall see. 

From there, Charla and I arrived at Reagan, settled in to wait for our flight and for the hours that would pass before we could arrive home. We did arrive despite 80 mile per hour winds, overturned tractor trailer rigs, and a delayed landing because of the bad weather. 

We knew that we had much to ponder and much to discuss. 

Here are some photos from the day. 

Charla Hinson, advocate for Black farmers, wore what I think is the most provocative sign, "WE GAVE YOU THE WHITE HOUSE. YOU GAVE US TOM VILSACK."

We marched up and down the side walk for 1/2 hour, chanting as we went. 

Farmers and advocates "wearing" the signs with our distinct messages.

Senator Elizabeth Warren listens to the farmers and advocates.

Senator Booker speaks to the group of Black farmers and advocates. 

Lloyd Wright, former Director, Office of Civil Rights, offers his parting shots while Eddie Slaughter waves his hand, and Edith Gross, Michael Stovall, Tracy Lloyd McCurty, and others look on. 

Below, a Black farmer voices his opinion by the sign he wears.

Lawrence Lucas, Michael Stovall, and Waymon Hinson at the hotel. 

Weary feet and bodies, but the signs speak the truth. 

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 Mr. President, We Gave You the White House, You Gave Us Tom Vilsack

November 2, 2022

President Joe Biden

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20050

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing this letter to you because you have not answered our letter of September 28, 2022. That letter is below.

On behalf of Black farmers and other Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, we encourage you to have Tom Vilsack and staff move swiftly and efficiently to cancel debt for Black farmers. We encourage you to initiate processes that would cancel taxes for recipients of debt cancellation. Additionally, we request a meeting with you to discuss these and systemic changes that need to be made within USDA.

One example that told us how USDA has pointed in the wrong direction was the establishment of an Equity Commission. Their job is to research what has already been addressed. The abhorrent history of USDA is chronicled in a myriad of documents all the way back to the 1920s. To add insult, all recommendations must be cleared and accessible to Tom Vilsack…..the fox watching the hen house.

We, then, see Tom Vilsack’s actions and inactions. We see that Black agrarianism is wilting under the withering heat of racist strategies, consistent with a plantation culture. Time is of the essence. We encourage you to accept his resignation. We desire you to appoint immediately someone more attuned to issues of Black farmers across this country and bring about systemic change at USDA.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA of 2022) was a good bill; however, its intent has been bastardized by Tom Vilsack and his leadership. That responsibility rests squarely with Secretary Vilsack. He recently released a document asserting that $800 million from the $3.1 billion had already been released to bring financial security to 13,000 distressed borrowers and that $500 million more will soon be released which will help another 23,000 borrowers.  We are certain that Black farmers are receiving little if any of these funds. We know from credible sources that there are approximately 3,100 Black farmers whose indebtedness is roughly $210 million. We also have been told that heirs property issues now are front and center for him, not debt cancellation.

Our network has informed us that only ONE Black farmer has received total debt cancellation. And now, he has to worry about paying the taxes.

There is no provision within the Bill for the payment of taxes like there was under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA of 2021) because the Republicans removed it from the Bill. Since the intent of the IRA of 2022 was to relieve the indebtedness of Black farmers, cover their losses, and pay their taxes while also giving them a new lease on life, we ask for you to extend your authority via an Executive Order that cancels taxes. Otherwise, many of the farmers will be behind financially once more rather than being given a new start. We expect not doing so will have a devastating impact on Black farmers’ loss of land and generational wealth.

While debt cancellation is front and center for us at this point in our history, we also are deeply concerned regarding rooting out racism at USDA, creating systemic change within all offices and agencies, and instituting accountability and transparency. These issues have been side-stepped and ignored for decades too long.

In a recent MSNBC interview, Dr. Eddie Glaude tells us who we are as a Nation. It was a brutal yet truthful deconstruction of our country. You can do better. You can also lead USDA out of its “last plantation” mindset into a new Department that serves everyone and not just the white farmers. Discrimination wounds people and destroys families and dreams. The award-winning documentary, “I’m Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice:” Black Farmers Fight Against USDA, produced by Shoun Hill and Dr. Waymon Hinson, explains it.

Black people of this country delivered the White House to you. Our loyalties are not blind. They are based on the legitimacy of our concerns. Democracy, and with it, equity, for all of God’s children hang in the balance. We are deeply concerned that how the Black farmer issue in Georgia is being mishandled will continue to impact our people. Your silence is interpreted as turning your back on Black farmers as you support Vilsack. There are “political consequences” for both 2022 and 2024 for ignoring or taking for granted the Black vote.

