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A $5 Billion Down Payment on What America Owes to Black Farmers

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A $5 Billion Down Payment on What America Owes to Black Farmers Chattanooga News Chronicle - April 8, 2021 Page 8 Chattanooga News Chronicle - April 8, 2021 NATIONAL A $5 Billion Down Payment on what America owes to Black Farmers Black folk have farmed, planted, tilled and cul- tivated agricultural and food production in America since their arrival from Africa on slave ships. Their labor helped to create global capitalism and has trans- formed American food production, animal farming and cooking. Yet their ability to accumulate wealth, land, businesses and income based on their agricultural prowess has been halted at every turn, at times by brute force, most often by acts of systemic racism. These farmers, who overwhelmingly resided in the South, have faced and fought discrimination at lo- cal, state and federal levels — they were denied equal access to bank loans, lines of credit and capital. Fed- eral Homestead Acts either excluded Blacks or offered them the worst land. Against long odds, thousands of BASKERVILLE, VIRGINIA - JANUARY 8: On day 18 of the partial government shutdown, fourth generation crop Black farmers still managed to acquire, cultivate and farmer John Boyd, and president of the Black Farmer’s Association, plants winter wheat in one of his fields in Basker- prosper off of land of their own. ville, Virginia on Tuesday January 8, 2019. Because of the government shutdown Boyd has not received his soybean This history is a critical backdrop to the political subsidies, Boyd also grows soybeans, which where supposed give him crucial cash for to run his farm business during transformations that have taken place since the begin- the slow months of January and February. (Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post) ning of the Covid-19 pandemic. These changes have altered the course of US history, exposing not only the depth of economic inequality, racial division and mer enslaved African Americans, after being promised licate patterns of discrimination against Black farmers. structural violence in American life, but also revealing “40 acres and a mule” as compensation for decades of In 1997, the USDA agreed to settle a class action law- our capacity to keep building a multiracial democracy, unpaid labor during racial slavery, were instead coerced suit, Pigford v. Glickman, by providing over $1 billion brick by painful brick. through violence and economic intimidation into peon- in compensation. The largest class action civil rights One year ago, President Joe Biden’s historic $1.9 age and sharecropping that kept Black farmers living in suit in American history alleged that the USDA en- trillion Covid-19 relief package, one that cuts child perpetual debt. gaged in systemic discrimination against Black farmers poverty in half and includes billions for Black farmers The federal response to this deeply entrenched from 1981 to 1996 by denying them access to loans, historically discriminated against, would surely never history of racial discrimination has been, at best, dis- credit and financial vehicles solely on the basis of race. have passed. appointing. New Deal-era policies created economic But despite the agreement, only 371 Black farmers re- The American Rescue Plan underscores the dra- subsidies through the Agricultural Adjustment Act and ceived payment, with thousands of others stymied by matic political changes that this health crisis has ush- other policy vehicles designed to aid farmers. Black bureaucratic loopholes that only added insult to injury. ered in. Despite the failure to increase the minimum farmers were notoriously left out of these programs, The Biden administration should be applauded for hourly wage to $15, the bill contains billions in re- which were administered, via a Jim Crow gentlemen’s trying to bring some measure of justice to an endur- sources and investments that will allow states to fight agreement, by local White segregationists as reward for ing stain on this nation’s soul. The billions set aside for poverty, re-open businesses and schools and, in certain passage through a Dixiecrat-controlled Congress. Black farmers are designed to end a cycle of debt and instances, redresses longstanding inequities that pre- Ensuring racial and economic justice for Black discrimination that began long before the Pigford case date the pandemic. farmers was also a crucial aspect of the civil rights and continues into the present. The bulk of this aid, $4 Black farmers, for instance, have faced historic movement’s heroic period during the 1950s and 60s. billion, goes to relieve outstanding debt that has threat- mistreatment by the US Department of Agriculture. In Black sharecroppers, such as voting rights activist Fan- ened the very existence of African American farmers. 