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

 

 

Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris: We Need to Talk

August 16, 2024
 
President Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20050
 
Vice President Kamala Harris
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington. DC 20050
 
By way of introduction, we are representatives of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers Group. The Coalition began as an employee organization at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1994. It has now evolved beyond just employees to include focusing on major issues with Black farmers. The Justice for Black Farmers group is an extension of this important work.
 
We are aware of the sacrifices and services you have made to our country. Perhaps the most courageous act is your stepping back and allowing your Vice President, Kamala Harris, to move into the spotlight she rightfully deserves under the circumstances. We respectfully ask that you use that same courage to address our pressing issues. Now is the time to do good for our Black farmers and others suffering at USDA, especially when there is lingering skepticism about USDA and your support of Secretary Vilsack.
 
While many in the United States are actually confused and/or completely unaware of the background to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) and how the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was originally intended to level the playing field for Black farmers who have experienced racism since the very founding days of our country. Those of us who know live out of a different narrative.
 
We are asking for justice for a group of your supporters, Black farmers and their families. Their commitment to the Democratic party is waning, and that makes this request very important.
 
Some matters that we care about deeply lie in the darkness of Capitol Hill, the White House, and the offices of USDA. You undoubtedly know what they are because we have written to you before, and we demonstrated in front of the White House March 1, 2023. See this link as well. Secretary Thomas Vilsack continues to ignore Black farmers’ struggles for justice as well as the systemic racism and sexism that exist within USDA. As our proof, this has been reported widely by newspapers and other investigative reporting.
 
Yes, some Black farmers are not pleased with the checks they got in the mail from the US Department of the Treasury. Some are bitterly disappointed. Frankly, Mr. President, with the race-neutral approach taken within the IRA, funds were disbursed not because of what racism has done to them. The white farmers in the lawsuits which derailed the ARPA demanded their share of benefits because of reverse discrimination. This, despite the fact that white farmers have always had the upper hand in farming, loans, goods, services, and benefits at the county level. Sadly, whiteness matters. For the uninformed public, to give out $2.2B to 43,000 which would include some Black farmers and others, but we know the inside stories, and we want you to hear them as well. We understand that 80% of the total number who prevailed were Black farmers who received $1.76B from the total of $2.2B. It seems to us that embedded within this story is fear on the part of Black farmers to speak out due to retaliation and intimidation by USDA.   We find it interesting that USDA releases this type of data when it is convenient for them.   
 
Our message has been consistent since our inception in 1994 as the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees. From our communication of October 25, 2011 to Vilsack through seven letters to congressionals, seven to you in the White House, eight to your staffers, and twelve to Vilsack, we have articulated a consistent message: 1) remove the indebtedness from Black farmers; 2) cover their taxes; 3) root out racism, sexism, and violence from USDA, especially the Forest Service, Western Division; 4) treat all farmers equitably and institute policies that do so; 5) eliminate the County Committee system where much of the racism occurs; 6) put the Office of Civil Rights (OASCR) in receivership and hold the guilty accountable; 7) put a firewall between the Office of General Counsel (OGC)  and OASCR; 8) institute an environment and policies that insure accountability and transparency; 9) settle the many unresolved cases that lie languishing in the bowels of the Office of Civil Rights;  and 10) endorse a program that puts land back into the hands of Black farmers who have had their land stolen from them because of a failed civil rights process. There are others, Mr. President, and this list is only a partial list.  In fact, a lengthier list is found in correspondence with you in 2022 in which we advocated for systemic change.
 
While there are some who would insist that the economic efforts amount to reparations, we call it justice. By comparison to our issues with USDA and the demand for funding to level the playing field, the State of California is undergoing an intense process toward providing reparations for citizens whose ancestry goes back to days of enslavement. We participated in that effort by a discussion of the Black farmer issue. The entire report is available.
 
In short, Mr. President, we, Black farmers and advocates, are seeking accountability, transparency, and justice. USDA, until these factors are included, will continue to be labeled “the last plantation,” because, indeed, Secretary Vilsack runs the agency like a plantation, and it has been that way for decade after decade. Yes, we do want a better accounting for actual damages, and we want a process that is much clearer and transparent, one that is legal according to the law. Vilsack allowed his Equity Commission to leave in place the racist county committee system that for decades has destroyed lives of our Black farmers and others. We believe that his Equity Commission was tarnished from the beginning with many having received funds from the check-book of USDA and several of his former colleagues from the dairy industry and the Office of General Counsel.
 
