Black Soil: African American Farmers' Struggle.....

This volume has been on my shelf following a trip out to Tillery, NC several months ago. It has intrigued me for a while, demanded my attention, but only on this cold, wintry day have I felt compelled to pull it off the shelf and read through it.

Glad I did.

Louis Andreas Michaelsen, a journalist from Denmark, raised on a small family farm, received a degree in American Studies from the Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark, in 2008.

His masters thesis is an interesting read: "Black Soil: African American Farmers' Struggle from Emancipation into the 21st Century."

It covers the current landscape of the challenges for Black farmers. It also covers the landscape for African Americans from plantation to Pigford and beyond. He addresses both sides of institutional racism. He interviews four important figures in the Black farmer struggle, two I've met, one I know well, one I'd like to know better, and two I'd like to meet some day. My path with Lloyd Wright, Former Director, USDA Office of Civil Rights, crossed in August, 2007 at a DOJ/USDA mediation hearing in Washington, DC. My life has been intertwined with Gary Grant, BFAA President, since early 2005.

Among things that make Mr. Michaelsen's thesis an interesting document is his liberal use of photos throughout. While a thesis done in American universities would not allow this sort of personalization, his work permits photos of those interviewed to be placed in key places of text. I think that is a great juxtaposition of narrative and persons.

Beyond this, his appendices are both personal and historical. Newspaper articles about Blacks moving from the farm to the city, census documents, and correspondence between Wilkins of the NAACP and Freeman, Secretary of Agriculture, and other historical pieces, are fascinating.

Both personal and moving are other documents. Documents between the Grant family and the USDA, one in particular that was the "Final Resolution Agreement - Matthew Grant," signed by Lloyd Wright on March 2, 1998 and by Matthew Grant on 3-4-98, and witnessed by Barbara Demery and Timothy Burke, was especially interesting and historical. It should have settled the Matthew and Florenza Grant case v. USDA. Documents that follow from the hand of their son, Gary Grant, show that matters were not settled. To this day they remain unsettled.

Finally, Appendix M contains printed materials from the funeral of Florenza Moore Grant, wife of Matthew Grant, and mother of Gary Grant. She passed in 2001, four years before Charla and I met her family. One line reads, "In her own right, for almost 80 years, Florenza was the sunshine of our world, the courage of our strife, and the dazzling superior mother in the Grant 'House By the Side of the Road.'" We have stood on several occasions at their burial site on the Grant family farm.

We were moved the first time and we were moved the last time. We will stand there again, if the Lord permits.

So, thanks, Louis Andreas Michaelsen for this important work. It deserves to be read and reviewed often.

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.

Obama's Leadership

Yes, there are some interesting signs of movement in the White House related to settling the Pigford Case for those 70,000 farmers who are called "late filers," or those who did not get in under the wire for the original Pigford Class Action Suit. Here are the words printed in various newspapers around the country.

Associated Press

Reuters

Los Angeles Times

Wall Street Journal

CNN

The Hill

That's all the good news. The challenges that lie ahead include: Congress appropriating the funding, protocol to be put in place for hearing the cases, farmers finding out that they are not eligible since they have no tracking number, and no funding until '11 at the earliest.

In the meantime, farmers are dying. Some are losing their land. Some are walking away. Some can't walk away because they are too ill.

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

On this day and all days

Here's one of my favorite clips of Dr. King. May it resonate with us all.

Another exchange of ideas about hair

Sometimes it's important to sit back and let someone who knows what they're talking about to provide instruction. Following the last post on Kid Rock's documentary, a good friend made some provocative comments via email. It is with her permission that the following quote is placed here. Thanks, Janice, for once more making me think about things that matter.

I think Rock (didn't see the movie) tried to bring awareness through humor. I was struck by your comments about the business industry part of it. No doubt that money has been made, but I think that really oversimplifies the issue. The brief discussion shared between a friend and myself had to do with how much "hair" is related to slavery and the position/privilege aligned with your hair-the socialization or unconscious carryover to present. In short...those with straighter hair (more white hair) were usually the master's children, although not claimed. Those children were often the house slaves and "afforded" more privilege b/c of their relation to the master. They also had a tendency to perceive themselves as better although they were still slaves. Whites had a tendency to see them as prettier and b/c self image was highly influenced by the master race-for example, children begin to develop an idea of self in relation to how the parent views them. So, if whites didn't see black as pretty and the lighter you were, the less black you were, therefore, you must be pretty or prettier. The hair thing is very similar to the color thing-it all ties together. The fairer blacks obviously were the children of the master. If white is beautiful, then black must not be, so the less black you are, the prettier you are. It's crazy! So, here we are in the 21st century still talking about what (how one) defines beauty or status based on years of slavery, dissociating from things that make you more black-more acceptable. Probably mostly doing life in some form of "self hate" not realizing it nor being able to give it a name. Unconsciously playing out on a daily basis. --- Janice Hayes

"Good Hair:" Let It Speak for Itself

Chris Rock is apparently walking out on thin ice in some circles. From his daughter's pleadings to his research and interviews, and now to this documentary, he is pulling aside the veil of secrecy between some and others, but not so between others and others. Hair care is a multi-billion dollar industry in this country, for African Americans and for others of all genders and ethnicities. It's both humorous, engaging, moving, and informing.

On the white side, just look sometimes at the lengths that we men will go to do keep, replace, or make younger our hair, and that's just on the male side of the spectrum. I'll have to ask my wife about the female side of the equation.

In the meantime, I've watched and listened from the side lines the issues that Rock addresses in this documentary. It's been a learning experience, and it's time for all of us to learn more out of respect, decency, and all. Let me know what you think about this trailer and/or the documentary.