1920, nearly one million Black farmers owned about nie Lou Hamer, left plantations to join the freedom Another $1 billion will focus on outreach, education, 14% of all farms; today, according to figures from the struggle; they were actually displaced farmers, barred grants and investments designed to change the culture USDA, only 1.3% of America’s 3.4 million farmers are from owning land by centuries of racial exclusion, vio- within the USDA and end the tendentious relationship Black and own less than 1% of American farmland. lence and intimidation. The USDA, even after the passage of watershed These disparities reflect oppressive practices after continued on page 9 slavery that blocked Black wealth accumulation. For- civil rights legislation in the 1960s, continued to rep- Police Officer Killed in The Rev. James Lawson New Orleans By Man receives NAACP Who Refused to Wear a Chairman’s Award for Face Mask Integral Contributions to Racial Justice The NAACP recognized Lawson during its 2021 Image Awards, which aired on BET on Sat- urday, March 27. Lawson was honored for his work as a social change advocate and his critical contributions to the civil rights movement, spe- cifically his integral role in the nonviolent pro- tests in the U.S. South in the 1960s. “Last summer we saw millions around the world take to the streets in the most powerful protests for racial justice and civil rights in a The Rev. James Lawson, civil rights icon and Vanderbilt generation. These protests were inspired by the University Distinguished Professor, emeritus, has re- work of civil rights movement leaders like Rev. ceived the prestigious NAACP Chairman’s Award, which Nationwide — Martinus Mitchum, a police James Lawson,” said NAACP Chairman Leon recognizes individuals who demonstrate exemplary public officer working security at a high school basket- W. Russell. “In this pivotal moment for Black service and use their distinct platforms to create agents ball game in New Orleans, was shot and killed history, there is no better time to recognize Rev. of change. Past recipients of the award include then-Sen. over a dispute that began when a man named Lawson’s tremendous contributions to Ameri- Barack Obama; Reps. John Lewis and Maxine Waters; John Shallerhorn attempted to enter the school can history and to live up to his example.” former Surgeon General Regina Benjamin; actors Tyler without wearing a mask. Lawson’s mark on the Vanderbilt community Perry, Ruby Dee and Danny Glover; and musicians The According to police, Shallerhorn first had a is profound. After coming to Vanderbilt Divinity Neville Brothers and Bono. confrontation with a school employee when he School as a transfer student in 1958, he helped was not allowed to enter for not wearing a mask. organize sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters in Mitchum then intervened to break up the alterca- downtown Nashville. Lawson’s participation in tion. the sit-ins led to his expulsion from Vanderbilt in Lawson returned to Vanderbilt as a Distin- When Shallerhorn appeared to be leaving, 1960 following a vote by the executive commit- guished University Professor, teaching from he pointed the gun at Mitchum and shot him tee of the university’s Board of Trust—a move 2006 to 2009. In 2007, the James M. Lawson Jr. twice before placing the gun on the ground. that generated national headlines and prompt- Chair at Vanderbilt was established in his honor. Shallerhorn was arrested and charged with ed some faculty members to resign in protest. He also donated a significant portion of his pa- first-degree murder of a policeman as well as Eventually, Vanderbilt and Lawson reconciled, pers to the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries’ armed robbery as he also reportedly held a man and in 1996 he received the Vanderbilt Divinity Special Collections in 2013. A scholarship for at gunpoint and stole his medallion chain prior to School’s first Distinguished Alumni/ae Award. undergraduate students at Vanderbilt was named the altercation with the officer. “Reverend Lawson was and remains the in his honor in 2018. Tulane Police Chief Kirk Bouyelas ex- spiritual and intellectual heartbeat of nonvio- “James Lawson’s contribution to the civil pressed his grief about the incident. lent social changes that demand radical respons- rights movement, in general, and the fight for ra- “We are deeply saddened by the senseless es—that is, responses that go to the root of the cial justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School, in par- and tragic death of TUPD Corporal Martinus problems we face and demand justice and trans- ticular, marks a time in our historical memory Mitchum,” the statement reads, according to formation,” said Emilie Townes, dean of the so rich with elements of courage, determination, WVUE. “Corporal Mitchum was a dedicated Vanderbilt Divinity School and distinguished resilience and resistance that it is imperative to police professional who had a heart of service professor of womanist ethics and society. “He is regard him as a pioneer of public theology and for the Tulane community. We have reached an enduring witness to a God of justice, mercy racial justice,” said Teresa Smallwood, associate out to his family and are providing support to and love.
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