On This Day Filled with Many Ironies, Here are My Thoughts

I pretty much anticipated today. Though sleep was deep and healing last night, I knew what this day would bring. I'm no prophet, but my instincts were correct. 

On the one hand is a crowd of some size gathering in various places to be near him as he is sworn in. They wear their predictable regalia. They say predictable things. And if the cameras are on them and an interviewer stands before them, their answers will chill our bones. Yes, we've seen it before. 

On the other hand, this is a federally recognized holiday for one of America's most significant leaders. MLK Day means different things to different people. For most white churches, it's just another day and the offices will be open and the pulpits will be silent. For many in professional settings, offices will be open, the employees are not given a day off, and the doctors are plying their trade. Restaurants will be open, people need to eat, and servers need to earn their minimal salaries and earn the tips. 

Like many of you, I have read Dr. King's speeches, listened to his soaring rhetorical style, and even visited some places where he trod. The Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama was chilling, to walk where the protestors including Dr. King walked, got beaten, and where the blood ran. With my wife and a good friend, we visited Sweet Auburn, noting that several years prior, we could not have walked that area together. We walked into Ebenezer Baptist Church and observed the pulpit from which Dr. King preached. We encouraged our friend to stand where he stood. Reluctantly he did. It was a treasured moment. 

We lived in Memphis in the early to mid-70s and then the late '70s into the early '80s, and our home was not far from where the horrendous event occurred with the trash truck crushing the workers. We walked the streets where the shot rang out that startled America and showed us who we were. 

Dr. King understood the plight of the Black farmer. This one brief film captures his understanding. My friends and I remember the four years of Trump's first time in the oval office. We recall his erratic style of leadership and his appointment of various people who would do his bidding. We recall Sonny Perdue in particular. We remember that Trump and Perdue dismantled portions of the Office of Civil Rights, much like Reagan did back in the '80s. We know that many complaints of discrimination simply were tossed aside, much like former Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Espy, recalled in our interview with him for the documentary about Black farmers versus USDA. 

No, I am not thrilled that Trump was re-elected. I hoped better for America. We deliberately stayed home and did not vote, or went to the polls and voted for a convicted criminal to the highest position in America. We voted our values, including our racist and sexist values, and the most qualified person, a woman, a Black woman, a Black, qualified woman, will do something else for the next four years rather than lead our country. 

While on the one hand we are not pleased with what the Democratic administrations have done or not done on behalf of Black farmers. We've written much about that on these pages. Just hit the key words in the search bar and you can read them. We are not at all pleased with what Trump's previous administration did during and after his presidency. Again, Miller's shenanigans are recorded on these pages as well. 

So, while I am torn on this day, an inauguration that I do not support and a federal holiday in honor of Dr. King, I commit myself to work with my friends on behalf of Black farmers of our country. Yes, we are parts of the larger "Black Farmer Movement," and we will protest, write, speak, research, film, and all manner of other things on behalf of a marginalized farmer group of our country. 

We will strategize. We will research. We will know a lot about who is in the secretary's office in that monolitic USDA office building in Washington, DC. We will connect with her, ask for meetings, demand change at the county level, the source and origins of many problems of Black land loss. 

We will not stop just because a new administration is in place. We will work that much harder. There will be a different philosophy permeating the halls of office buildings, ag office buildings in our states across the US, and in meetings of the county committees in those states. 

We will demand change. We know what got us here. We also know what will destroy us if we let it. Until every breath is gone from our bodies, we will work on behalf of what is of ultimate value to us. 

So, on this day of multiple ironies, these thoughts of mine are now placed here for your viewing and consideration. 

It is Time for Your Conscience to Interfere

November 13, 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

---S---

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

 ---S---

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

 

You Must Choose a Side: Justice Demands It

You and I both know the tossed around phrase, "There's good people on both sides." We know from whence that phrase came. There's another phrase perhaps you've heard before, "Justice takes sides." Or maybe "justice is what love looks like out in the open," or something to that effect. Cornel West is fond of that last statement. 

I am also a fan of Dr. Jemar Tisby and his books, podcasts, and his words from substack. Here is one that struck me a day or so ago, so I've been turning it over and thinking of its applications. Do you do that at times yourself? This particular article has its background in the Montgomery Boycott in 1955, prompted by Rosa Parks and her determination to keep her seat, which led to a 381 day boycott of the bus system in Montgomery as Black Americans found alternate ways to work, shop, and to other events whereas prior they would get on the segregated bus and move to the back. 

One of the key decisions by the city's fathers and mothers was to find a new voice for the movement, and they found that voice in Martin Luther King, Jr., the new pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Other sisters had voiced protest against the segregated bus system, but it didn't stick like it did in 1955. 

Dr. King tells his version of those momentous days in his book, "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story." It is a riveting book. It's time for me to read it again and wonder out loud to myself why I underlined or starred or commented on certain paragraphs or sentences. 