We are also shining light on the issue of racism and discrimination within the USDA by presenting these and other materials at the Whistleblower Conference and Film Festival held in Washington, DC from July 26 through August 4 on the topic “Seeking Truth and Justice.”
 
To expand on these requests and opportunities, we offer the following by way of background.
 
On March 1, 2023, as noted earlier, Black farmers, advocates, and their supporters from across the country assembled in front of the White House to remember the Fairness Hearings before Judge Friedman and to demonstrate USDA’s failures and our concerns on behalf of Black farmers and the injustices we have received from your administration and USDA. Two of our members wore a provocative sign which read, “We Gave You the White House. You Gave Us Tom Vilsack.”
 
As inflammatory as that reads, we believe it to be the truth.
 
In 2019, we offered Senator Warren a different view on Black land loss. While she had believed and had said so publicly that it was due to heirs’ property issues, we showed her otherwise, that the majority of Black land loss since 1910 has come as a result of racism within USDA, especially at the County Committee level where matters and personnel are unsupervised and personnel are not held accountable. We believe that Senator Warren’s plan is the standard bearer in this significant area.
 
Our many communications have gone unanswered with the exception of one meeting on May 28, 2021 in which Secretary Vilsack pontificated about his programs and failed to allow us time to ask questions. Even in that meeting, we were provided with false information from OASCR. It is no wonder that Black farmers do not trust USDA. We communicated our disenchantment with Secretary Vilsack. Secretary Vilsack runs a closed system. He refuses to listen to those who complain about his policies and procedures. It looks good and smells good, but to those of us who look inside know that it is anything but a healthy organization. On the other hand, we had a series of very productive conversations and follow-ups with two White House staffers, Cedric Richmond and William T. McIntee, in the Office of Public Engagement. The heart of the matter was the large number of letters written by us to Secretary Vilsack without any response from him. This was the most productive conversation that we have had with your staff in many years.  
 
We participated with your agriculture transition team in the policy development phase of racial justice for Black farmers. We eventually realized that Tom Vilsack was pulling the strings and that the appointees with whom we were dealing had no authority. The ultimate insult was when one of Vilsack’s attorneys said that what we wanted was unconstitutional. We came to believe the bitter truth of that because when you signed the ARPA , the banks complained to Vilsack, and Vilsack slow-walked the process of paying the 120% to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers for debt write-off and taxes, giving white farmers across the country enough time to file twelve (12) frivolous and racist lawsuits complaining about reverse discrimination.
 
From there, Congress got busy, passed, and you signed the race neutral Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated $3.1B for “distressed borrowers” in order to bring their debts in line, and $2.2B for farmers who could prove that they had been discriminated against. Since farmers of any color could apply for either or both of these provisions, the pool was watered down. Those who deserved to be compensated for their actual losses received little to nothing. On top of that, Mr. President, those few Black farmers who have had their debts full or partially forgiven will now face the onerous task of dealing with the 1099 form and hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. Due to having to pay taxes, we think, many will be at risk to lose their land, houses, and property. Additionally, we are of the opinion that the “process” for addressing discrimination by farmers is flawed and inadequate. One administrator, two hubs for the entire country, numerous “cooperators” that facilitate information, a minimal process for white farmers and 40 pages for Black farmers, was all flawed. Our understanding is that this system was actually illegal. There are several flaws in this legislation and its procedures: no attorney’s fees were covered, a lawyer and ag economist were glaringly absent for Black farmers, there were no appeals rights, it is said that white farmers only completed three pages and were paid quickly, and Black farmers were required to complete an onerous amount of 40 plus pages and had to wait. USDA refused, in addition to all of the above, to provide the guidelines for their decision-making.  
 
