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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He needs to be removed from office immediately. 

Equity: Federal Government and the USDA

Shortly after President Biden was inauguarated he issued a formal, presidential executive order, "Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government," signed January 20, 2021. This was an effort I applauded. 

Shortly thereafter, the USDA under the leadership of Secretary Tom Vilsack, announced the intention to establish an Equity Commission, ostensibly to root out inequities in the Department. While the USDA can be applauded for acknowledging decades of systemic racism and its determination to root it out of the system, the folks that I hang with were not impressed. I was not impressed. We were totally unimpressed. 

"Why were we not impressed?" you might ask. Good question. An Equity Commission is being set up to assess what we already know, to find solutions to questions that we already know. And, we know that the USDA knows. The USDA has done internal investigations for decades, and external investigations have been conducted for decades, so what will an Equity Commission find that has not already been found and announced before? Good question. 

What documents do we have access to that buttress our opinion? Here they are, and they have been listed in a variety of communications that we've had with the USDA and even with the White House: the 1965 Civil Rights commission report, the 1982 Civil Rights commission report, the 1997 Civil Rights Action Team Report, the 1997 Civil Rights Implementation Team Report, the D. J. Miller Report of 1996, the Jackson-Lewis Report of 2011, the Office of the Inspector General Report of 2021, and many, many more. 

The Equity Commission will present its findings in 2023 or 2024. In the meantime, how many Black farmers will die? How many have to die while the Commission is studying what we already know to be the case? I think this is a shell game. I think this is an unnecessary kicking the can down the road game. 

Here is what I wrote for an investigative reporter: "It is notable that President Biden is focusing upon equity across the federal government. It is also significant that Secretary Tom Vilsack is appointing an Equity Commission and a subcommittee for Agriculture; however, I am not optimistic about their relevance nor their abilities to contribute to change within the department. It has taken an inordinate amount of time to put it together. Its work will not be forthcoming until 2024. In the meantime, how many more Black farmers will have lost their land?

The USDA has a long and storied history of examining itself via both internal and external investigations. Numerous reviews are available: the 1965 document on Civil Rights; the 1982 document on Civil Rights; the D. J. Miller Report of 1996; the Civil Rights Action Team Report of 1997; the Civil Rights Implementation Team Report of 1997; the Jackson-Lewis Report of 2011; and many more from the GAO and the OIG.

 It is my opinion that the Equity Commission will find only that which has been found before. It find once more that gross disparities have existed for decades between Black farmers, other farmers of color, and white farmers in terms of programs and services.  It is also my opinion that the real truth of the matter is whether or not the secretary will give the Commission the freedom to do its work and then to bring about the systemic change that has been needed for decades. I am not optimistic about these matters given the history of the USDA.

 At best, some findings will be published. At worst, they will be placed in a filing cabinet and lost until the next report and commission."

Committee members and subcommittee members, please tell the truth and tell the truth quickly. Do not let the Secretary perform some slight of hand. We are watching. We are waiting. We will continue to hold Secretary Vilsack accountable. We will continue to let President Biden know of the liabilities of his appointee. The USDA has been guilty of malfeasance for decades. That's what our documentary is all about: Blackfarmersinsearchofjusticefilm.com. 

Good luck with your work, and as you do, start with the list that we've generated in previous communications with Vilsack and the president. We will be more than happy to share them and others with you. 

Equity Commission members: 

 

Arturo S. Rodriguez, California

Hazell Reed, Arkansas

Toni Stanger-McLaughlin, Washington

Derrick Johnson, Mississippi

Ronald Rainey, Arkansas

Mireya Loza, District of Columbia

Charles Rawls, Virginia

Shorlette Ammons, North Carolina

Poppy Sias-Hernandez, Michigan

Todd Corley, Ohio

Yvonne Lee, California

Elizabeth Lower-Basch, Virginia

Shirley Sherrod, Georgia

Ertharin Cousin, Illinois

Rick Smith, Missouri

           

The new agriculture subcommittee members are:

 

Shari Rogge-Fidler, Illinois

Savonala Horne, North Carolina

Alexis Racelis, Texas

Gina Eubanks, Louisiana

Michelle Hughes, Virginia

Kari Jo Lawrence, South Dakota

PJ Haynie III, Virginia

Russell Redding, Pennsylvania

Janssen Hang, Minnesota

Erica Lomeli Corcoran, California

Sarah Vogel, North Dakota

Gary Matteson, New Hampshire

Jennie Stephens, South Carolina

More details can be found at: www.usda.gov/equity-commission.

