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.