In Dr. Tisby's substack article referenced above, there was a particular sentence that stuck with me. Without taking the world's opinion as to its orgin, I hunted through the entire book, and there it was, bracketed and underlined on page 51. Here is the quote: "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is cooperating with it." There is much more to that paragraph, but it'll wait for another day. 

So, while Dr. Tisby offers a well-articulated broad brush stroke for this riveting phrase, my mind, heart, and words go to a specific context: Black farmers, their oppressors, those doing the oppressing and those who idly stand by with a toothpick in their mouths, feigning ignorance or "not my problem." 

What the USDA/FSA  have done to Black farmers is indeed evil. "What evils do you recall?" Dr. Hinson, you might ask. Thanks for asking. I'll name a few. 

Selling land to a Black farmer, knowing that the land is over-priced and cannot produce the volume of cotton to make the payments on it, so your good friend can come along and buy it for a below market value price, that's #1.  Do you think others in that FSA office knew about these shenanigans? 

Foreclosing on a farmer because he got his loan too far into the planting season, that's # 1, and then when a disaster came, that is, too much rain, so that he could not get into the fields to harvest his crop, you don't offer him disaster relief, that's # 2, and then to settle his debt, you seize equipment that belongs to his parents, # 3. Or, when the farmer fills out paper work for the operating loan, you tell him to write it in pencil and you'll make it cash flow, and then in a depostion you lie about it, that's # 4, but your secretary says, "No. That's what he did." Do you think others in that FSA office knew about these shenanigans besides the secretary? At least she had courage to tell the truth. 

Farmers depend on operating loans long before the planting season draws near, but you, Mr. FSA guy, deny him loans, sending him again and again and again, demanding that he fill out his paper work differently, that's # 1. You deny them for so long, that his pigs actually die, # 2. Then, he appeals the decision up to the state level, and that office sides with Mr. Black farmer, but you take his check, place it in his file, and never tell him about it until it's too late, and his pigs were dead, # 3. Then, you force him and his ill wife out, sell the land at an open auction, and his neighbor, the white guy over there buys it for below market value, # 4. His wife dies and then he dies in an untimely manner. Do you think in a small office in rural America, that other people were standing idly by and watching it all unfurl? I think so. There are more than just four evil actions in this situation. There are too many to count, but they all have a common denominator. 

Those items listed above? Let's call them what they are. Acts of evil. Oppression is evil. Watching as it unfolds is evil. Call them what they are. EVIL. There are no innocent bystanders in this thing called racism. If you know, your guilty, as guilty as if you did the evil thing yourself. 

As an aside, I know of one farmer family in which an office person knew that such malfeasance was going on, so he pulled the farmer and wife in, laid out the materials and told them all that was going on, and they eventually won their case against USDA/FSA and the local bank. That employee was courageous, very courageous. 

There are more stories, but I think you can see the points I'm making. Some people intentionally make decisions that harm people. People in positions of power and influence decide that farmers who skin is Black should not have that much land, do not need to farm that much land, do not need to have that much money from their harvests, and do not need to have those expensive pieces of equipment. Those people are evil according to the quote from Dr. King. Other people who sit around and watch it happen, other office employees, other agents of the federal government, other powerful people in powerful positions are just as evil as they turn a blind eye, accepting evil behavior without protesting. They are just as complicit as it the person who signed the documents that led to the farmer's foreclosure on his property and way of life. 

Racism is evil. Turning a blind eye and saying nothing about racist behaviors is racism also. 

There's a lot of evil-doing these days as the plight of Black farmers is being ignored: Mr. President, Mr. USDA Ag Secretary, Mr. and Mrs. Senators, Mr. and Mrs. Congressionals. Mr. and Mrs. employees of the USDA, you who have your fingers on explosive information, but the Secretary says not to release it via the FOIA process because, "It'll make us look bad." 

Yes, there is a lot of evil going on over in the agriculture world these days. There is a lot of complicity going on. The people I know and respect will not look away. They and I are truthtellers. We are whistle blowers. We demand accountability and transparency. 

I hope you do, too. Call your senators and congressional folks and tell them what is going on. Feel free to use anything captured in any of the posts on this blog. 

The wheels of justice grind slowly and along the way, those wheels and those sitting in powerful postions all the way from the local level to the highest offices in our land, they are responsible for the grind that destroys our people. Two of our people have met their ancestors the last few weeks. We grieve and we mourn, but we do not give up. 

Slow and Mournful in the Key of G with a Choir in the Shadows

The Farmer Song
Words by Waymon R. and Micah P. Hinson
Music by Micah P. Hinson

 

Storm clouds over Georgia, a mother’s strugglin’ on the land;
Tales of tortured times all across this fabled land;
A sentence cast down from the Lord, “We are family ‘n we are kin.”
Someone says hopes the answer, knowin’ right where to begin.
 