Critical Race Theory: Who Cares?

I am more than slightly amused and agitated by the current political climate and what is being made of Critical Race Theory. After all, who knows anything about CRT? Apparently not many know much about it. Then, if that’s the case, who is talking about it as a big deal? Apparently, many people all the way from the White House to the halls of congress to the state house to my friends and neighbors, and yours as well. It has become synonymous with race and slavery and other such words and notions. It has been weaponized by some folks over on the right to beat up folks over on the left. It has left school teachers in a quandary as to how to teach the history of America in these polarized and polarizing times.

The Short Verse

The short verse, for people who like to look at short summaries of things I write, goes like this. The concept of Critical Race Theory was developed in a law school setting as a way of organizing a massive amount of information around race, racism, systemic racism, laws, oppression, and the like. It is not something that is taught in middle schools or high schools. It is taught in political science departments as what it is, a theory that organizes information. In the world from which I come, psychology and marriage and family therapy, “theory drives practice,” and the converse, “practice shapes theory.” CRT developed as a way of making sense out of complicated systems that impact people of color. It became weaponized in 2020 when a researcher was interviewed on Fox News. President Trump watched the interview and called the writer to his office a couple of days later. Soon thereafter, the President signed the executive order, “Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping,” as a reaction to sensitivity trainings that were being held at various federal entities around the country. At the same time, religious folk caught wind of it and began to make a big to-do of it which led to the Southern Baptists and their decree against it in favor of the Bible taking primacy in matters of race and racism. From there, various state legislatures in Republican dominated states took up the mantel and wrote laws outlawing CRT, despite the fact that CRT had never been taught in those states, even lifting key points from the list inside the executive order.

So, much ado about nothing. Something that academics think about has now been foisted upon the schools and teachers of our country out of a reactionary stance that will lead to downplaying the significance of race, slavery, oppression, and all manner of things that are important in this history of our country. Besides, no one teaches CRT to elementary, middle school, or high school kids. To assume such is ridiculous. Teach them the truth of America and let them know that we are a democracy, a work in progress, still ongoing and yet unfinished.

For Those Who Want More Detail, Please Read On

I am a family psychologist. I have a doctorate in counseling psychology and am licensed as a psychologist and marriage and family therapist in Texas. In my work with families, I am guided by several theories:  family systems theory, general systems theory, and by a basic set of models with their theoretical orientations and assumptions. The mantra is “theory drives practice” and “practice shapes theory.” Rather than just going on and doing stuff with individuals, couples, or families, students are taught theoretical orientations and the techniques and interventions that are consistent with those orientations. They learn what the assumptions are for those theories. There are with each theory assumptions about universalities as well as idiosyncrasies.

I have spent my academic life learning, teaching, supervising, and practicing from a number of theoretical orientations with their assumptions and interventions. I love that stuff.

In terms of Critical Race Theory. Notice the second word and the third word. Those are important. RACE. THEORY.

Some people do not know what they are talking about and their ignorance shows.

For instance, here is a politician from Colorado who seems to get a lot of traction with CRT. Lauren Boebert, @laurenboebert, who tweeted on May 20, 2021:

“Critical race “theory” is a complete farce. Anyone familiar with the scientific method would know you need a hypothesis before a theory. They use pseudoscientific terms to try and make people fall for their racist delusions.”

Her tweet is ludicrous on so many different levels. It does not merit a response other than "she needs to go back to school and attend some basic science and social science classes."