These are our expectations: first, remove Tom Vilsack from his leadership position; second, instruct the USDA team to implement debt cancellation more quickly and efficiently; third, cancel taxes for recipients of debt cancellation; fourth, resolve the backlog of unresolved program and employment complaints; and fifth, meet with a group of Black Farmer Movement representatives to discuss initiating changes within USDA that will bring about systemic change.

On the strength of the Black vote....we gave you the White House. In turn, you give us Tom Vilsack. This is not the justice we voted for.

We are eager to discuss these matters and more with you. We look forward to meeting you very soon. These issues should not be ignored and addressed immediately by your administration.

Respectfully,

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

Dear Mr. President, On Behalf of Black Farmers

September 28, 2022

President Joe Biden 
The White House
1600 West Pennsylvania, NW
Washington DC 20050

Dear Mr. President:

Congratulations upon the successful passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). It will prove to be a benefit to many Americans and our economy. You and your team are to be congratulated on successfully averting the railway strike recently. Your efforts in other areas are notable and appreciated.

We are certain that you are aware of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its sordid history of discrimination against Black farmers, other farmers of color, USDA employees, and women. We are concerned about the need for systemic change in the administration and processing of civil rights complaints and also in programs and services across USDA.

As you perhaps know, our engagement on behalf of Black farmers began with our relationship with Senator Elizabeth Warren. She mistakenly believed that Black land loss was a result of heirs property issues, but she changed her mind when we brought the evidence to her. From there, she developed a comprehensive policy of debt relief and returning Black farmers to the land. She paved the way in many, many ways that have led to where we are today.

We later supported your efforts to win the presidency, worked with your team on developing a policy for Black farmers, one that we ultimately found all too brief, narrowly focused, and omitting the crucial element of debt cancellation. Literally hidden at the end of other policy statements, this section entitled “Address Longstanding Inequities in Agriculture,” ignores Vilsack’s abysmal track record during his first two terms as Secretary and other matters important to us.

As you won the election, we continued to work with your transition team. We knew that Tom Vilsack, your Agriculture nominee, was in charge of the agriculture transition team. Especially damning was when a newly appointed attorney joined our conversation. At her last meeting with us, she declared that what we were asking for was “unconstitutional.” That, Mr. President, has come to be a self-fulling prophecy of Tom Vilsack as you look at what has happened with the America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 and now the IRA of 2022.

Investigative reports over the last few years confirm USDA malfeasance at several different levels, from the county level to the headquarters in DC. We have attempted to impress upon  Secretary Vilsack and you, Mr. President, that the abhorrent history of USDA is chronicled in a myriad of documents all the way back to the 1920s. It is a blight on America that we have yet to escape our racist past when it comes to fair and equitable treatment of Black farmers. In terms of farming, all advantages go to white farmers, specifically, loans, acreage, subsidies, coronavirus relief funds, trade war subsidies, and more. Black farmers have lost land at an alarming rate. In fact, economists estimate that conservatively the loss of the value of the land plus the productivity of the land amounts to $326B. There is much, much more to this reprehensible historical record.  

We are most concerned today regarding the two provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and how these provisions are currently being managed by Secretary of Agriculture, Thomas Vilsack. As you know well, Secretary Vilsack was not our choice for leadership in USDA given his less than sterling history toward Black farmers.  We along with Black farmers, their advocates, and others have voiced our discontent on numerous occasions. We understood you to say give Vilsack time. We indeed have given him time. His time in office under your administration continues to remind us of his failed leadership during the Obama administration. Recently, he used words like “complicated” and “process” to describe the current status of debt cancellation. We have heard those words before.

We are of the opinion that he “slow-walked” everything related to debt cancellation for Black farmers.  If Secretary Vilsack had acted more expeditiously, well before court filings and bank association complaints, Black farmers would now experience debt forgiveness instead of hanging on to their farms by a very thin thread. Secretary Vilsack could have paid Black farmers the way he has paid white farmers. It should not have taken more than 110 days to design a process. Black farmers across the country received notices from the Farm Service Agency. Farmers then received yet another document that specified the amount they owed, in what category it was owed, and how delinquent or current they were. Secretary Vilsack, FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux, and their staff have ready access to the indebtedness of Black farmers. There was no need to wait when a simple command on the keyboard could have executed payments to Black farmers.

Under the IRA of 2022, we see Secretary Vilsack moving in the same way. We fear that he will stretch out the process and give white farmers and ranchers sufficient time to scrutinize the two provisions of the Bill, find them at fault, file frivolous and racist lawsuits once more, and derail debt cancellation. One section, as you know, commits $3.1B for aiding “at risk” farmers. The second provision of $2.2B will provide monetary compensation up to $500K for farmers who evidence discrimination. Some farmers are anxiously watching to see if the foreclosure moratorium will be lifted. Please assure us that the moratorium will remain in effect.