CHORUS

And we’ll sing oh, oh, oh,
Oh, oh, oh,
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
 
Silvery moon shines down on the land clear and cool,
Trouble stirs all around, they’re worried, but, hell, they ain’t no fools.
These people deserve their land, look here it’s plain to see,
While others sketch upon the sand, wicked plans so grievously.
 
CHORUS
 
Perched upon the river wide, their troubled hearts are filled with rage,
This broken system works for the other side, how quickly can we turn the page?
Some of us yearn and yearn to tell the truth again and again,
Our hearts won’t rest until righteousness rules this land.
 
CHORUS TO BE REPEATED BUILDING TO A CRESCENDO

 

My Sentiments as a Prayer

Dear Lord:

You gifted me with words
With words I come before you
With words I bow down
With words I confess my life askew.

When my soul is tormented 
When my spirit is vexed 
When my deepest longings are in disarray
I use words to say I’m much more than just perplexed.

When the wheels of justice grind slow
When the chains of death take my people
When hope is dashed upon the rocks
Sometimes I go to that place beneath the steeple.

I do not all of the time come with words
Sometimes I do not know what to say
With groans understood only by you
Is all I can find to pray.

“I Walked These Days” numbers 365
Blog posts with their words are 59
Prayers in the early morning come to 136
Sometimes they’re prose and sometimes they rhyme.

I’ve sat in many a zoom-like meetings
I’ve written many a first draft letters
My recommendations are even in the Justice Act
Sometimes my words bind me like fetters.

Only you know the focus of many a prayer 
Only you know the many unspoken words
Only you move in ways I do not know
Only you know the burdens our people bear.

Congress sits in places of power
USDA hides behind its doors
Perturb their hearts and shake their bones
And settle the long unanswered scores.

Come into this world I pray
Take off the racist chains
Remove the burdens of dreams deferred
While there is life within our bones.

And so this prayer
Has a lot of words
Beneath are so many groans
That reveal the ache hidden deep within our bones.

Still in You we do trust
Come what may and come what will
Even when you are silent
Even then our hearts will not be still.

Amen

Dear Secretary Vilsack, Respectfully, the Coalition

June 2, 2021

Secretary Thomas Vilsack 
Attention: Chief of Staff, Katherine Ferguson
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250

Secretary Vilsack:

We wish to acknowledge your presence last Friday morning along with key USDA personnel Katherine Ferguson, Chief of Staff; Dr. Dewayne Goldmon, Senior Advisor for Racial Equity; and Monica Rainge, Esq., Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Civil Rights (OASCR); David Grahn, acting General Counsel; Chris French, Associate Deputy Chief, Forest Service/Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Conservation; and perhaps others. We hope that this is the first of an ongoing series of meetings between you, your staff, and representatives from the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and the Justice for Black Farmers Group.

We were dismayed and disappointed by several things:  1) we were not informed as to the length of the meeting; 2) we were informed of the mode of technology at the last minute, i.e., 7:37 pm EST on the day prior; 3) the shift in technology from Zoom to Microsoft Teams proved problematic for some of our rural farmers; 4) we did not have sufficient time to ask our questions nor have our questions answered; and 5) misleading information was provided by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.

We are of the opinion that good leadership begins by asking questions. As we had previously stated in our letter to President Biden on May 11, 2020 and our correspondence with you and your office on May 12, 2021, we had a list of issues and concerns for us to discuss. Given the meeting’s brevity and focus, we were not able to present them. We did, however, appreciate Ms. Ferguson and Dr. Goldmon extending the meeting by an additional 15 minute per our persistence.  Because of our insistence to get questions answered, we were told by your Chief of Staff to email our concerns. The courtesy of an additional meeting time was refused.

We were obviously concerned regarding debt relief, and your team managed that well; however, we remain disturbed that this process is apparently going to be complicated and lengthy, prolonging the economic suffering of Black farmers. We were also deeply disturbed by the report from Deputy Assistant Secretary Rainge. She stated that OCR does not have a backlog of cases. This does not explain the enormous number of civil rights complaints that have been in her office for decades. As we stated, historically the USDA’s Office of Civil Rights has been called “a closing machine.” We have no evidence to suggest the contrary. In fact, several farmers on the call currently have ongoing cases within OCR. We are led to believe, then, that Deputy Assistant Secretary Rainge was providing us false information. Based on her response, we are also not convinced that there is indeed a “fire-wall” between OGC and OASCR as stated by Deputy Assistant Secretary Rainge.

Our concerns go beyond debt relief. The major purpose of the meeting was what the Secretary’s plans were to address the decades of systemic discrimination at USDA that harms especially Black farmers and USDA employees. Many of the items that were offered during the Secretary’s presentation do not get to the solution/resolution of the many systemic concerns that we had previously addressed in our communications. Recent reports and investigative news articles confirm our allegations of continued widespread racism and other abuses at USDA. For clarification, we were also concerned about cases that were not processed timely and are still sitting at USDA. And we clearly expressed our concern about the county committee system that still inflicts pain and suffering on Black farmers.

