Troubling My Soul

Few things trouble my soul quite like the challenges the Grant family in Tillery, NC has with holding on to their farm. Their story is well chronicled in many places on the web. Gary has been an activist since he was a youth. His sister, Van, likewise. My wife and I love them and respect them deeply.

Please take the time to read the letter that follows. Pray for this family. Contribute to the cause of this family. Help us to help this family. They have given much to the righeous cause of justice, and justice especially for African American farmers.

This letter is addressed to Eric Holder, Attorney General of the US. Feel free to cut and paste it and send it on under your name.

TO:

The Obama Administration
Attention: Eric Holder, Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001


askdoj@usdoj.gov


FROM:
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

Ph: ____________E-mail: _______________


RE: Matthew and Florenza Moore Grant - (Gary Grant v. USDA)


I am very concerned that the legal case of Matthew and Florenza Moore Grant vs. USDA was recently and unfairly thrown out by a North Carolina District Federal Court.

For over thirty years the Grant family has been fighting for justice and is now being buried once again in legalized minutia, with serious consequences. These are the facts that are not disputed: USDA has played a dangerous and proverbial game of “cat and mouse” offering the Grants, on three occasions, a settlement which never materialized, though never because the Grants rejected it. At the same time not one employee of USDA has been penalized, fired, or denied their retirement benefits. The USDA, whose employees perpetuated all the years of discriminatory policies against the Grants and other Black farmers, remains unscathed.

Now the courts are retreating from addressing these claims as they sense political pressure from right-wing ideologues and right-wing zealots such as columnist Andrew Breitbart and Representatives Steve King (R-IA) and Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who are trying to stop Black farmer settlements by arguing that there is “rampant fraud” among the claimants. Not only are these claims unsupported, but no one has ever made any such claims regarding the case of the Grant family. The “investigations” by Breitbart, King, Bachmann, and others are sadly more racialized witch-hunt than objective fact finding.

There have been many important struggles in the Civil Rights Movement. Discrimination against Black farmers is an important civil rights struggle today. The Grant family has been, and continues to be, part of the Black farmer leadership cadre. In what appears to be an effort to attack the leadership of this struggle, the USDA, Department of Justice, and various courts have singled out the Grant family and other families who have stood as part of the Black farmer leadership by drawing out their cases. Most recently emboldened by a shifting political climate, lower-level courts have single-handedly dismissed the legal demands of several leadership families. This is a stunning and legally unsound tactic that perpetuates the egregious suffering of Black farmers. This is all occurring while no one disputes that these families suffered devastating discrimination at the hands of local USDA officials.

Mr. and Mrs. Grant both died in 2001overwhelmed and broken-hearted because their government had failed them so miserably. As progressive farmers, their land and way of life, and their happiness and well-being had been racially exploited and were in serious jeopardy.

I want to add my influence and voice to support the settlement of the Grants’ legal claims. This tragic outcome can be readily remedied with the settlement they were promised and deserve through your thoughtful and rigorous leadership.

Regarding the struggle for equal treatment of the Black farmer, history will ask…. “What did you do?”

cc: Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) - http://hagan.senate.gov/contact/

Thanks for the Opportunity

It is a rare occasion on which my wife and I both get to speak of our commitment to the cause of African  American farmers.  This summer at our church, a variety of folks are invited to speak of their vocations or avocations, and the ways in which God is involved.

Charla and I traced the history of our involvement, told stories that illustrate the plight of farmers against the racism of the USDA, and placed all of these issues against the larger context of God's Kingdom Come, and the place that social justice has in the greater threads of the Christian movement.

Frankly, we were reminded once more of how the stories have impacted our lives. We think the audience was more than curious about the Cause.

So, thanks to Eddie Poblete, minister of the Central Church of Christ, Ada, Oklahoma, for inviting us to speak. My prayer is that more activists for the Cause have been found.

Auction Blocks and Courthouse Steps

For several weeks now I have had various words and tunes in my head that parallel auction blocks and sale of Black-owned farms on courthouse steps.  Not that these two situations are entirely analogous, but that they do have some curious and demeaning parallels.  "No More Auction Block" by Robeson, Odetta, and Dylan is the standard. At the end of the day, I may just add some lyrics to that haunting tune.