As alluded to earlier, we observe clear connections between Vilsack’s attorney on the transition team declaring that our efforts to secure justice for Black farmers was unconstitutional. From there, just weeks after the ARPA was signed into law, numerous white farmer lawsuits derailed the process along with the banking industry while Secretary Vilsack purposefully delayed the payment to Black farmers. We chronicled those matters for the public’s consideration. Then, Congress passed the race neutral IRA of 2022 in which any race of “distressed borrower” and any race of a farmer experiencing discrimination are eligible for funds that were originally calculated to level the playing field somewhat for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (the 2501 designation) were now falling into the hands of persons for whom the county committee, FSA, and USDA have always turned out well. So, it is not a stretch to see “unconstitutional” as undergirding all that happened between your agriculture transition team’s work through the ARPA and on to the IRA and out into the bank accounts of all farmers including white farmers.
 
We believe the Justice for Black Farmers Act would provide measurable improvements in the lives and livelihood of Black farmers as it includes debt relief and land at decent process for those who want to farm. We note that no one is offering land to Black farmers from the USDA Land Bank and its holdings. This is all about the taking of the land.
 
Now we know what we did not know before. With the disappointments of aggrieved Black farmers for whom the pay-outs from the IRA pools of funds did not do justice, there will come, we predict, a plethora of class action suits. An inadequate reconciliation of past injustices with present-day funds via the USDA, the hubs’ poor handling of the processes, and the loop holes for some, but not for the benefit of Black farmers are all obvious to us. Such actions for the USDA continue to leave angst in their souls and a bitter taste in their mouths.
 
We now understand that $500M to $700M from the $3.1B pool have been purposely held back by Secretary Vilsack. Our network is nation-wide, and we know of only a handful of Black farmers who have had their debts full or partially removed and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for these farmers other than they were “cherry-picked” by USDA. These numbers do not line up and Secretary Vilsack and his team are not forthcoming about racial categories and debt relief. Money blinds us to the reality existing within USDA the system problem of its structure and behaviors. Money is not the issue.
 
We read the news reports as do you and your advisors. And in this time of transition, we see the young voters moving toward Vice President Harris. Black cousins from the south talk to cousins from the north, and her favorability rating is climbing. We believe that if you and she do the right thing by Black farmers, that the favorability rating among others will rise. You did the courageous thing, several weeks ago, and now, we ask you to do one more courageous thing.  
 
We are aware that you have held various meetings in the White House, the latest of which was February 1, 2024 in which you discussed matters related to Black America. We are aware that one person affiliated with Black farmers was in attendance. We are convinced, Mr. President, that you do not see the severity of the plight of Black farmers and others because your appointee at USDA of Secretary Tom Vilsack, is concealing them from the public and you. What is concealed is the pain and suffering of Black farmers as well as their loss of land and productivity from the land. Estimates suggest that the losses are at least $326B from 1910 to 1997.
 
The November, 2023 General Accounting Office (GAO) report provides a scathing evaluation of the inadequacies of the internal system that tracks complaints of both those who utilize services of USDA as well as employees within USDA. These inadequacies have been known for years, perhaps even decades as the complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Also, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Report of September, 2021 pointed out numerous inadequacies within OASCR including failure to process complaints in a timely manner, inadequacy of support and processes, failure to track and measure progress, failure to follow its own strategic plan, and even potential circumvention of the law. A recent doctoral dissertation uncovered truths about the county committee that we have known for years and yet, Secretary Vilsack’s Equity Commission opted to do nothing to this unfair and racist process. Bottom line is that white farmers are more likely to benefit from programs and services. When the primary source of discrimination against minority farmers originates from within the county committee, it is reasonable that this specific area receive attention.
 
Secretary Vilsack himself declared on one occasion that to reveal information about debt forgiveness and other factors by race was illegal despite the fact that this requirement was written into the 2008 Farm Bill and the 2018 Farm Bill. Now we are awaiting information from the IRA of 2022 in both categories for “distressed borrowers” and those who experienced discrimination although recently a USDA employee provided global numbers for us. Naturally, we are given state-wide data, but that is insufficient and an insult to the American population that wants these numbers while he is required by law to release them.
 
Various investigative reports by Joyce, Rosenberg, and Stucki; Holloway; and Rosenberg and Stucki; and numerous internal and external reports, tell the tragedies of white farmers receiving the overwhelming majority of funds for farming, fewer white farmers having their loans rejected than Black farmers, covid era relief funds going to white and not Black farmers, and other inadequacies. These matters of racism and injustice have been occurring under your watch 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.
 