One of my questions is this:  how did a theoretical frame from an academic environment, specifically originating in a legal environment, generally taught to upper division undergraduate students, or first year law students, come to be a tire-tool for politicians and people on the right end of the spectrum? This article chronicles the story. A reporter, Christopher Rufo, did his research and appeared on the Tucker Carlson show. President Trump heard the interview, called Rufo to his office, and then on September 4, 2020, he signed an executive order. https://religiondispatches.org/where-did-white-evangelicalisms-hatred-of-critical-race-theory-really-begin/

This, however, is only one thread. Pastor John MacArthur, a minister of some renown, had been speaking and writing about the evils of CRT for some time. Southern Baptists then took it up at their national convention and approved a resolution denouncing doctrines related to Critical Race Theory.

The table was set. That which we know nothing about is now spouted in the highways and the bi-ways of life in America in print and across various social media platforms.

And then I got to thinking, “What do I know about Critical Race Theory, and how far back does my limited understanding go? I had to go no further than an article published by Hinson and Robinson in 2008.

I actually stumbled onto the concept by accident somewhere prior to 2008. Dr. Edward Robinson and I had been writing an article about African American farmers and their struggles with land loss and the USDA. Sandra Jones-Havard (2001), a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, a person with whom I correspond on occasion, had written materials that were game-changing for me. She helped me understand the political and economic machinations of the county committee system across America and how it had been co-opted into taking land from Black farmers.

Professor Jones-Havard made this assertion:

“In this instance, I posit that critical race theory provides a basis for understanding how flawed representational democracy presents an example of political space and its consequences. In other words, critical race theory provides a basis for examining the construction of race as a neutral, accepted dominant norm. While there is a tendency to view what is really a failed attempt at power sharing between the federal and local government as successful cooperative federalism, I argue instead that the geographical space (the county) defines the political space (who becomes representatives or members of the county committee). The all-white composition of those committees turned the race-neutral process of determining loan eligibility into one of domination and subordination (337).”

 

In other words, CRT provides a framework for understanding how a “neutral” construct like race with its application in a particular location, e.g., the county, comes to be a context in which domination and insubordination occur. White farmers elect their white friends to the committee, and those white committee members have the power to go thumbs up or thumbs down for all manner of things related to farming including farm/home operating loans, loans to purchase additional farmland, disaster relief programs and all manner of other things.

In my vernacular, I have said for years publicly and privately, “The County Committee System is the best of democracy and the worst of democracy. We get to vote, a right of a citizen of our country, and we get to vote our prejudices.” And sometimes those votes and prejudices become power and a reflection of institutional racism because the system allows itself to continue.

To back track a tad, “What is Critical Race Theory and where did it come from?” Lauren Michelle Jackson, in her article in The New York Times, chronicled the development of CRT by Professor Derrick Bell and his work in civil rights and working for Thurgood Marshall. His text, “Race, Racism, and American Law” is generally considered pivotal to the development of CRT. These things happened in the mid-1970s, not really that long ago. They happened in a law school setting, not in grass roots America. Here is the article here. 

Critical Race Theory is Defined

“Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is a theoretical and interpretive mode that examines the appearance of race and racism across dominant cultural modes of expression. In adopting this approach, CRT scholars attempt to understand how victims of systemic racism are affected by cultural perceptions of race and how they are able to represent themselves to counter prejudice.

See the full article here.

For those who want to read some more, try this one as it explains the path CRT has taken from an academic to a weapon of the right, the story is found here.

Here is another good article. 

 A good article is here.

Another good article here.

The Southern Baptist statement is here.

The President’s Executive Order, the White House to the State House

So, Trump wrote, or rather signed, an Executive Order in September, 2020. It was clearly written by lawyers and all. It provides a huge section of background, all explaining the error of our ways if we use this theoretical formulation to draw any practical conclusions. His document then lists a number of “divisive concepts,” all of which in my opinion are grossly overstated and appealing to a particular segment of our society, e.g., his supporters. See the entire document here.  

A number of states like Texas and Tennessee have developed language which mimics the Executive Order. Here is one from Texas.  

