Dear White People:

The rhetoric has been loud and rowdy since President Biden signed The American Relief Act Plan of 2021. Most of us know very little about what is actually inside the bill, but some of us know about the “Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act,” introduced by Senator Warnock as part of the Bill. This particular part of the bill will remove the debt of minority farmers, classified as Socially Disadvantaged Farmers (or SDF), specifically covering 120% of their debt which includes state and federal taxes on the forgiven amount.

White people, farmers, and congressional folks are calling this discrimination against white farmers, or reparations, or that it will create a divide between Black farmers and white farmers.

For those who want to read just a few words, here is the summary. For those who want more information, please read on. The short verse is that the USDA has a history of systemic racism in which Black farmers (and other minority farmers) have been discriminated against. Such discrimination leads to indebtedness which leads to foreclosures which leads to land loss and the generational wealth which goes with it. Period. End of discussion. Warnock’s bills are timely as more Black people lose their land and as more Black farmers die before justice is realized.

I think we need to get our whiteness under control. That’s perhaps an impossible task. Inherent within the whiteness factor is that all farmers are treated equally by the USDA. Wrong. Very, very wrong. Also, within the whiteness factor is that if a minority farmer is foreclosed upon, then they are just bad farmers. Listen to the 1619 Project and you’ll hear that said by a white sugar cane farmer in Louisiana. Also, inherent within the whiteness factor is the memory lapse, or convenient failure to remember that the overwhelming majority of dollars has gone to the white farmer. Nobody denies that small family farms are suffering, but when you consider that USDA funds go to white farmers and that Trump’s bailout money went to white farmers, the whiteness factor needs to be corrected. More details on that to follow below.

The USDA and its employees are much to blame. Administration after administration turned a blind eye to actions of discrimination on behalf of its employees. A local county agent could act with impunity toward a person of color knowing that there would be no price to pay for discriminating against someone. The system is designed that way. There is an absence of accountability and an absence of heart. The system is designed to protect itself. People, good people, know what’s going on inside the USDA; however, they cannot talk unless they retire because they know that if they do, they will be removed, demoted, or fired. More on this in a future post.

In August, 2019, the USDA Coalition for Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers Group challenged Senator Elizabeth Warren when she was running for president. Black land loss is not explained, we asserted, by heir’s property issues. She invited us to the table, we went, we engaged, we informed, and they learned from us. From that effort came Senator Warren’s plan to address these grievances. You can find her full document here. Later, after Biden and Harris were elected, we received an email from Senator Booker’s staff and informed that the senator was working on a Black farmers justice bill. When we saw the bill, we were elated to read The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2020 which has now been resubmitted to Congress in the current legislative session. It very much looked like Warren’s work several months earlier. In fact, it was very, very similar. Then, Senator Warnock was elected and since he knew the plight of Black farmers, he inserted his bill within The American Recue Act Plan of 2021 that Biden signed into law recently.

There is more background that white America needs to know.

In 1920, there were approximately 950,000 Black farmers and 5,500,000 white farmers. Blacks owned 22,000 farms, and whites owned 1,380,000 farms. Acreage owned by Black farmers peaked at 19,000,000 (in 1910), and white owned 62,000,000. In 1920, the average acreage for a Black farmer was 51 acres, but for the white farmer it was 166 acres. This is all from census data. It is organized in Hinson (2018). See the picture?

According to USDA census data in 2017, white producers farmed 1,973,006 farms totaling 849,816,725 acres, averaging 431 acres. The market value of products sold was $381,050,061,000; government payments were $8,851,913,000; and net cash farm income was $86,037,984,000. By comparison, Black farm producers farmed 35,470 farms totaling 4,673,140 acres, averaging 132 acres. The market value of products sold was $1,416,256,000; government payments were $58,807,000; and net cash from farm income was $124,459,000. This is all from the 2017 Census of Agriculture. See the picture?

In 1920, Black farmers comprised 1/6 to 1/5 of all farmers, but now they make up only 1.7% of all farmers.

Numbers are compelling.

White farmers and Republican congressional folks are fussing. Thanks to the Environmental Working Group, we can actually look at a variety of matters including who actually received how much of the $425 billion in farm subsidies from commodity, crop insurance, disaster programs and conservation payments paid between 1995 and 2020. That document is found here.