In addition to the above complaints, we are dismayed at the processes and outcomes related to the Equity Commission. While this would perhaps take a more lengthy conversation, in short, we believe it is redundant when surveying the large number of reports, both internal and external, related to the USDA and Black farmers in particular. The composition of the commission and the subcommittee on agriculture was problematic as a number of the members were, in our opinion, compromised by having received funding as a “cooperator” or other means. It has the very appearance of conflicts of interest for a number of the group.
 
Recently, Secretary Vilsack announced that he wanted his Equity Commission to evaluate his civil rights office and programs. This is nothing more than “the fox watching the hen house,” a stacking of the deck to hide and to protect him from his abysmal civil rights record and failures. We want a level playing field at USDA.
 
Given the severity of these complaints and concerns, we ask you to act in an expeditious manner to address our concerns listed in paragraph seven above and the communication of September 28, 2022 in which we listed our concerns and demand systemic change. Black farmers are a part of America’s middle class working families that Vice President Harris aspires to enhance through economic policies.
 
Many farmers have talked directly with us and shared their concerns about Vilsack returning in a Harris administration. That should not happen. The decades of discrimination are acknowledged by Tom Vilsack, but he has done nothing to fix it. It would be devastating for the Black farmers and others of our country if he were to return. We hope that Kamala Harris will address these issues if she is elected president.
 
We respectfully request an in-person meeting with a host of farmers and their advocates with you and Vice President Kamala Harris. We eagerly await your response.
 
Respectfully,
 
 ---S---
 
Lawrence Lucas
President Emeritus, USDA Coalition for Minority Employees
Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group
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

Dear Senator Vance: You Got This One Very, Very Wrong

August 21, 2024

Senator J. D. Vance
288 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
 
Dear Senator Vance:
 
Words matter. Perspectives matter. Policies matter. I am confident that you know about the importance of these things. That leaves many of us in the Black Farmer Movement decidedly dismayed and even angry at your uninformed comments in the interview on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.
 
Your comments seem to come out of left field, were terrifically misguided, and are not grounded in reality. Here is your comment:
 
“The Harris Administration, for example, handed out farm benefits to people
based on skin color. I think that's disgraceful. I don't- I don't think we should say,
you get farm benefits if you're a Black farmer, you don't get farm benefits if
you're a white farmer. All farmers, we want to thrive, and that's certainly the
President Trump and JD Vance view of the situation. But I do think unfortunately,
when our leaders divide us by race, you're going to have hate on the left side
of the political spectrum. You're going to have hate on the right side of the political spectrum. We should just judge people based on individual characteristics and
based on merit, and that's certainly what President Trump and I want to do.”
 
Whether your misstep was intentional or not, it insulted a large group of African American farmers and their families. These families have fought to save their farms and to maintain their chosen way of life since the earliest days of Freedom, and for you as a leader in the Senate and now a candidate for Vice President adds insult to injury. If anyone should know about the pain and suffering it should be you as you represent a constituency that numbers 344 Black farmers according to the Nature Conservancy. This represents a drop from 2,000 in 1900. You, then, Senator Vance, have a vibrant and relatively large number of Black farmers whom you represent.
 
The ease with which you so smoothly spoke of these complicated matters leaves us furious and your devotees and listeners ill-informed. Your assertion that Black farmers got these dollars is partially right and partially inaccurate. Your assertion that farm benefits were “handed out to people based on skin color” is completely wrong. Either way, you managed to insult Black farmers and their families and friends.
 
As a professional who has been involved with Black farmers since 1994, and as a professional whose life has been lived in the academy, I am left with questions as to why you said what you said. I can think of four, and perhaps there are more.
 
One, are you simply uninformed? Two, are you opposed to leveling the playing field when discrimination is clearly evident, or do you believe in drawing distinctions based on skin color? Three, do you harbor ill will toward people of color, Black farmers in particular? Or, four, was it a convenient piece of data useable to take a jab at your opponents in the election, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?
 
My first foray into the world of Black farmers came in the late ‘90s when I served as expert witness to four of the first fifteen Black farmers who prevailed against the DOJ and USDA. I got my first glimpse of the challenges of working with USDA and the county committee by listening to their stories of pain and suffering. As I continued in this arena, I published two peer-reviewed articles that were informative to me, and perhaps they can be to you and your staff. This article is co-authored in 2008 and this one that was published in 2018.
 