In the midst of doing some research on auction blocks, I came across the book, Bullwhip Days: The Slaves Remember. You can read a review here. It is not a warm-hearted read, but it is a "I need to know and respect and remember" read.  One remembrance that especially moved my heart and fits into the conversation about lyrics and tunes is one by James Martin.  Here he is in his own words:

The slaves are put in stalls like the pens they use for cattle--a man and his wife with a child on each arm.  And there's a curtain, sometimes just a sheet over the front of the stall, so the bidders can't see the "stock" too soon. The overseer's standin' just outside with a big blacksnake ship and a pepperbox pistol in his belt. Across the square a little piece, there's a big platform with steps leadin' up to it.

Then, they pulls up the curtain, and the bidders is crowdin' around. Them in back can't see, so the overseer drives the slaves out to the platform, and he tells the ages of the slaves and what they can do. They have white gloves there, and one of the bidders takes a pair of gloves and rubs his fingers over a man's teeth, and he says to the overseer, "You call this buck twenty years old? Why there's cup worms in his teeth. He's forty years old, if he's a day." So they knock this buck down for a thousand dollars.  They calls the men "bucks" and the women "wenches."

When the slaves is on the platform--what they calls the "block"--the overseer yells, "Tom or Jason, show the bidders how you walk." Then, the slaves step across the platform, and the biddin' starts.

At these slave auctions, the overseer yells, "Say, you bucks and wenches, get in your hole. Come out here." Then, he makes 'em hop, he makes 'em trot, he makes 'em jump. "How much," he yells, "for this buck? A thousand? Eleven hundred? Twelve hundred dollars?" Then, the bidders makes offers accordin' to size and build.----page 291.

These images must not be denied nor forgotten.

Just a Few More Words

The previous post from today deserves a few more words.  As most of you who read the words on these pages know, I have been actively involved with the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association since 2005. A modest faculty renewal leave from Abilene Christian University led to an engagement with Gary Grant, President of BFAA. Justifiably so, this organization needed to check me out.  From there,  my wife and I went to Tillery in the summer of 2005 followed by trips to North Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas to interview African American farmers who had experienced discrimination at the hands of the USDA.

That partnership led to Memphis, TN and a Black Summit, and then Summits in North Carolina, and even a modest role on the board of BFAA.  Interviews with both Black and White farmers in the region.

Along the way, my role was very clear:  tell the stories of Black farmers in places and spaces where they will not or cannot go, explain the impact of discrimination and "farming while Black" on the health and well being of farmers and families, and get the stories and the health challenges to as broad an audience as possible.

Along the way we also developed four Social Justice Teams at ACU.  You'll find them within the pages of this blog.  Those people and those efforts flow through my veins unlike any other work with university students. To this day, those students and I talk on occasion about those days, and they tell me about what they are doing for the cause of justice in this world.  I am proud of them and the work we did.

At the 12th Annual Black Land Loss Summit, immediately after lunch, we assembled for the beginning of afternoon presentations and conversations.  First, there was an award to Rose Sanders, a hero in the fight for justice as she worked on behalf of farmers involved in the Pigford Class Action Suit.

It was then my turn to present.  Instead, Gary Grant asked for me to come forward.  I was in my own world of thinking about the presentation (it is noted a post or two back). He also called in Charla from the booth outside the conference hall.  I do not recall what Gary said, but I do recall the family gathering around, and Charla saying some words that only she can say in ways that only she can say them.  I whispered to Gary,"I'll say a few things in my presentation."  Photos were taken. 

I moved to the front to speak. Words would not come.  Emotions did. Words would not. It is not like me to draw a blank.  All I could say was "stunned."  Fighting through the tears, I babbled a few things and moved into the presentation.  Thankfully the moment is memorialized in the Commonwealth Progress.  There we all are. I looked stunned, Charla is in tears, the family is clapping, and one grandson looks on in curiosity.

So, I do not feel deserving of this award.  That is what some have said.  I am honored to receive the award named for a man who died before I came along.  I am honored to have on my wall an award in his name.  I love his family.

My wife and I are committed to the cause for which he and his beloved wife died.

That is the best that I can do.

There is much to be done.

"A Man Called Matthew Award"

May 8, 2011

The Grant Family

Concerned Citizens of Tillery
P.O. Box 61
Tillery, NC 27887

Dear Friends:

The list of past recipients of “A Man Called Matthew Award” is lengthy and impressive, and for my name to be listed alongside theirs is an honor unlike any I have ever received. Those men and women form in my limited estimation a hall of fame of those who have immersed themselves in the fight for justice for African American farmers.