The Alcorn State University Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center has developed policies for assisting “at-risk operations” and settling cases in which discrimination has occurred. As the IRA of 2022 is written, USDA must secure the services of one or more non-governmental agencies to manage these processes pertaining to the discrimination cases. Time will tell as to whether Secretary Vilsack’s favorite organizations will benefit yet again or if he will have a transparent process that does not unjustly favor some preferentially, as his history indicates. Secretary Vilsack may at his discretion define and provide aid quickly for “at-risk operations.” We will indeed know if he develops an open, transparent, and accountable process, including one that is devoid of conflict of interests…..receiving money and serving in an official capacity for USDA.  Ethically, we question those serving in an official capacity for USDA now receiving USDA funding.

We appreciate the depth and breadth of concerns as evidenced by correspondence from Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Reverend Raphael Warnock, and Bernie Sanders to Secretary Vilsack on June 2, 2022. Their eight major concerns, in our opinion, were not adequately addressed in Secretary Vilsack’s response on July 13. Their eight concerns dealt specifically with recommendations of the OIG report in September, 2021; civil rights complaints and processes; authority or lack thereof of the Equity Commission; processing time of civil rights complaints; establishment of an oversight board to supervision OASCR’s handling of complaints; establishment of a civil rights ombudsperson; continuation of the foreclosure moratorium; and the removal of OGC officials from interference in complaint resolution.

Similarly, we respect the efforts made by Senators Chuck Grassley and Ben Ray Lujan to Secretary Vilsack on May 5, 2022 relative to the Office of the Inspector General’s audit of the Office of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR) released in September, 2021. Again, we found Secretary Vilsack’s response of July 6 to be inadequate.

We are not interested in meeting with Secretary Vilsack. We did that on May 28, 2021, and it was a most insulting and unproductive exercise. You can do better by Black farmers than has your appointed secretary at USDA. Therefore, we ask you to meet with us face to face and hear Black farmer stories………in order to fully understand the gravity of this injustice against Black farmers and USDA employees.

The NCAACP Legal Defense Fund delivered a letter to Secretary Vilsack on September 12, 2022. This letter is supported by thirty-three organizations that support concerns that mirror ours: expeditious debt relief, support for Black farmers, removal of OGC from civil rights processes, strengthening the capabilities of the Office of Civil Rights, assurance and confirmation via research data that Black farmers are treated fairly and equitably, and funding for and oversight of the county committee system, and others. Many are deeply aware and troubled at the malfeasance going on within USDA. This correspondence from NAACPLDF, then, addresses internal changes that need to be made as well as debt relief.

Our concerns are not new. Since the beginning of your administration, we have a written number over 21 letters combined to both the White House and to Secretary Vilsack at USDA. While we have addressed the urgency of debt cancellation for Black farmers, we have also spoken to the need for systemic change within USDA and for transparency and accountability. We are not in any way optimistic that USDA’s Equity Commission given its limited authority, and control by Secretary Vilsack, will bring about the change that is desired. Without addressing internal, systemic issues, sexual discrimination and abuse within USDA with its employees and discrimination in its programs and services will continue.

Secretary Vilsack’s announcement about the $2.8B funding for climate-smart agriculture advantages large white organizations and encourages little to no involvement with BIPOC organizations and systems except in the second tier with less money and more loans. There is an obvious inequity between the funding levels and the additional $1.8B went to the first funding pool. It is especially noteworthy that major corporations that in our opinion contribute to climate problems are now appointed to lead the way in addressing the need and solutions for climate change. These include: PepsiCo, Cargill, Target, and many others. We note that the timing of this announcement is curiously close to mid-term elections. We believe, therefore, that this is straight out of former president Donald Trump’s re-election “playbook.” We can see through Secretary Vilsack’s actions, as can many in Black America.

We strongly support the contention of Tracy Lloyd McCurty, Esq., Executive Director of the Black Belt Justice Center that Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack has a

“divide and conquer strategy of awarding BlPOC community-based organizations and ‘allied’ nonprofits with millions of dollars in cooperative agreements and grants in exchange for their silence on Vilsack’s abysmal civil rights record and refusal to provide reparative justice to Black legacy farmers through full debt cancellation, monetary compensation, land, and a perpetual allocation in the Commodity Credit Corporation Fund to restore the Black agricultural land base (personal correspondence).”