Here is the one from Tennessee.

Here is what I find most fascinating when looking at the Executive Order, Texas’ bill, and Tennessee’s bill: the bills appropriate the language of the Executive Order, and sometimes the precise language is followed. Some additions are made, but by and large, the template was laid out by the president for state legislatures to perpetuate legally. In academic circles that is called plagiarism, but I guess it’s called something else when it comes from the White House to the State House.

All of these create “straw figures” against which to fight. All of these illustrate extraordinarily shallow thinking about the history of our country, racism, slavery, Jim Crow, the mistreatment of First Nations people, and all manner of other things. They all assume that if we critique our country, that we will hate it. The opposite might actually be true. So, let’s get legislators involved in the teaching business and tell them what to teach and how and what the consequences will be if they don’t. Seems like we left out the notion that teachers are prepared and know how to teach what.

So, What is America Afraid Of?

One thing that the Texas bill includes that is not in the Executive Order nor in Tennessee’s bill, is a list of topics and key authors. Yes, Native Americans, slavery, and other key topics, along with key persons like Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and numerous others such as Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings (wow!!).  MLK, Brown v.  Board of Education, Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, the history of the KKK, the civil rights movement, and many others. It is curious that the lists are not exhaustive. Other materials can be included. Teachers, however, are limited in their ability to respond to difficult topics. They must discuss all sides of an issue, something that I think is a good idea anyway, and the topics more often than not must be student initiated. Some thing that the laws will dampen teachers’ abilities to teach. I hope to find out how it works out for teachers in my area of Texas.

So, a theory which originated in a law school setting has now been placed into law in several states and the theory has become a tire tool for which one party can beat up on another party. A legal theory that helps us to understand how we got to where we are, what we need to change, and what the future holds if we do has become overblown and taken way out of context.

So, if you ever hear me speak publicly or read what I write about the USDA and its mistreatment of minority farmers and women farmers, especially Black farmers, you’ll understand that Critical Race Theory undergirds what I’m saying or writing, but you will likely not hear me use the term. Using the term is not necessary. Where I speak and write are not law schools. That which is embedded into our laws and our systems within the US are indeed, in my opinion, based upon the color of whiteness and not just whiteness but maleness. And, it’s time for us to make sense out of these things and work toward change and equity for all of God’s children.

I think white America is afraid that it is losing ground to a brown America. Republicans are afraid of losing their footholds in American life and politics. Look at all of the voter suppression laws that are proliferating across the country. That’s a blogpost for another day.

So, What is Critical Race Theory?

The next time someone pulls this out as a tool to bash someone with, politely ask them, “Can you tell me what Critical Race Theory is all about?”

Then, sit patiently and wait.

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

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.

Words Spoken at DOJ September 24, 1997

"Their circumstances are well documented. A variety of discriminatory actions were perpetrated upon them over long periods of time with a range of seven to thirty years and a mean of 14.8 years.  Those actions included the sale of land at an inflated price, an overestimate of crop productivity, insufficient loans, insufficient technical and managerial support, denial of loans, bankruptcy, loss of purchased land, loss of family-owned land, altered figures on loan applications, the request (or demand) for signatures on blank applications, perjured testimony, loss of equipment, the application of farming loans to other indebtedness, the receipt of half of what was promised, loans issued well into planting season, and numerous others."  ------ Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D., Department of Justice Hearing, September 24, 1997.

Stories, Pain, and Suffering: Are We Every Really Prepared?

Shoun Hill, photographer and videographer from the Bronx, and I in the last days prior to our fifth trip to interview Black farmers for the Black farmer documentary project.  We have been working on it for over a year and are anticipating two more weeks of filming and then completion in mid-November when we will premier it at a Black land loss summit in Atlanta.

There is always much dissonance for me. While I have had my own life of opportunities and challenges, of successes and bitter failures, I have experienced none like the people we will interview. 

These stories are painful to hear. They are painful stories within which I will probe for emotional and relational themes.  While the stories will uniquely tell themselves, as the interviewer, I provide the prompts.  At some point in the process, they lead and I will follow.