Accountability, transparency, and other matters are found within The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2021 and could easily be enacted under your leadership. There are many other matters that we have and, therefore, we respectfully request a follow-up meeting with you or your top staff. A half hour is by far an inappropriate amount of time to resolve our issues and concerns.

In short, the meeting left us frustrated, disappointed, and insulted. We believe we can be allies in the effort to root out racism at USDA.

We are extremely proud of the work our Coalition put into the passage of Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock’s bill, “Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act of 2021,” and Senator Cory Booker’s legislation, “The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2021” and should not be penalized by USDA for it. Please remember it was the Biden/Harris transition team that you headed up that told us that debt relief for Black farmers was "unconstitutional."

Silence is not an option for us……

Respectfully,

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

Vilsack's Opening Statement: February 2, 2021

Mr. Vilsack, below is your opening statement. I listened to the entirety of the confirmation hearing and heard nothing about justice, racial equity, fairness to women employees of the forestry service, all of those things that we've written about you and ridden you about. If indeed you are confirmed, we will continue our advocacy in these areas of justice. As Maya Angelou once said, "When somebody tells you who they are the first time, believe them." 

Who are we to believe? The you then or the you now? 

Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D., researcher, advocate, writer

Opening Statement of Thomas J. Vilsack Before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry – Remarks as Prepared 

Thank you, Madame Chairwoman, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of this Committee.

I am grateful for your time today considering the challenges facing our nation and the many critical decisions before the Senate. I also want to extend my sincerest gratitude to President Biden for nominating me to serve our nation in this critical Cabinet position. I know we all share a deep and profound respect for the women and men working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and throughout the food supply chain to ensure our nation’s food security and, if confirmed, I will work with you to better protect their health and safety. 

The world and our nation are different today than when I served as Agriculture Secretary in a previous administration. Then, a Great Recession challenged us. Today, the pandemic, racial justice and equity, and climate change must be our priorities. Amid these mounting challenges, we are tasked with delivering fundamental services—safe and nutritious food, clean water and last-mile broadband, energy security, sound infrastructure, and business services. In rural America—which holds a special claim to USDA’s mission—we must build back better, stronger, and more resilient and equitably than ever before. 

If confirmed, I will take bold action and work with this Committee to address discrimination in all its forms across USDA agencies, offices and programs. I will ensure all programming is equitable and work to root out generations of systemic racism that disproportionately affects Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people and other People of Color. I will build the most diverse team in the Department’s history, one that looks like America, and will extend that commitment across all USDA agencies and offices. 

We must also recognize that the pandemic has ravaged our economy and communities. That’s why, if confirmed, I will ensure USDA is doing its part to end the pandemic. Our federal agencies have a responsibility as employers, service providers to the public, and as government-to-government partners with Native and Indigenous communities to bring all resources to bear. That commitment begins by doing all we can to distribute the vaccine so that we can get our economy back on track. It also means following the science, instituting science-based measures and providing access to PPE to protect our workforce and partners. Our USDA food safety inspectors, for example, deserve not only our thanks for ensuring a safe food supply—they deserve knowing we have their backs. 

The pandemic has also exposed the disturbing truth about hunger and nutrition insecurity in America. Today, 30 million adults and as many as 17 million children—more than 1 in 5 Black and Latino households—report they do not have enough food to eat. This, in and of itself, is an epidemic worthy of a coordinated, national response. That’s why, if confirmed, I will work with this Committee and state and non-profit partners to remove barriers to access for anyone who qualifies for federal nutrition assistance— SNAP, WIC, Pandemic-EBT, school meals and more. Our nation also suffers from nutrition insecurity. We must do more to ensure access to the nutritious foods that can protect and promote health. Making stronger, more resilient connections between our nutrition assistance and local and regional food systems is critical to winning this public health battle. 

We have the world’s most productive and innovative farmers. But the farm economy is suffering due to the pandemic, years of consolidation, and natural disasters brought on by climate change. If confirmed, USDA will lead the federal government in building and maintaining new markets in America that diversify rural economies; producing healthy, local and regional foods; investing in renewable energy; creating a thriving biobased manufacturing sector; embracing sustainable and regenerative practices that enhance soil health; and delivering science-based solutions to help mitigate and reduce climate change. We must stop the farm debt cycle and create transparency in pricing throughout the supply chain; expand overseas markets and give U.S. agriculture a level playing field; and harness USDA’s expertise in science and conservation to work with farmers, ranchers and forest owners to create new sources of income tied to their good climate practices. This includes recognizing the important role our National Forests and all forested lands play as the best natural carbon capture that exists. To respond to the challenge climate change presents to conserving, preserving and growing healthier forests, we need a strong commitment to forest management and restoration. 

Finally, when I served as Secretary previously, USDA leapt from near the bottom of the list in job satisfaction to seventh among all Federal departments. Morale was high because we included staff in decision-making, protected scientific integrity, and provided a safe, fair and rewarding workplace for all employees. If confirmed, I commit to this and more. 

