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.

Save the Land: Black Farmers Benefit & Rally

The Black Farmers Benefit & Rally is set for Saturday, October 23, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, at Unit #46, the Moore/Grant Homestead, 914 Roanoke Drive, Halifax, NC.

Come early and see the History House. Travel the beautiful countryside and ponder what it looked like during the resettlement years when African American farmers worked then land.

Consider what is happening these days to Black farmers and Black land owners. Land loss is a tragedy for people whose blood is on the land.

Better known as Tillery, NC, farmers are encouraged to come and tell their stories.

Friends and supporters are encouraged to come, enjoy the music, eat some good food, and make a tax deductible contribution to the Black Farmers and Agriculturalist Association.

Farmers, students, and entertainers will have their rooms covered.

Attendees from out of the area can get special discounted rates at Hampton Inn, Quality Inn, and the Hilton Garden Suites, all in Roanoke Rapids, just a few miles up the road. Hit the link Stay! at the top of the page, go to one of those motels, and identify yourself as attending the Save the Land event. Or, ask for the "farmer rate," or tell them that you're attending the BFAA event. Any will get you the special lower rate.

Early arrivers on Friday, October 22 can view the movies "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "Alaska Far Away."

Entertainers include Ermitt "Mr. Blues" Williams, Mighty Men of Valor, Mad Praise Recording Artists Ahnu and Crystal Clear, and Siobhan Quinn and Michael Bowers.

It will be a grand occasion. I hope to see you there.

Tomorrow Another Vote

Senator Reid, D-NV insists that tomorrow will bring a face to face vote on the discrimination case of Pigford v. USDA as well as the Cobell case of American Indians v. the US Department of the Interior. It's called a stand alone vote. I can hear some in America groaning, wondering when all of this pay-out of our tax payers dollars is going to end. We're living in 2010, they will say, not 300 years ago, so just get over it. I didn't do anything to them, and neither did my grandparents, so why are you holding us accountable for history's misdeeds? Check out the article for the facts about the vote and comments about it as well. Interesting. Very interesting.

It's not that simple, is it? History is revisited daily in lives of some people, all based upon bias and skin color and assumptions and "world views," and all of that sort of thing.

Injustice is injustice. Wrongs need to be made right. America needs to address grievances from the USDA upon the lives of Black, Indian, Hispanic, and women farmers. Let's deal with the African American farmer issue. Yes, some received a settlement under Pigford. Those stats are very, very misleading. Only a small number prevailed, and the majority under the least amount of dollars. I can tell you a lot of stories. There are many stories that need to be told, stories that would make us weep if we didn't take it so personally and react defensively.

Tomorrow is a pivotal day. The vote comes. Face to face they will stand, Democrats and Republicans. I hope I'm wrong about the vote. Lord, bring victory to these struggling families who serve you by working the land.

A friend of mine posted me today on Facebook with this link. It summarizes a lot. I don't think it could be said much better. The Sherrod case is indicting more than just one or two people. At the end of it, it pretty much says what I've been thinking and what I wrote on these pages a few days back. I hope you'll read it. It's found in Yes Magazine and talks about the real story of racism at the USDA. It's a long, long, ugly history of injustices to Black farmers of this land.

Small farms, black farms.......

Farmers are farmers. Farm families are farm families. Small family farms are passing away and we must fight to keep them.

There are some significant differences though.

Black farms are going away faster than White family farms.

Let's march arm in arm together.

I'm trying to link up Farm Aid with Black FarmAide Action Gathering.

Any suggestions?

I'm listening.

Shirley Sherrod, Modern Day Hero

I am not a news reporter. Neither am I an unbiased observer of these processes. Here are my stream of consciousness reflections of the past few days.

The news feeds came in rapid-fire. USDA official fired. Racism in the department still. Black woman resigns under pressure from USDA secretary and the White House. The woman is Shirley Sherrod, USDA's Director of the Georgia Office of Rural Development. She had previously worked with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund.

It has happened so fast that there is now a wikipedia page about Ms. Sherrod and the process.

Like you, I read those early accounts with interest. "There's more to this story," I thought. A former student posted me, "What do you think about this?" There's more to the story.

The short, edited speech reveals inner reflections and thoughts of a Black woman in White America helping a White family hold on to their farm when Blacks are losing their farms at an alarming rate. She sends the White family to a white attorney. This was in 1986.

Then, various pieces of the story began to emerge. A longer speech had been edited. Surely there is a political agenda behind that. A major news network picks it up unedited. She's fired. Compelled to pull off to the side of the road and send her resignation via Blackberry. The White House wants you to resign.