There is something about story telling that allows the old pictures and pain to emerge into now. We have seen happy and cheerful people change before our eyes.  They countenance, demeanor, and all change before us as they remember times and places and events and words and insults.

On multiple occasions, as I was leaving interviews back in the day when on leave from Abilene Christian University, my comment was something like, "Thank you for sharing your stories with me.  I want to be a faithful witness to your stories in places that you cannot or do not wish to go."

Neither they nor I knew what that meant. Some are already deceased, and that grieves me sorely, as they did not have to die so soon, but the grind of the battle wore them out. The deceased lived in Texas, Kansas, North Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, and other states.

They will not get to see the fruit of their labors in the lives of people who want to do better in this world.  Yes, there are people who will want to do better in this world because they told their stories of suffering and resilience.

People whose skin looks like mine can make a difference in the world. If we sit with our anxieties, respect the people and their stories, listen empathically and not sympathetically, and if we seek to understand, we can become allies who walk alongside our brothers and sisters who have experienced systemic racism at its worst in our country.  Then, the world around us will not be the same.

Yes, Shoun and I are preparing to hear stories.  We are never truly prepared.

Faith and Politics, Prayer and Action

It’s Saturday of Easter weekend. Surely a heaviness was upon the people in and around Jerusalem. They did not grasp the notion that Sunday was coming.  What they knew most likely was that their friend was dead and a cruel, agonizing death it was.  Perhaps they had watched all of the comings and goings that Thursday night and Friday. Did they feel the earth shake? What did they experience with the earthquake and darkness upon the land? No, Sunday was not yet come, Resurrection Sunday was not yet an event to be celebrated. They were still in their darkness.

As I read Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s material, “Practicing Fusion Politics,” this morning, it occurs to me that Grandma Ann’s story was taking place at a time of great darkness. In her own words she described how the white man was the ruler of everything, and how he could throw down his load and the black man was to pick it up and then he’d give it to the womenfolk because “de nigger woman is de mule uh de world so fur as Ah can see.”

Separate but equal was the system of Jim Crow that I was born and raised under. Separate, yes, and separated, yes, and unequal certainly. To my shame, I did not know much at all about Westside High School and the Thoroughbreds for years.  I did, however, on a Saturday night of the county fair watch a football game and marvel at the speed of the athletes, the great band, and the cheers from the stands.

I am also reminded of my first place of employment and the ways in which whites were treated versus blacks.  My boss, a white guy, owned a convenience store on the outskirts of Trinity. I walked down the tracks a couple of miles to get to work for a grand total of 90 cents an hour. I was only ten, so how could I make a fuss. My boss fussed over white people buying from him, inside the store and at the gas pump. He did not do the same for black people, which even then I thought was wrong. Black work crews would drop by the store in the early morning hours, buy gas, ice, crackers, soft drinks, vienna sausage, bologna, and whatever else to make it through the long work day. The costs were all put on their tab through out the week. On Fridays or Saturdays, they’d pay up. That little convenience store also gave S & H Green Stamps as incentives.  Remember those days?

On one settle up day with one particular black gentleman, standing there in his sweat-stained work clothes, the boss man was cashing his check and subtracting the total from his pay.  Since everyone else was offered S & H Green Stamps, I did the same to him, “Do you want your greens stamps?” I asked.  He looked at me but did not answer.  Boss man looked at me and signaled for me to shut up.  The black worker in the sweat stained work clothes paid his bill, he was thanked by boss man, and he walked out.  I do not recall any more conversation between me and boss man about that, but I got the message.  I got the message clearly, very, very clearly.

And by the way, I recall as well when a white woman had her tank filled with gasoline, Boss Man gave her the green stamps with a bit of a dramatic flourish. I got it.

Boss man and his wife were church going folks.  I was a church going kid.  The others who worked there were church going folks. 

Church going and politics of the day did not connect, not in the power structure of that small town, nor in the politics of how people were treated coming to and fro.