I would recommend that you do some further study into the history of Black farmers in particular and their challenges of dealing with the USDA and its racist orientation. Even if the Biden Administration was offering financial compensation for their years or even decades of discrimination, it would be totally appropriate. The shadows of discrimination and racism reach back into the past, and even USDA admits to it. Many authors chronicle the history of farming while Black in our country all the way back to the brutalities of the Middle Passage and into days of enslavement.
 
Another line of research is that of detailing the history of Black farmers in America versus white farmers. Against all odds, Black farmers became prolific land owners in the early decades of the 20^th century, and then in the third decade Black farmers began to lose their land. It is curious to me that two things overlap: the demise of Black farmers and the rise of government subsidies in the 1930s.
 
The data and historical narratives validate the fact that white farmers have always had the upper hand in programs and services when dealing with the USDA. Black farmers know that they’ll bring up the rear and have learned the hard way to distrust USDA and its employees, especially at the county committee level.
 
Pigford I and Pigford II did not level the playing field. Instead, those class action suits left farmers in far worse shape that before. Government reports indicate that only 371 of the thousands who prevailed under Pigford I actually received debt relief.
 
When the Justice for Black Farmers Act had been introduced in Congress in 2020, authors of the bill knew that it had no chance of passing. Then, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 offered some degree of hope for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (the 2501 designation) until white farmers driven by the absurd belief that they were victims of reverse discrimination filed 12 frivolous and racist law suits, the banking industry complained, Secretary Tom Vilsack slow walked the process, and that bill had an untimely death. Had it been passed, it would have offered 120% for eligible SDFR producers, 100% for their loans and 20% for taxes.
 
Congress then realized that nothing was going to pass unless it was “race neutral,” and so the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was passed, and within it were sections dealing with “distressed borrowers” and those who had been victims of discrimination. The pool of potential candidates for these funds was opened widely such that any victim of discrimination regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation, etc., etc.
 
Back to your failure to adequately communicate meaningful numbers and perspectives, it is
true that 58,000 farmers applied, 43,000 prevailed, and according to an upper-level official at USDA, 80% of those prevailing were Black farmers, and they prevailed to the tune of $1.76B of the $2.2B. Without have precise calculations for farmers by group, as Secretary Vilsack refuses to release them, we are left to estimate the characteristics and numbers of those who prevailed. Either way this was sliced, white farmers were a part of the equation, so you cannot truthfully assert that these funds were only for Black farmers. The same goes for the $3.1B allocated by Congress in the IRA for “distressed borrowers,” and as most of those funds have been allocated, we do not know the distribution by race due to Secretary Vilsack’s lack of transparency in providing those numbers.
 
Given these footprints through the sands of time, Senator Vance, you are terribly wrong and
ill-informed about the role of Black farmers. Black farmers have indeed faced brutal discrimination and efforts to make amends for this are justified. However, you are also misguided in failing to assert that other groups were recipients of the DFAP funds under the IRA section 22007 who experienced discrimination and 22006, those farmers who were categorized as “distressed borrowers.”
 
A compelling piece of data is that between 1920 and 1997, Black farmers lost $326B in land. If we add to that figure production from the land, that total number of dollars in losses goes up exponentially. Most of this loss can be attributed to malfeasance within the USDA and the county committee. That is the game. Figure out how to get the land back and into white hands. As the USDA has been largely responsible for these losses, by implication, it is the USDA and the federal government who owe Black farmers the opportunity to start again.
 
It is also the case that Black farmers have faced the most violent of acts of discrimination since the days of enslavement, Freedom, Jim Crow, and to this very day. USDA has had a notoriously wicked reputation for ensuring that white farmers were given the majority of benefits and programs and that Black farmers were kicked to the curb. And that Black farmers faced a higher percentage of foreclosures than white farmers. Previously referenced reports verify these facts.
 
If indeed you would like to know how the USDA treats Black farmers, the film, “I’m Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight the USDA,” produced by Shoun Hill and Waymon Hinson will reveal the brutal realities of their efforts to hold on to their land. These nine farmers in this film were nine of the fifteen Black farmers who filed suit against the USDA between 1997 and 1999, just before the certification of Pigford I v. Glickman.
 