In closing, to all the people living and working in rural America—our brightest days are ahead. 

I welcome any questions the Senators may have. 

Thank you.

Pursuit of Justice Film: Finalist in the Documentary Feature Category for Denton Black Film Festival

 “The Denton Black Film Festival (DBFF) is pleased to announce your film "I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice" Black Farmers Fight Against USDA" has been selected as a finalist in the Documentary Feature category for the DBFF 2021 Competitive Awards program. Congratulations! The award winners will be announced during the Sunday, January 31st Awards/Closing virtual event. We hope you will tune in for the program which will be livestreamed from the Eventive platform. You can place an order for the event with this LINK. It is a free event so please share with your family and friends.

Thank you for sharing your story with our festival audience. Each year is it a tough call for the judges who are composed of industry professionals and discerning people who are avid film fans. While not everyone will go home with an award we strive to honor all filmmakers and the work that goes into creating their films. At DBFF our goal is to showcase a variety of genres, and stories that entertain, Educate, and/or Inspire.”

Check out the link here: https://watch.eventive.org/dbff/play/5fef84d89d17f1007865bf3c

The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2020

Yesterday was a good day in DC as far as my friends and I were concerned. Those of us who have been in the Black Farmer Movement were thrilled with what happened. Please allow me to weave a few threads for folks who follow my writings here.

I first entered the world of Black farmers in 1994 at the request of James Myart, Counselor at Law, who was representing Black farmers in their complaints against the USDA. I did so very much as a novice. That led to a number of things that shaped my personal and professional life. As cases were settled, and as I saw the inequities of the settlements, soon to be revealed in this documentary, other things became clear. Farmers needed debt relief, and few got it; farmers wanted the USDA to be reorganized such that discrimination would stop. They didn't get that either. 

Between 2018 and 2020 while Shoun and I were working on the documentary, some remarkable things happened. Several of us were invited into the arena of campaign policy by Elizabeth Warren. She had publicized an opinion that heirs property laws were the predominant factor in Black land loss. We disagreed and told her so. She listened. We were invited to connect with her policy team, one meeting of which she actually attended, and, thus, her policy on behalf of Black farmers was developed. I am very pleased to have had a modest hand in the development of that policy. Hit some of the hyperlinks and you'll see what I mean. 

Then, when she withdrew from the presidential race, we engaged with Senator Sanders, and then with Michael Bloomberg, and then with former Vice-President Joe Biden's campaign. The least satisfying, and the most frustrating was that of Joe Biden's policy team. I'll write more later, but for now, suffice it to say that they called our requests "unconstitutional" and actually ended the conversation long before we knew it, with a policy that we found inadequate. You can read it here. Scroll down until you see "Advance Racial Equity in Rural America." 

By comparison to Senator Warren's plan, the policy that Joe Biden's policy team developed was inadequate. We told them so. And, if you read both, you can see what we meant.

Then, during the presidential campaign, before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were elected by we the people, we got a call from the offices of Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Cory Booker. They were writing a plan that would lead to what is now called The Black Farmer Justice Act of 2020. We engaged them and met with them via teleconference on several occasions. We had the feeling that something big was going to happen. We were honored and excited to be at the table of development of the Bill. 

So, yesterday we thought that the Bill would be introduced in the Senate, but with the Thanksgiving holidays being upon us, the introduction will occur on November 30. In the meantime, Senator Booker released his press release about the Bill. You can read that here.  You can read the entirety of the Bill here. You can read a summary of the Bill here. You can read the endorsers of the Bill here. When you see the Black Farmer Documentary group, that's the folks Shoun and I interviewed. When you see USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, that's where I land as an "adviser." 

Or, if you want to read just one article that pulls together many of these things, try this one by Tom Philpott of Mother Jones. 

But what does the Bill contain? It contains many things that Elizabeth Warren included in her policy document. She did not forget us. You read that right. She....did.....not....forget....us. 

Within the Bill are a number of things: reorganization of key offices of the USDA and its Office of Civil Rights, debt relief, a moratorium on foreclosures, support for HBCUs, land purchase opportunities, a bank that would lend to farmers of color at reasonable interest rates, an equity commission, and processes that insure fairness and equality under the law. 

So, now we wait. It'll be rejected by this Congress. It will then be marked up and resubmitted before the new Congress in 2021. Then, we pray, and we will work, for it to be passed into law. 

In a conversation with Lawrence Lucas, as mentioned below, my comment was "I think this is the most compelling piece of legislation since the Civil Rights Act of 1964." While that sounds like an ostentatious thing for me to say, I was pleased to hear him say the same thing in his interview with Tom Philpott. Yes, friends, this is huge. 

That's the short verse to a long, long story, and it is only my story. There are more details and more people than could reasonably be mentioned in this short article. Let me mention two. Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, and Lloyd Wright, former Director, Office of Civil Rights, under President Clinton. I am honored to walk in the shadows of these two men, both of whom are legends in the fight for justice. 