Unlike that afternoon at the 12th National Black Land Loss Summit when I could not find the words to express my gratitude, the time since has allowed moments of reflection upon the intersection of our paths and convictions. A modest faculty renewal leave in 2005 from Abilene Christian University, the visits to Tillery, the friendships that you have formed with my wife, Charla, and me, engaging with students from the Social Justice Teams, the Summits at Tillery and at Franklinton Center, and the encouragement to tell the stories of farmers and families, all form an amazing tapestry of our mutual commitment to the cause of justice for African American farmers and families.

Some matters are simply intellectual pursuits and look good in a faculty member’s tenure and promotion file, but justice is at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, a reflection of the reign of God’s kingdom in this world. Our calling as followers of the Man from Nazareth is to leave the world a better place than we found it, one act of righteousness at a time.

Simply put, I am very grateful for your willingness to entrust to Charla and me the stories of your lives, and to allow us to walk with you and to fight with you on behalf of African American farmers and families. My commitment is to “wear” the award with dignity, respect, and humility.

With love and respect, and on behalf of Black farmers and families,

Waymon R. Hinson, Ph.D.
Activist/Advocate/Researcher

No More Auction Block

I was recently introduced to Bob Dylan's version of  this song.  This one by Odetta is incredible.

12th National Black Land Loss Summit

The Summit title was gripping enough, "Still Fighting, Still Farming, and Still Eating," but the list of previous Summits and where this one fell was also of much interest.  From 1997 to 2011, other Summits have been Black Land Loss: And Then There Was None; Justice for Black Farmers; Steps to Healing the Land; Ten Years After Pigford--Moving Forward; A Vision for the Future; and Save the Land--Benefit & Rally, just to name a few. 

The Summit has a rich background against the legacy of land loss and discriminatory practices of the USDA. The Concerned Citizens of Tillery and the Land Loss Fund are also rich in history. See this link for a summary of these historical times and places.

Multiple goals were set for this year's Summit including reversing African American land loss, increasing the number of Black farm families in operation, and developing an inventory of what farm families produce around the country.

Dinner at the Tillery Community Center, a walk through the Tillery History House, and viewing and discussing the documentary "We Shall Not Be Moved: The  History of the Resettlement Farm" got the Summit off to a good start.On Saturday morning, a panel of Gary Grant, BFAA president; Rose Sanders, legal counsel for Black farmers under Pigford; and Dr. Ridgley Mu'min, Minister of Agriculture and director of the Nation of Islam's farm participated.  The two-hour session was a review and history of the Pigford Class Action Suit and what it achieved and what is has left unaddressed.  This was a fascinating time as three passionate leaders presented similar and different view points on Pigford.

Stephen Bowens, Attorney at Law with Bowens Law, PLLC, presented the history and complications of Wise v. Veneman (2000) and most recent developments for the families and their cases following the decision by the courts to not certify a number of families as a class. In short, the courts are often not a place to seek justice in this day and age.

After lunch, I presented "Living, Dying, and Thriving: Family Life and the USDA."  After several years of interviews, hours of discussing matters with farmers and family members, the verdict is clear:  farming is hard work, farming for Black farmers is even more difficult, and when the USDA gets involved (as in the case for Pigford claimants and           others), many signs and symptoms of the impact of discrimination are seen in the life, health, and family of the farmer and family.

Dr. Spencer Wood, sociology faculty, Kansas State University, presented a complex set of data and interpretations related to Black land loss in "Land Loss, Confusing Statistics, & Economics of Land Ownership."  He is the premier expert on this topic.  In short, it is not a pretty picture.

Doroathy Barker facilitated a group of panelists from the USDA on "USDA Rural Development and Forestry Divisions--Operation Spring Plant," in which options for the use of land were presented. If matters can be trusted, there are multiple options available for minority farmers to work the land successfully.

Crystal Matthews, attorney with the Land Loss Prevention Project, Durham, NC described the "Land Loss Prevention Project's Smart Growth Business Center." Interesting material.  See this link for more.

Scott Muhammad, Co-Director with his wife, Erica Henry, of Students for Education and Economic Development (SEED, Inc.), Eutaw, Alabama, presented a challenging and captivating presentation on how to get city cousins onto the land.  More specifically, his 16-week apprenticeship program looks like a doable venture. 

Planning for the future brought together Gary Grant, BFAA president; Eddie Wise, farmer and entrepreneur from North Carolina; and Willie Wright, research associate from UNC to the table to discuss "Where Do We Go from Here? Planning for the Future."  The struggle for justice in the USDA and its policies, diversity in farming, and the future of Black land ownership were discussed.

Again, there is much to be done.