The congressman, Representative Graves, who fussed about it, what does his operation get? Is he being discriminated against? His district in Missouri received $5B during the 1995 to 2020 window. His farm received $661,153, including $57,089 in 2019 alone. Tom Philpott's article tells the larger story. 

And, during the Trump farmer bail out window, white farmers received 97% of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, $6.7 billion going to white farmers, $15 million to Black farmers, $100 million to Latino farmers, $76 million to American Indian farmers, and $17.6 million to Asian American farmers. Check out this document at this link. 

In terms of the Market Facilitation Program, a program designed to help offset the billions lost in Trump’s failed trade war with China, 99% went to white farmers, or an average of $10,674 for white farmers by comparison to $1,074 for Black farmers. White farmers $21 billion and Black farmers $38 million. See this link for more details. 

Nobody doubts that farming is a hard way to make a living. White people fail to realize the extra layer of challenges when farming is done by a Black farmer. Skin color makes things even harder.

The USDA has a myriad of ways of discriminating against Black farmers. From ignoring them to calling them “n****r” to overtly stating that “there’s no money here for you” to changing the numbers on a farm operating loan application to getting the money too little too late to selling rented land out from under them to denying opportunities for disaster payments to setting them up to fail and the list goes on and on and on. See this article and this article for a history of these things and more information. Foreclosures? That’s the way the system is designed to work, i.e., against Black farmers. Read Hinson and Robinson (2008) and Hinson (2018) for more history of the USDA and discrimination. 

Know any white farmers who received similar treatment?

It is estimated by a group at Harvard University that in terms of generational wealth denied Black farmers given that they have lose some 90% of their land, is in the range of $250-$350 billion. 

Some even point to the Pigford Class Action Suit as something that should have benefitted the farmers and paid off the debts. The short verse is that over 22,000 filed a claim under Pigford I, around 15,000 prevailed, and received $50,000. Some received a tax amount of $12,500. They were promised debt relief, but only 371 actually received debt relief. Only 371 farmers out of the 15,000 who won their cases. Lloyd Wright, a member of the Coalition with which I work says that Black farmers are worse off now than they were before. A high-ranking member of the Trump administration reported that 17,000 Black farmers are on the verge of foreclosure.

So, yes, the American Recovery Plan of 2021 signed into law by President Biden does include Senator Raphael Warnock’s “Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act” which contains $4 billion for debt relief and $1 billion for related services. These funds are for any minority farmer who owes money to the USDA via three means: a direct loan, a loan guaranteed by USDA, or a loan for property such as storage tanks. When interest is piled on top of interest, on top of interest, an indebtedness of $14,000 can grow into a couple of hundred thousand in a few decades.

The details are being worked out as we go. One suggestion by an employee within the White House, Dr. Dwayne Goldmon, is a tiered process and will take time. These smells fishy. The plan should be one that is simple and easily understood and can be managed by USDA and the farmers.

Yes, these funds are only for minority farmers. No, white farmers are not beneficiaries of these funds.

You see……white farmers have been the beneficiaries of government aid and support from the very beginning of the USDA, “the people’s department,” but for Black farmers, “the last plantation.”

White farmers have never as a group been discriminated against. In fact, white farmers are the favored face of the USDA. The system works well for white people.

These funds are the first step in leveling the playing field of farming, one that has never been level because policy and procedures, though they are “colorblind,” are administered by employees who are not colorblind. Farming should be the same level of complication for white farmers and for Black farmers. Farming should not be made more difficult because of skin color.

No, this is not reparations; this is justice. And, yes, these bills by Senator Warnock and The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2021 are considered the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation since The Civil Rights Act of 1964.

So, white people of America, please get your facts straight, and reign in your white indignation.

You do not wear it well.

Black History Month and Me

I have to admit that I have little patience for people who ignore or dismiss with benign neglect the significance of Black History Month. Yes, nail me for being judgmental, or nail me for my attitude toward people who are dismissive of Black people and the history and depth and breadth of the contributions of Black America upon America. 