Who is in Charge of This Place?

Dear Lord:

What will this day bring

What lies ahead

What secrets lie beneath the sky 

Is today the day that more people die

Is today the day that we all dread

The day that the Man comes

And takes their land away

And there sounds the beating of the drums

There are 17,000

Or so I am told

The story grows unabated

Does the truth not make you cold

The Book says you are sovereign

And over all you do reign

And if that's true

Why do people live in so much pain

People come and people go

Reaping that which they did not sow

While others work and strive

Trying to make their living from the soil

Yet those in power

With titles and pen

Ignore insult shame change

Documents again and again

With such power

There comes much dread

And some I knew

Are now entombed buried dead

They died too soon

Is my own frail thought

They labored and labored

Only justice they sought

Now we're hearing their stories

All of which are true

Tears in their eyes grief in their souls

They always looked to you

Payday some day

Said one on a warm July day

Now he's gone to the ancestors

And with You is what I pray

Yes we say that you are sovereign

And that you control it all 

But what about their justice

Why do you forestall

Maybe we have it all wrong

Our understanding so meager

But for justice we yearn

And them still so beleaguered

Someday we'll get it right

Righteousness will be in sight

And those who did the wrong

Will wind up as lyrics of a song

I'll keep on asking questions

And answers will surely come

It won't be for lacking of trying

While we toil till the setting of the sun

Press Release for the Black Farmer versus USDA Documentary

 

Prophets Come Wearing T-Shirts and Masks

Dear Lord:

I have a lot to learn. 

I have a lot to discern. 

I have many a thought to share. 

I have many a burden to bear.

So, please hear my yearnings. 

Please listen to my longings. 

Please consider my mental wanderings. 

Please find me under your wing pondering.

So, please if you will. 

Please comfort and my heart to still. 

Please guide me in the better way. 

Please lead me into the light of day.  

That I your face may see. 

That you may offer grace to me. 

That we may behold the lamb of God. 

While upon this land we trod.

Did the prophets receive pushback from their prophetic utterings? Is it true that shalom existed in the garden and that we messed it up? Is it true that we yearn for shalom and that it won’t be delivered until your face we see?

Is it true that prayer is a glance toward heaven? A yearning of the heart? A moment of joy in the midst of trials and tribulation?

Are there prophets upon this land? Do they come wearing masks and t-shirts that say, “Black Lives Matter,” “No Justice No Peace,” “Act Justly Love Mercy Walk Humbly?” Do they come chanting, marching, protesting? Are there people on the sides of the streets hurling curses upon them with ugly words and taunts of injury or ill will?

I think so.

Give me courage to speak the truth even when it is not well received. Give me wisdom and understanding to grasp how best to live and speak and love and hope and pray and wonder and wander and ponder and pray and pray and pray.

Amen

A Modern Day Lynching: #ahmaudarbrey

It's called a "lynching" by a person I follow on Facebook. He is an author, pastor, and justice advocate. I saw a lynching yesterday. I saw it again and again.

America has a harsh history with people of color. Ask Black Americans about plantations, auction blocks, and lynching trees. Ask American Indians about their trails of tears. It appears that we have created another means of destroying people of color, that is, white people destroying Black people. That history is still true.

The gruesome and brutal video and the death of Ahmaud Arbrey had completed slipped past me, I think due to the oppression of living in the days of COVID-19. I wasn't paying attention. Apparently, neither were a lot of us. America is now paying attention.

In the old days, and not that many years ago, this picture shows what we did. "Lynching as public spectacle" is something I have read and written about. Another form of "social control," another notion I've written about.  Today's lynchings are different. They are less obvious, but to many of us, they are still obvious. Listen to the stories of the families of the lynched and you'll hear.

Yes, that picture there to the right is brutal to see. Look at the bystanders. They could have been you or me if we'd lived uncritiqued at the time. Those folks look like they are at a picnic.

These days, we use other means of harming people. There are many phrases for the contexts of these heinous offenses, driving while Black, farming while Black, and now, this one, jogging while Black. Living while Black may get you killed.

Ahmaud Arbrey was gunned down two months ago as he jogged through the neighborhood. It is caught on video and in a 911 call. The video is deeply distressing. The sounds of those guns remind me of the days when I went deer or turkey hunting, but never human hunting. It is painful to hear and see. I think white America needs to see what a present day lynching looks like.

The story is captured in numerous places, but it is Shaun King who refused to let this man's murder get dropped. Finally, after two months, the DA is pressing for an investigation and for it to go to the grand jury which does not meet again until June. Here is Shaun King's twitter page that contains the brutal video. 

The man was jogging. Unarmed. He looked like someone who'd been looking in houses under construction. The two armed guys went driving after him. Apparently a third guy followed and was filming on a camera. There is some evidence that the film taker was passing it around. Like a trophy?

Did he also have a gun ready to use? The odds were stacked. Three white guys with guns. One Black guy in his running shoes.