Black Land Loss Summit: Personal Thoughts

Tillery is both a place in space and time and a personal space and place for my wife and me. We first met Gary Grant, members of the Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association, the Concerned Citizens of Tillery, and the Open Minded Seniors in June, 2005. Seems like we've been friends for much longer. The actual number of times we've traveled to this rural, farming community escapes me at the moment. There are the other occasions in which we have met up with these good people and other advocates for justice.

This event required preparation in a number of ways. Knowing that I was to speak and knowing the gravity of the Summit required time and energy well in advance. I am never quite prepared for events, conversations, and presentations. They have taken on a life of their own with us.

"Still Fighting, Still Farming, Still Eating" reads like a riveting title. 12th National Black Land Loss Summit is likewise riveting.

The Biblical passage printed on the conference brochure reads like something from church, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Sound familiar? Paul's letter to the Ephesians, chapter six, verse 12.

We fly into RDU, travel by rental car to Roanoke Rapids, marvel at the beauty along the way, check in to the motel, rest a bit, and then meet up with Gary and Spencer. It's on. A challenging evening of conversation, issues, and challenges and opportunities is just the beginning.

The next day, we head out to the Community Center after doing a few errands in town. First task of the day? Sweep the floor. We are family. We sweep the floor. After a light lunch, we set up the display table, a chronology of previous summits and gatherings in the form of t-shirts and booklets. Participants begin to arrive. The crowd swells. Dinner, "We Shall Not Be Moved," and more engaging conversations. On the way back to Roanoke Rapids from Tillery, we sing songs and tell of their origins with a person who has flown in from Alabama to join us.

Saturday morning, we shift to Halifax Community College. Displays set up, technology in place, the people begin to arrive. A stimulating day of debate, information, food, conversation both public and private, new friends who have traveled hours and hours to get there, and plans for the future. The "A Man Called Matthew Award" will remain memorable as long as I have memory.

Photos taken, goodbye exchanges made, more dinner conversation, more goodbyes, and a final trip back to Tillery. That is a skeleton outline of the weekend. More in the next post on this page.

How to capture it? People, racism, farming, farming against all conceivable odds, different perspectives of the world, a collision of ideas and ideologies, friends forever in a common cause for justice.

There is much to be done.

12th National Black Land Loss Summit

12th National Black Land Loss Summit

Still Fighting, Still Farming and Still Eating

April 8-9, 2011

Historic Site of the Tillery Resettlement Community

and

Halifax Community College, Weldon, NC

Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9, promise to be interesting and challenging days.

The 12th National Black Land Loss Summit will be held in the beautiful farming community of Tillery, North Carolina, site of the Tillery Resettlement Community and on the campus of Halifax Community College, Weldon, NC. Check out the BFAA web page for complete details. Check out the Halifax web page for the greater Halifax area points of interest.

Special rates are offered at the Holiday Inn Express, Roanoke Rapids, for attendees.

The event begins at 4:00 pm on Friday and runs until 9:00 or so Friday night. There will be good food and good conversation around the documentary, We Shall Not Be Moved. You will be moved at the presentation and discussion of this important piece of history.

On Saturday, beginning at 9:00 am on the campus of Halifax Community College, and ending around 5:30 pm will be a riveting schedule of speakers and topics.

The speakers are farmers, advocates, attorneys, and researchers. They are affiliated with the USDA, the Land Loss Prevention Project, or the Nation of Islam. Are care deeply about land loss among African American farmers. All care deeply about families.

The topics range from the real truth of Pigford I and II, the Wise Class Action Suit denial, the impact of discrimination on the health and well being of farmers, rural development options for farmers and families, the Land Loss Prevention Project's ideas relative to business, and getting youth back into farmer. There will be much, much more.

These events are always stirring and memorable. My wife and I have been to several. We hope to attend more.

Here are some reflections on the last Summit. You'll see some photographs as well.

12th National Black Land Loss Summit

Save the date: April 8-9, 2011!

12th National Black Land Loss Summit

Theme: Still Fighting, Still Farming and Still Eating

Historic Sites of Tillery Community and the Franklinton Center at Bricks, NC

This summit will bring together farmers, landowners, panelists, activists, researchers, and academics from across the country to develop a plan of survival for Black farmers and landowners. This will be an action-oriented seminar focused on how to increase the number of young Black farmers, land use diversification, rural community gardens, food sovereignty in "forgotten communities," and improvement of health within Black communities.

A central focus will also be the latest developments in the Pigford Class Action Lawsuit, or better known as Pigford II.

See www.bfaa-us.org for more information and opportunities to contribute financially to the cause.

I hope to see you there.