Several years ago, an official in the USDA approached me at a land loss summit, pulled me aside, and encouraged me to tell the farmers to "get over it," to move on with their lives and to let this thing drop. I actually ran across his page over on Facebook, the "people you may know" app, and low and behold, yes, I did "know" him, if a weekend makes for knowing.  I wonder what he thinks of things now.  Does he even remember that inflammatory conversation. 

That same weekend, another USDA employee was distant and "in his head" about these matters of injustices, but another USDA employee was not. Through her tears she had us turn off our recording devices and she spoke the truth to us, the truth that we knew to be THE TRUTH. I am still deeply grateful for her and have sought her advice on several occasions. 

The truth is that this country was built on the backs of Black people. Their bodies were the commodity that was worth so much that we'd choose to fight a civil war over it, but then, once that was over, and reconstruction was gone, and the Black Codes, and then separate but equal, and Jim Crow were in place, we promptly forgot, or we never knew because teachers were forbidden or afraid to teach the truth in our history classes. 

I consider myself to be more than an ally these days.  Early on I was an outside observer. Over the course of time, I was invited in to participate. Now, though I have not put it up for vote, I consider myself a fully engaged member of the movement. Stories of Black America, from Africa through the Middle Passage, to the auction block, to plantation life, Freedom, Reconstruction, Jim Crow South, and up to now, I have heard stories. Numerous farmers have chronicled their genealogies all the way back to slave days. Their ancestor's name, on a specific plantation, and how things rolled from them to now. 

So, don't tell me that enslavement was then and there but this is here and now. I do not ask for forgiveness when I get angry at people who stick their heads in the sand and ignore or disregard the stories of the ancestors and their survival against insurmountable odds. 

In theological terms, "Black farmers" is a particular. Racism is the universal. Racism that has undergirded our country invaded the halls of the USDA from DC down to the county committee level. So, you talk about Black farmers, you'll be talking about them, and you'll be making inferences for racism in America.

Thirty years ago, I had not heard of "Black farmers," and now, the term is in my every day vernacular. I read, research, write, advocate, and tell stories of Black farmers. I sit in on teleconference or Zoom meetings with senators' offices in DC, crafting The Justice for Black  Farmers Act of 2021, introduced in the Senate by Booker, Warren, Warnock, and Gillibrand, or finding out the current status of things, or asking why a particular phrase was there in the text rather than another phrase. 

I am encouraged by Senator Reverend Warnock's bill, "Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act," which has been written into President Biden's COVID-19 Relief Act," a bill that will relieve the indebtedness of Black farmers, and other minority farmers, where interest is piled on top of interest on top of interest, initially created by USDA officials who discriminated against them. Otherwise, the debt would not be there.

We have it on good record that 20,000 Black farmers are on the verge of foreclosure. In 1920, there were 950,000 Black farmers who farmed on 22,000 farms, who in 1910 farmed 47,000,000 acres. In 1910, Black farmers owned 19,100,000 acres, which was down to 16,700,000 acres in 1920.

In 2017, there were 35,470 Black-owned farms with total acreage of 4,673,140 acres and an average farm size of 132 acres. In this same year, the percentage of Black-owned farms was 1.7%. 

According to Stucki and Rosenberg (2019) and Lloyd Wright (2021), the numbers of loans to Black farmers is incredibly low by comparison to white farmers. They estimate that in terms of the loss of generational wealth to Black families given the horrendous loss of farms and acres is close to $1 trillion dollars. Here is what that looks like: $1,000,000,000,000. 

Now, on the one hand, we have a redo Secretary at the USDA. He failed the first time, but we are watching him now. On the other hand, we have hope in The Act of 2021, authored primarily by Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, and we have the bill for emergency relief that will offer $5 billion in debt relief and services. 

No sum of money will make Black farmers whole. After all, what is a pair of eyes, a pair of kidneys, a brain, or a marriage and family worth? There is no price.

So, don't tell me that there is no need any longer for Black History Month. 

Conflicted or Not

Perhaps you and I are alike.  Perhaps you and I both are conflicted about the potential nominees on the Democratic side of the isle. If you vote to the right, you are not likely conflicted about who to vote for unless there are muliple candidates downstream from the position of president. Here in Texas as in some other states, the incumbent does have competition.  It'll be interesting to see how the competition shakes out vote-wise.

