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.

A Great Day in Tillery

The drive out to Tillery is always interesting. The terrain changes. There are fewer houses and larger fields. The morning sun glistens off the dew. The fields are in preparation for planting.

And on this day, we pulled into the parking lot at the Tillery Community Center and breakfast was on the stove and on the counter. The gracious women of the Concerned Citizens of Tillery had prepared a most amazing breakfast for those of us who had gathered there for the board meeting of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association. Warm greetings and warmer hugs were just the start of the day. Thanks to those wonderful women who spread breakfast in a wonderful way for us to begin the day.

Grant Grant, President of BFAA, led us thoughout this moving day. The morning session was spent re-envisioning BFAA. We heard an incredible history lesson as to how we got here, told by one who was there from the beginning. We discussed a number of things in terms of where we are. We explored options of moving into the immediate future in matters of social justice that impact all of us. The conversation was lively, at times intense, and always with an eye to what is best for the movement of which we are a part. We articulated a vision that continues to set BFAA apart as a radical organization, one committed to social justice, to righting the wrongs perpetrated upon Black farmers. Among other things, our task is to inform in a clear and concise manner those specifics related to what is being called "Pigford II," or the reopening of possibilities via the President and Congress' actions for those who are labeled "late filers," or those who did not get admitted into the Pigford Class Action Suit based on technicalities.

We took a break mid-day and had lunch at the Tillery Resettlement Cafe. Evangeline Redding is always a gracious host and a wonderful cook. It's always a pleasure to sit around her tables, eat her wonderful food, and engage in meaningful and often humorous conversations about life, events, and people in Tillery.

In the afternoon we returned to the Center and continued our deliberations, this time in an effort to wrap our minds around what we are calling for the moment the "October Event." More information will follow as to what will make in my opinion an amazing event on the Grant Family Farm in Tillery, an event that will stir our souls and give us more information about the plight of Black farmers and the challenges of holding on to the land. As the sun set, we wrapped up our conversations and took a trip down to the Roanoke River.

As the sun set of the river, which was higher than I'd ever seen it before, I thought to myself, "Lord, I wonder if the sun is setting over more black land loss, or is it simply setting on a day in which we've deliberated about our role in the effort to stem the tide of land loss?"

More information will be posted on this page over the next few weeks about the "October Event." For you who are praying people, please pray for this event and its impact.

The Time for Action is Now: LA Times Editorial, February 8, 2010

What does it take for a farmer to get the federal government to make good on a promise – particularly if it’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture and it involves restitution for years of racial discrimination in rural America?

Patience. A lot of patience. And when that runs out, rallying for some help from Congress and the White House.

The current brouhaha dates to 1999, when the USDA reached a settlement with black farmers in a discrimination case that alleged that the agency had denied federal loans, disaster assistance and other aid to certain farmers because of the color of their skin. (The agency is still fighting similar class-action suits filed by Latino and Native American farmers.)

The USDA approved about 15,000 claims and paid out about $1 billion, but has refused more than 70,000 claims that were filed after the October 1999 deadline. Farmers said they were given no notice of the deadline.

The two sides have been fighting ever since. And despite a fairly scathing slap by the Government Accountability Office a few years ago, and President Obama more recently pledging to add an additional $1 billion-plus to the settlement fund as part of other Congressional bills, the cash still isn’t getting out to these farmers.
So the farmers are shutting off their tractors and taking their frustrations to the streets. This week, the National Black Farmers Assn. has been staging rallies across the South, trying to bolster support. It might be a tough sell, given the current state of the economy. They’re planning to wrap up their campaign with a national rally on Feb. 15 in front of USDA's main offices in Washington.

-- P.J. Huffstutter