In our May 11, 2020 letter to you when the campaign was ongoing, we listed sixteen areas of concern for us. That list remains the same for us today: Given these matters, we encourage you to meet with us to discuss the following and more:

• The historical mistreatment of minority farmers and systemic factors that allow this to be an ongoing problem;
• The institutional organizational structure that allows for a devolution of responsibility such that an absence of accountability exists;
• The failures of the County Committee system in that people vote their prejudices such that few if any minority farmers and ranchers are found on these committees which wield such power at the local level;
• The failures of the Office of Civil Rights to fully engage in its mission to protect the civil rights of members of the USDA and those whom it serves;
• The entrenchment of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) in the affairs of the USDA Office of Civil Rights such that the OGC has the outright propensity to control decisions made on behalf of employees and constituents whose civil rights have been denied or violated;
• An environment that lacks "accountability" such that if and when an employee violates the civil rights of employees or customers, that the employee receives appropriate discipline including being removed or fired;
• An increase in funding for HBCUs that have agriculture departments;
• An inquiry into the inequities within Pigford I and Pigford II relative to denials;
• An inquiry into the inequities of Pigford I and Pigford II relative to debt relief;
• An inquiry into the absence of utilization of the USDA's land bank by minority farmers;
• An inquiry into the incompetent manner in which Census of Agricultural data is misused by the USDA;
•  A complete organizational evaluation and set of changes created and implemented by a task force under your leadership;
• Endorse a program of reparations for Black Americans who have had their land taken away;
• Review and update the Endangered Black Farmer Act of 2007 and its subpoints relative to conservation, credit, and persistent discrimination;
• Conduct a series of meetings in which Black farmers, their advocates, USDA abused employees, and other persons can speak openly as to their challenges in dealing with the racism and sexism at the USDA; and
• Create a plan to provide greater institutional and programmatic support for urban farmers and urban communities. As you may note, these are issues that a reorientation within the USDA as it roots out systemic racism will include.

We know that you can press Secretary Vilsack to act in ways that address the internal system that organizes all of USDA. We, as part of that audience want to see you demand that Secretary Vilsack move toward creating systemic change within USDA such that all persons employed and recipients of programs are treated with dignity and respect. Unless the system is revamped, we will be facing more complaints from employees and Black farmers because of the existence of institutionalized anti-Black racism.  It is our belief that USDA should be put into “receivership” as the organization does not have the will to address systemic change.

We are looking to you, Mr. President, to move quickly to press your appointee, Secretary Thomas Vilsack, to move speedily under the provisions of the IRA to wipe out the debt of Black farmers. Black voters of our country are watching and waiting anxiously for signs from the White House that our votes and our concerns matter to you. If student indebtedness can be forgiven speedily, then Black farmers’ debts can be cancelled in an expeditious manner.

In a recent MSNBC interview, Dr. Eddie Glaude tells us who we are as a Nation. It was a brutal yet truthful deconstruction of our country. We can do better. You can lead us to do better. You can also lead USDA out of its “last plantation” mindset into a new department that serves everyone and not just the white farmers. Discrimination wounds people and destroys families and dreams. The award-winning documentary, “I’m Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice:” Black Farmers Fight Against USDA, produced by Shoun Hill and Dr. Waymon Hinson, explains it.  

At this moment in our history, USDA has no credibility with Black farmers. We have had our hopes dashed for too many years. Pigford I and II destroyed many of us. Twelve class action suits filed by white farmers derailed your race-based remediation efforts in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and now, all race-based solutions are eliminated from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. We are not optimistic for a better day. You have the power to change this by compelling Tom Vilsack to move with all due haste.

Finally, we acknowledge your recent meeting on September 2, 2022 with various “Legacy Black Civil Rights Organizations” to discuss the accomplishments of your administration. We are, however, dismayed that such a meeting has not occurred with you and “Legacy Black Farmers.” We are asking you for the same sensitivity and commitment that President Clinton showed when he listened and responded to the Black farmers’ cause on December 17, 1997, on a Wednesday night. We want you to duplicate the Clinton/Glickman Model that showed a genuine commitment to address the historical, systemic racism and sexism at USDA. This brought about the Civil Rights Action Team Report of 1997, the Civil Rights Implementation Team Report of 1998, and the Commitment to Progress of 2000. Other reports include the Jackson-Lewis Report, the Harvard University Study, the Office of Inspector General reports, and the General Accounting Office reports, and their recommendations have mostly been ignored under Secretary Vilsack’s leadership.  

Now is the time. This is the occasion to show Black farmers and the larger Black community that you will honor their voices and concerns given the fact that they delivered the White House to you.

Again, you should meet and hear from Black farmers, not sanitized self-serving messaging. We look forward to hearing from you very soon.

Respectfully,

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