I had two chats yesterday with two people who inspire me to do well with time and talents.  Charla and I have been shaped by them for years.  He is the consummate community organizer. She is a fierce advocate for the poor, women, children, and people of color.  They were out getting things finalized for today's primary in their county.  We laughed some, we told stories some, and we voiced our mutual commitments to things that matter. At every bend in the road, I am inspired by them. Their extended family is deeply rooted in social justice and democracy.

On my path to leaving the Republican party several years ago, there was a simple message that was shared with me by a friend that I appropriated for my own purposes.  Simply stated, I will vote for whoever is best for my people.  Today my people are blacks, hispanics, women, the poor, and anyone who is marginalized by society or the church or whomever.

So, today my wife and I will go vote.  Though we have discussed politics on several occasions, I do not try to sway her vote and neither does she try to sway my vote. That, I think, is a sign of respect.

When I look at the ballot, I'll see Bernie Sanders. He has several things that detract from him in my opinion and there are other things that I like.  I especially like that his policy team has met with a group that advocates for Black farmers. I am a part of that group.  It has been fascinating to be in on those meetings.  It is deeply moving to know that his policies about reforming the USDA and offering substantial amounts of hope to minority farmers leave me optimistic. I just want his policies to be out there now.  As in a few weeks back.

Then I see Elizabeth Warren.  One of her pluses, in my opinion, is that she has the best articulated set of policy statements about the USDA and minority farmers.  Seems to me that she gets the issues.  Again, it was more than interesting to meet with her policy team and to know that at least one of my publications helped to shape her materials.  You can see her policy here. Another thing that I like about her is that she has policies for just about everything. That is one of her strong suits.  The issue of her status as an American Indian is one of which I tire.  I wrote about that in a long, long post here on the blog several months back. You can find that easily enough.

Then there is Mike Bloomberg.  I get it that he was successful in business and as mayor of NYC.  I think his stop and frisk policy was reprehensible. I think he should have apologized and made amends long, long ago.  Yes, he is wealthy and some say he is buying his way into an election, but when money flows as freely as it does, that critique does not wash with me.  A man I respect has stated in an OpEd that Bloomberg seems to get the issues of the Black farmer. I respect that gentleman. Here is the OpEd here. 

Then there is Joe Biden, former VP of the US under President Obama.  I like him.  He has weathered the storms of politics.  He knows grief.  He knows public scrutiny. I think he should tell more stories that resonate with people like me.  Yes, I don't disagree about some of his policies including the fact that he supports the system that has driven medical costs through the roof.  He has not run a strong campaign.  He has had good advice along the way such that he took SC by storm. He has no policy stated about the USDA and minority farmers that I know of. I think he needs to move in that direction for sure.

There are others whose names I have never heard of.  If you are a Republican, looks like you have many options besides the incumbent over there.  I hope you'll vote for someone other than the incumbent. That's my personal stance.

I am one of those people. Yes, one of those.  I am bewildered that such a huge percentage of God-fearing, Jesus-following people would vote for him.  He is all that the faith stands opposed to.  He is, in my opinion, a narcisstist, an opportunist, a poor business man, a man of poor character, a serial abuser of women, a serial liar, one who undermines the rule of law as well as departments and people in key positions such as the FBI or CIA or military, and his policies are leading us into so much debt that I wonder if we'll ever recover.  Not in my lifetime for sure.

I digress.  I'll go to the polling station today just as my friends will across Texas and across other Super Tuesday states.  We'll vote.  We'll then turn on the tv to watch the returns tonight.  We'll get prepared for more state primaries and then we'll see how things roll at the RNC and the DNC.

Then, we'll vote our conscience come election day in November.

There is no perfectly fitting candidate.  There are several that are much better than the alternative across the isle.  I'll vote for people whose policies best support my people as in the list up above.  No, I'll not vote for someone whose policies pander to the upper 1% of the population while my people continue to fall behind. I'll not vote for someone who belittles women, the disabled, Gold Star families, or other candidates. I will vote for someone whom I think stands a good chance of beating the incumbent in November.  Yes, I am one of those, or, I am one of you.

This will be both an easy choice to make as well as a difficult one.