For a heavy conversation about this event and its many, many implications, please listen to Loki Mulholland, award winning film maker, and Freedom Rider, Luvaghn Brown, discuss this heinous situation and the root causes of this madness that white people perpetrate on Black people.

If this were reversed, a white guy jogging and murdered by two, or three, Black guys, I think we'd be up in arms. Sadly enough, that's how we roll in our world. And it's sad to have to make that comparison to get some of us to think.

I think it's time for us to be up in arms about senseless killing of Black people doing whatever any normal person would be doing. Living.

Say his name. #ahmaudarbrey. #ahmaudarbrey.

We have much work to do. Living while Black should not be a crime. Yes, we have much work to do.

Needles, Phobias, and Stories

Long ago and far away I had a needle phobia, a serious needle phobia. It was real, complete with sweating, dreading, and pain far beyond what was really there in those nerve endings.  During my masters internships, I had the opportunity to sort through it. Apparently, there were some unconscious associations that were truly hidden deeply in my unconscious mind, and when those connections were made (that story is for another day), the phobia disappeared.

Now, after five months of two surgeries, multiple blood tests, a bone marrow aspiration, a partial nephrectomy, a gall bladder removal, and a diagnosis of small cell lymphacytic lymphoma, I feel all needled out, but tomorrow there will be at least one more, and there will be more down the road. 

Several people have made those penetrations and procedures bearable including, number one, hands down, is Charla.  She has been my number one supporter, cheerleader, and advocate. Of late we have discussed vicarious PTSD and the suffering of the caregiver. A distant second would be my medical team, those phlebotomists, technicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians, and the front line staff. 

Tomorrow I will show up for labs.  In that lab will be a large group of phlebotomists and some will recognize me and I will recognize them. I have my story of journeying to their place of work. They have their stories of journeying to their place of work from other countries. 

A goofy thing I do is to say to each person before she or he sticks the needle in my arm is the line, "I like to live in the pain-free zone. Can you help me live in that place?"  They usually say something after a chuckle like, "I don't know. You tell me." It lightens the moment and allows me to engage them and their stories. I will inevitably affirm their use of that needle. 

Tomorrow I hope to see Achal.  She is a very competent phlebotomist and is kind and gracious.  She immigrated to this country from South Sudan. She had wanted to go to college, if I remember her story correctly, and play volleyball. However, she chose to honor the request of her family, or the demands of her family, and thus she became a worker in the medical world.  She has lived in America several years.  When I asked her, "Has American been good to you," she replies with "there is no perfect place" and something about taking the good with the bad. 

I think America is not terribly welcoming these days to immigrants, especially those who are brown skinned. I do not know how much more difficult that it would be for people like her if they were trying to coming to American under the current administration. Check out a few things about the white nationalism that is lurking in the White House and is shaping policy.  It's all over the news these days.  

So, I'll be happy to see Achal or Amir or the guy from the Philippines whose name I cannot remember, the guy who put my blood in something like 17 vials a while back.

They have their stories of struggle and resilience.  Charla and I have our stories of struggle and resilience these last five months.  Our stories overlap and connect. That's what I like about hanging around with humans. We get to swap stories. 

Stories are our habituations.  We live in and through them. They give us meaning and purpose. 

As these good people do their jobs well, they are creating shalom, and some measure of justice, in making the world a better place, one procedure at a time.

The Justice of Your Cause

As most of the readers and followers of this blog know, Shoun Hill and I are in the midst of a two-year period of development of the documentary on the Black farmer movement.  We are specifically focusing upon 15 farmers and families who against all odds, many seemingly insurmountable odds, faced off against the USDA, metaphorically and perhaps not so metaphorically as "David" against "Goliath." These cases were settled (though two were settled and then unsettled) administratively which meant out of sight, no court battles, and little publicity.

They led ultimately to what became the Pigford Class Action Suit which was certified in 1999. Without these farmers and families, there would not have been a Black Farmer Movement.

Shoun and I have been inspired by this journey and committed to telling the stories of pain and suffering and resilience for years.  From what Shoun said the other night on the blog radio talk show, his interest goes back to graduate school in Ohio.  My interest goes back to that afternoon in the Spring, 1994 when the attorney for Black farmers called me.

In the early morning hours of a day or so ago a text from the psalmist David caught my eye.  I found it again this morning and am drawn to it and its applications.  Join me in that text, if you will: Psalm 37:5, 6:  

                                   Commit your way to the Lord; 
                                               trust in Him and He will do this: 

                                   He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, 

                                              the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

That text was written a long time ago by the poet King David.  No doubt many can see many applications in that text.  I am not alone.

The cause for which Shoun and I are working is indeed a just cause.  People hurt by people working for a powerful institution.  People at the lower levels of a governmental agency, with power in their hands, hearts, and pens,  can cause unspeakable pain and suffering in the lives, souls, and families of those committed to this country, their families, and to farming. That someone at that level of the bureaucracy could reek havoc is an injustice that has no words.

