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.”

 

 

Vilsack, White Farmers, Equity Commission, and Banks, What a Mess

A while back, in a blogpost on this blog, I lined out some pretty strong opinions about Secretary Tom Vilsack "slow-walking" processes such that white farmers will always be paid, but Black farmers will never find their debts cancelled as promised. 

Today, I'd like to add one more varible to the long list of dates and slow walking. The dates are set in stone from that previous post here. 

"1) March 3, 2021, Senator Warnock succeeds in getting his "Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act" passed. 

2) March 11, 2021, President Biden signs into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Within this package is section 1005 which allowed $4 Billion to be granted to farmers of color for debt relief of their direct loans. It also included section 1006 to the tune of $1.01 Billion for outreach, training, education, technical assistance, grants and loans, and other things related to minority farmers, or Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, a 2501 designation. The debt relief pack was shaped by Senator Warnock's legislation. 

3) The Miller v. Vilsack was filed in Texas on April 26, 2021. White farmers as a class are certified and the preliminary injunction signed by the judge. The white farmers claim reverse discrimination despite the fact that white farmers have received nearly all of the subsidies, coronavirus relief funds, and the funds from trump's failed war with China.

4) Faust etal v. Vilsack was filed on April 29, 2021 and the temporary restraining order granted on June 10, 2021. 

5) Winn v. Vilsack was filed on May 25, 2021. Defendants responded on June 4, a hearing was held June 16, and the judge issued the preliminary injunction on June 23, 2021."

Point is that Vilsack had more than enough time from the moment that President Biden signed the ARPA of 2021, and even before the ink dried, he could have had things in place. After all, the USDA does have computers, does it not? And it has records of every direct or guaranteed load and to whom, right? Yes, I thought so. 

On May 19, 2021, Alan Rappaport wrote an article in the New York Times entitled, "Banks Fight $4 Billion Debt Relief Plan For Black Farmers."  Rappaport surfaces a letter from three banking entitities to Vilsack telling him that to cancel the debts of Black farmers would costs them a lot of money. 

So, there we have it, Vilsack sauntering down the highway of life while our people die. While the white farmers file their racist and foolish lawsuits that stop debt cancellation, and the bankers associations lodge their complaints, Vilsack does nothing. 

And, he's still doing nothing for Black farmers but for white farmers and corporate farms, he's doing a lot. 

Another blog post on this page, I ventured out with my opinion about the Equity Commission and what it's all about. We told Biden that it was a bad idea. We told Vilsack and others that it was a bad idea. We said, to make a long story short, that there is a plethora of reports and commissions and we don't need another commission report. We have enough of them, and the document will be filed away or something like that, I told a reporter from Politico. In this specific blogpost, I address the conflict of interest and ethics violations, ones that USDA is saying that are not so, but me and my friends say is so. 

And now, to put all of these things together, we have it under good authority that Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, President Biden's appointee for a third wasted term, is now doing an end run around congressional policies and law. 

In section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, there is a $1B fund that is equally divided across four sub-items. Each category will receive $250M per our sources. The Equity Commission is paid out of #5 and that's another story. Vilsack is allegedly going to allocate those numbers across items in the way he wants, drop the total number of dollars or Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers to $250K when the ARPA had the cap at $500K. And, item #5 for direct payments to farmers and ranchers will not be made now but will require applications and documentation for those funds. And, per one of my colleagues, "the use of funds for the other items will not save one Black farmer." 

Also, he is expanding the groups that will receive any sort of funding under section 1006. Once upon a time this was for Black farmers and then it got watered down to historically underserved farmers and now to a benefit pool of 80 per cent of all farmers and ranchers. 

Those details can get confusing. Let me say it this way, Thomas Vilsack is running USDA like a plantation and he is going to do what he damn well pleases unless we all reach out and stop him. 

Thomas Vilsack has no interest in doing right by Black farmers and other minority farmers. He is listening to his own white self and to the white interests of other farmers and ranchers and law suits. 

He needs to be removed from office immediately. 

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. 

Wright Hits Back with Data on Vilsack Nomination

 

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.”