The outcry is huge. An acquaintance sends out a lengthy post to a large group of people, including me for some reason. The tenor of the post is "it's time to get over it," "discrimination is over in the USDA," "an appointed official cannot speak her mind so openly," and on and on it went. A friend sends a measured but intense response back with multiple themes of think more critically before you respond, get the facts, read the times, know the history, work for change, and other things. I'm lining up behind the latter.

The White couple attest to her support. They are at the center of the storm, baffled at the speed and pace and spin of the story that involves them. Ms. Sherrod helped them save their land.

The edited version of the speech is there, edited at a curious moment in the context of a larger speech. The larger speech is indeed longer. The cry is for her to be restored to her position.

The truth comes to light. She was reflecting upon her change of mind and heart and attitude, a shift away from a racist perspective. She told her story of triumph over bigotry. She rose to a higher place and space of professionalism and humanity. She joined in the fight to stave off the loss of small family farms.

She has a long history of fighting for justice, even within her own family and among her own friends. Therein lies a story that deserves even more interest. Her friends are sticking up for her. She has a personal story of injustice.

The agenda of the editor is exposed. Fox News scrambles to explain itself. CNN had it but didn't move on it until more information was revealed.

In systems theory terms, this is schismogenesis at its finest. Or at its worse.

The USDA secretary calls and apologizes. The President calls and apologizes. Hasty decisions are undone. Maybe. Ms. Sherrod gets to decide now.

I want to believe their sincerity, but the Pigford II class action suit is still unsettled. Congress has not found its way to fund the $1.15 billion settlement. Republicans are blocking the vote left and right. Farmers are dying. Farms are going on the auction block.

Shirley Sherrod has gone from villain to heroine.

For me there are several subtexts of this story. In the world in which we live, information and disinformation are sent in a heart beat. Pieces of a story are foisted upon us as the whole. Political agendas are racialized.

Inequities still exist. We are not far removed from "The Civil Rights Action Team" and its 1997 report of racism within the USDA. We are not removed from "The Civil Rights Implementation Team" and its 1999 report that the USDA had not moved fast enough. We are not far removed from Congressman Stenholm's comment that if someone is found guilty of discrimination, they should be fired.

He said, "I am confident that most USDA employees are implementing their programs in a fair and consistent manner and would not violate the civil rights of customers that they are charged with serving. However, we cannot deny that there is a problem at USDA. Currently, they are faced with at least four class action lawsuits, and U.S. taxpayers have been exposed to the payment of millions of dollars in settlements. The USDA employees that have brought about these claims should have been by now removed, if not, they should be removed."

I agreed then. At least I agreed to part of what he said, the part about employees should be removed. I agree now. I've yet to see the evidence.

In my relatively meager involvement with Black farmers and families since the mid-1990s, I have heard numerous stories of farmers and their battles against discrimination. Some stories were told on the record and are recorded in BFAA's Historical Archives. Other stories were told off the record, not for public scrutiny. Others have been told in informal conversations at land loss summits. Others wound up in litigation. Some have been told on these pages. The one most compelling was that under oath an official both lied and was guilty of forging documents. He was forced to move over to another county. A year later he was promoted to the state level.

There are multiple subtexts to this story. Here is one that is of deepest interest to me.

I find it inescapable that a Black woman is forced to resign. I find it inescapable that I have not heard of Whites resigning. Maybe I just missed those stories, but probably not.

The whole story is out there. It is out there somewhere. Maybe we will all get it some day.

God forbid that the story remain a secret.

Still waiting longer..............

President Obama's signature bill to fund an extension of unemployment benefits along with other measures took a hit the other day, falling three votes short of passing, 57 to 41. No Republicans voted for the bill. This was a complicated bill and had within it a variety of funding streams. The unemployed and Black farmers got the short end of the congressional stick. Looks like there is definitely a political spin to this as well.

Here is a paragraph from a CBS news article that summarizes the things we discuss on these pages. Read the article in its entirety here.

"The catchall measure also includes farm disaster aid, $1 billion for a youth summer jobs initiative and an extension of a bond program that subsidizes interest costs for state and local infrastructure projects. It would levy a new tax on investment fund managers but extend tax breaks such as lucrative credits that help businesses finance research and develop new products, and a sales tax deduction that mainly helps people in states without income taxes.

The death of the measure would mean that more than 200,000 people a week would lose their jobless benefits because they would be unable to reapply for additional tiers of benefits enacted since 2008. People seeking the popular homebuyer tax credit would be denied a paperwork extension approved by the Senate last week. And state and local governments would lose subsidies on bonds they issue to finance infrastructure projects.

It also includes $4.6 billion to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit brought by black farmers against the Agriculture Department for discrimination and another by American Indians involving the government's management and accounting of more than 300,000 trust accounts. By the end of this week, more than 1.2 million people will have lost their jobless benefits since a temporary extension expired at the beginning of the month, according to Labor Department estimates."