These are not Shoun's and Waymon's stories.  These are the stories of the farmers and families in Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and other states as well who fought and won.  Or, they fought, won, and lost. They won their cases, but the stress of dealing with the USDA wore their bodies and families out. Some died early. All wore the scars of the battle. Fighting racism is a costly fight. 

Yes, we are committed to the Lord, yes, we trust Him, and, yes, we are not asking for our righteousness to shine like the sun in the middle of the day, but we do rest in His promise, that he will make the justice of our cause to shine like the noonday sun.

That is bright.  The sun at that time of day is very, very bright.

We humbly ask God to do what He is promising in this text. 

I Can Run But I Cannot Hide

It’s awfully quiet here, Lord

In this holy homey place

Just you and me or so it seems

This room do you in some way grace?

The cold outside

It freezes right down to the bone

The orphan and immigrant there abide

Are the seeds of faith there sown?

Here in this house our home

It seems we have it all

Food to eat and clothes to wear

How prepared are we for heaven’s roll call?

The world needs you

We all would surely agree

Love the Lord your God, is that possible

Amidst hatred, racism, and all their debris?

Just one life to live

Is this how this thing works

To leave the world a better place

Blot out meanness which violently lurks?

For is it truly in those stories

That we discover that truth is told

The Man from Nazareth speaks His mind

Love my neighbor as myself isn’t that pretty bold?

Women, Sewing, and Re-Creating Shalom

I have watched these women for over two years now. My beloved is one of them. They do their work in a corner of a building affectionately called "The Ark" in two rooms they teasingly refer to as the "sweat shop" in part because it is always warm in there and it is in use much of the time.

These women, Linda, Aline, Charla, Judith, Betty, Nancy, Cynthia, Janet, and Doris are coming as close to re-creating shalom as any group of people I know. And, they are doing it quietly and profoundly, often with a few people and God watching, and perhaps their husbands, but those watching are growing exponentially.

We all know the garden story, pristine place, one man, one woman, one tempter, and then comes expulsion and curses to her and to him and resoundingly to all of us. Peace was broken, shalom was shattered. We moved into the space of "this was not the way it was planned." But this was the way it was and this is the way it shall be until the Lord returns and creates the new heaven and new earth.

Until then, we are charged with re-creating shalom. When we march for justice, that is what we are doing. When we encourage young parents to nurture their children, that is what we are doing. When we work to change laws that advantage the racial majority and disenfranchise the minority, that is what we are doing.  When we tell stories in the public sphere about injustices done to black farmers that reach all the way back beyond reconstruction to the shores of Africa, that is what we are doing.  When we bind the wounds of the broken and connect with the lonely, that is what we are doing.

Re-creating shalom is a big deal. A seriously big deal.

Discrimination and racism are violations of shalom. Poverty is a violation of shalom. Illness in all of its manifestations is a violation of shalom. Children who are cold in the bitter winds of the winter, that is a violation of shalom. Old age and Alzheimer's and dementia and eating alone at the dinner table and dropping food all over are violations of shalom. Children's diseases are a break of shalom. Any type of injustice is a break of shalom. Any break of shalom compels us to figure out how to recreate it, imperfectly though our efforts will be.

And so it is that my beloved and her friends are bringing shalom into the world of these circumstances and many others. They have a righteous cause that is bringing righteousness into the world. Where there are cracks in shalom, they re-institute righteousness. Where people are cold and feeble and frail and diseased, they re-institute righteousness and shalom.

And so, they do more than sew. They are reclaiming shalom and righteousness. Sewing is a beautiful means of bringing about shalom and righteousness.

They sew and sew and sew. Days for Girls (menstrual kits so girls can stay in school), hospital pillows, hospital totes, marble mazes, surgical caps, port pillows, nursing home bibs, baby items, treat bags, scarves and hats for cold kids in Alaska, and blankets for the police to take on their calls for kids who are cold. There is no way of knowing exactly how many pieces their fingers have touched.  A rough estimate is around 3,000 in some way or other since 2015.

My beloved is working on a blanket for the police to have available as we speak. A friend and I were joking at our home group last night as to how often he hears the whirring of the sewing machine at his house. "All the time" was his response.

They would deny that it's a big deal. I think they are wrong. I think this is a big deal, a very, very big deal.

As I commented in class yesterday morning as we wrapped up a class on James chapter one where he made the point that true religion is taking care of the widows and the orphans, "We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We cannot do everything, but we can do something."

Shalom and justice break through the efforts of these sewing warriors with every cap made for a cold kid in Alaska, when every blanket is given to a child or adult by the police on a house call, when a girl can go to school without shame during her monthly menstrual cycle, an elderly person can eat dinner with a bib on, a kid who struggles to pay attention can fiddle with the maze she has, a chemo patient or any other patient who needs a port pillow to protect the port from the weight of the seat belt, and when a kid going into surgery has a cool, playful cap to wear.

So, here on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I salute these justice warriors and their noble efforts.