I’ve studied the Reconstruction, and even wrote some things about it.  I read one particular book all the way through that chronicled how the folks of Colfax, Louisiana, the state of Louisiana, and the Supreme Court let down people of color and advantaged the white folks across America.

Even in this day following the break up of Jim Crow with the passing of the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th amendments to the US Constitution did not change matters in people’s hearts.  It took years and years and other actions, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and still we wrestle with ourselves. 

For folks I know personally, the administrative settlements with the USDA and DOJ, Pigford I, and Pigford II did not level the playing field in the political world of farming.

Yes, systemic racism is a deal. White supremacy demands it. Check out this video:  www.youtube.com/watach?v=SgH2aehFA&feature=youtu.be for more information.

The text in Luke 18:1-5 speaks to me. Jesus uses the story of a widow and a judge. She wanted something from him, and eventually she got what she wanted, “justice against my adversary,” despite his lack of faith in God.

So, I am left wondering, why does the faith community, including the church that is near and dear to my heart, not address racial and political issues? Why did Ann Atwater believe that faith demands action, yet we do not?

 I think we’ve settled.  We have simply settled in our world of whiteness, that it is pretty good, and that this is as good as it gets, and we have no big problems.

There are pockets of wealth in my community.  There are pockets of poverty in my community.  Some at my church are attending meetings that will address homelessness.  My church has a ministry in partnership with other churches in the area that addresses the unemployment issue of homeless and unemployed families.

People of faith are elected to political positions. I will vote for one guy in the next election.  I mentioned him last blogpost. I will continue to be in touch with him and politic for him because I think he has his finger on the pulse of the community, one in particular, in which people of color are losing their houses and lots at a surprisingly fast pace, and bigger houses are springing up in that black neighborhood.

I really, really like the “parable of the persistent widow.” She knew how to advocate for herself as she went again and again and again until she got what she wanted. Jesus, then, uses that story to say, “That’s how you ought to pray and not give up.” 

May our advocacy in our communities be the same.

Stories of People Past and Present

In the early morning hours there are several books here on my desk.  There's the Bible, Conversations with God, the Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Confessions of a Guilty Bystander, The Death of Expertise, Spare the Kids, Reconciliation Reconsidered, and many others including Bioethics, Medical Family Therapy, and God of the Oppressed. It is a wide ranging collection of printed material.

The one that stands out today is Pete Daniel's Dispossession: Discrimination Against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights. I'll review this book later. Here's one for now.  It is an academic and historical perspective against which the stories I have heard can be compared.

With those books as prompts, these words came to mind:

                                   Stories of People Past and Present

Tuesday is here.
Is it just another day?
What happened to Monday?
I thought it was here to stay.

Wednesday will come tomorrow

That is surely for real.
What will be done that day
Or is it for someone to steal?

There are many we have met,

Their stories fill our souls.
We must tell the truth
Much is still left untold.

She is a hero,

She has survived some painful ordeals.
She tells us the truth about life
Even though it’s been more than unreal.

He is a legend

Over there in the southeast
I learned more than I can tell you
For him life was a big old beast.

His single wide sits way out there

On a lonely lane of sandy loam.
He still mourns for his wife who died
He’s alone in his place called home.

All that they wanted

Was to raise that corn and wheat
When the USDA came a knockin’
They knew they’d be hard to beat.

It takes all manner of folk

To fight this ugly war
Righteousness stands on the hills
Looking on from a far.

“Pay day some day”

I heard that old farmer say.
While the old keep getting older
They still pray for a brand new day.

Not many of them prevailed

In the courts across the land.
The thieves made off into the night
Leaving the farmers with an empty hand.

They put their faith in God

Their belief in America was right
The law may be color blind,
Their land was stole in the darkness of the night.

They appeared very resolved,

Strong and determined they stood
Until the auctioneer’s gavel sounded
They’d lost their land for good.

There is no doubt to me

That this system is still unfair,
Except for those who look like me
We get more than our rightful share.

We long for that day down the road

When the system turns around,
He’ll be judged by his character
And not because he’s brown.