So, Senator Vance, when you say it is a “disgrace” that the Harris administration handed out benefits to Black farmers, you are wrong and you are spitting in the faces of Black farmers who legitimately deserved recompense for the malfeasance perpetrated upon them by employees of USDA. You, sir, are also spitting on the graves of those who died in the battle for justice for people who looked like them. I could list them by name, some I only heard about and some I met during my time of working in this area.
 
You are saying things in a public forum that insult the lives and livelihoods of Black farmers and families who have tilled the soil and in doing so, helped to make this country the great country that it is.
 
I ask you, therefore, to study up on these issues, their history, and the legitimacy of these complaints, and that you make a public apology and speak more accurately as to what it means to farm while Black in America. It may be too late to make amends to our people in terms of votes being cast, but it could potentially go a long way toward redeeming you and your message regardless of what happens in November.
 
If a conversation with me would prove helpful, please feel free to contact me.
 
Respectfully,
 
 
Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.
Representative
USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
Justice for Black Farmers Group
www.letjusicering.blogspot.com
https://blackfarmersinsearchofjusticefilm.com/
Waymon.hinson@gmail.com
903-271-4654

They Did What? Unbelievable, Believable: An Advocate Shares the Story

They Did What? Unbelievable, Believable

Sometimes remarkable events just simply unfold in front of me. One of those happened last week when one of my former students, Dr. Lisa Merchant, now chair of the Marriage and Family Department at Abilene Christian Univerity, asked me to share the documentary and some thoughts about advocacy from a spiritual perspective. We did what Shoun and I separately or together often do, introduce the film, its background, its making, watch the film, and then discuss what the viewers saw and exprienced. Dr. Merchant and her co-teacher Dr. Tera Harmon did so beautifully. 

As most of you know, the film, "I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight Against USDA," chronicles the stories of 9 of 15 Black farmers who between 1997 and 1999 brought their cases of injustice to the US Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice. While there are non-farmers in the film such as former Secretary of Ag, Mike Espy and the first lawyer for the farmers, James Myart, the film focuses on the stories of the farmers, their years of discrimination, and what they won and what they lost farming while Black in America. 

The students in their final class in the MFT program apparently listened intently as their questions were spot on and allowed me to rift off of them. One of the best was the notation that several times the farmers used phrases like "my DNA is in farming." A second comment was made by a student and the the emotions he felt when I read the names of the Black farmers who have died in the struggle for justice. There were others and it was a beautiful conversation. One huge blessing was that of having Dr. David Todd Harmon, COO of MANA and member of Social Justice Team II at ACU back in the day, reflect upon the film. He shared his skeptism of whether I was right or wrong, and how over the last twenty years he's learned the truth of it all. 

Additionally, I did have the opportunity to discuss the break in Shalom in the garden and how any harm to any person, any sin against another is a break in Shalom, and all of our efforts in the counseling room and in the arena of advocacy are attempts to recreate Shalom as best we can. What is Shalom you ask? It is more than peace, it is an active flourishing of the human experience, and much more than that. Racism is not the way it is supposed to be.Racism is not the way it is supposed to be. Discriminatory actions against those who simply want to farm is not the way it should have been. I also shared from Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 the narrative of Jesus entering the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth, reading sections from Isaiah with the flourish of "you have heard this passage fulfilled in your hearing." Those words of Jesus capture His mission, to restore, to heal, to mend, to repair, to spread the good news of the Kingdom to "the least of these." 

It occurred to me in recent days that the documentary, sixty minutes in length, cannot possibly tell the entirety of the discriminatory actions done to them by employees of the USDA, so I created a list of both the farmers (anonymously) and deeds done against them. 

If you have not seen the film, I encourage you to at least watch the trailer and you'll get a good sampling of what the entire documentary is about. You'll feel with them in their pain and suffering, and you'll appreciate their willingness to share their stories and the gifts Shoun has in capturing them. 

Here is a fuller description of the acts of discrimination perpetrated upon them. This list is a reprint of a previous blogpost.This list is a reprint of a previous blogpost.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The history of USDA and DOJ is not a pretty read. And I'm glad now that MFT/ACU students and faculty can wrestle in some way with what I've wrestled with for years now. A driving question for me is "why, if democracy is important to all of us, and all people are created been equal, have we devolved in such a way that some people are worth far less than others?