Black-Ass Farmers And Broken Promithes Promithes

We want to discuss a cornerstone of the Black liberation story in the United States: farming, and the government’s trifling relationship with Black farmers

Jun 18, 2024

Welcome to This Black-Ass Life! Happy Juneteenth! This week, we want to discuss a cornerstone of the Black liberation story in the United States: farming, and the government’s trifling relationship with Black farmers. As of 2022, there are 48,697 Black farmers in the U.S., down from 1 million Black farmers a century ago. In 1919, Black farmland ownership was about 14% of total agricultural land, and a century later, 90% of that land has been lost. Today, only 1% of farmers in the U.S. identify as Black.

l. The Facts

Since Reconstruction, the American government has systematically and intentionally abused, discriminated against, stolen from, and lied to Black farmers.

First, some history. The majority of farmers prior to 1865 in the U.S. were enslaved Africans stolen to work on primarily cotton and tobacco plantations in the South.
Following the Emancipation Proclamation, Black abolitionists were concerned about how formerly enslaved people would survive in capitalist America, and one major option they considered was independent farming.
After Lincoln’s assassination, the dream of independent farming was deferred when his successor, Johnson, ordered land to be returned to Confederate owners. The federal government subsequently “states rights” away the Freedmen's Bureau’s promise of 40 acres of land to formerly enslaved people. This disastrous policy restricted economic mobility by pushing Black farmers into free labor as tenants or sharecroppers in exchange for housing.
For Black farmers who were able to acquire land, the Department of Agriculture clocked in to the hate train by unapologetically giving preference and political capital to white farmers.
- Black farmers today still call the Agriculture Department the “last plantation” because of decades of bias against their work. The dwindling number of Black people in agriculture is directly tied to the Department’s policies.
Things got so bad that in the 1990s, Black officials at the Department publicly protested the institution, calling it a “hotbed of racial bias and harassment.”
- This is a real excerpt from a Washington Post piece about the office’s worker bias suit: In several bathroom stalls at USDA headquarters, someone had scrawled "NAACP" and underneath it, "now apes are called people." Some employees say such graffiti is evidence of workplace hostility that the agency has not done enough to address. … In a case now before the EEOC, a group of 300 African American managers at the Farm Service Agency, the branch of USDA found to have discriminated against black farmers, says they have been repeatedly passed over for promotions in favor of less qualified whites.
You may think, “Whew! That was the 1800s and the 1900s, but that’s not today!” But these issues still persist. Even through January of this year, farmers could apply for the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program for discrimination in the USDA’s farm lending prior to January 1, 2021.
Oh, you think the federal government stopped the racism in 2021? Nah. Just this past week, a federal judge blocked an Agriculture Department disaster relief program from giving preferences to Black, Brown, and women farmers, siding with plaintiffs who allege that the program illegally discriminates against white male farmers.

Why does it matter?

Black history and liberation is intrinsically tied to Black farming and Black farmers:
- Hero George Washington Carver was a pioneering figure in agriculture who revolutionized farming in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through innovations in crop rotation, soil improvement, and promotion of alternative crops like peanuts and sweet potatoes. I (Jumoke) played him in my 4th-grade play.
- The Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom Farm Cooperative, established in 1967 by civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, was founded to combat poverty and provide economic self-sufficiency for Black farmers in Mississippi. The coop exemplifies the deep-rooted connection between Black farmers and the fight for civil rights and economic justice.
Black people's ability to sustain themselves through farming is crucial not only because of the rich cultural history but because it also fosters economic independence and strengthens community resilience. That the U.S. government remains dedicated to ensuring food insecurity and ensuring an inequitable access to land and agricultural resources is another level of hate.

What can my Black ass do?

Support the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), an organization that advocates for Black farmers and promotes agricultural education, access to capital, and sustainable farming practices.
Learn more and find resources through Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. Resources are also available through the National Black Farmers Association.
Support the Land Loss Prevention Project (LLPP) in their vital work providing legal assistance and advocacy to preserve Black-owned farmland and cultural heritage.

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II. Other Things

Black-ass happenings.

Chaka Khan’s Tiny Desk is pure joy.
This video from Monaleo will make your heart smile.
Shout out to our season 2 Hoochie Daddies champion.
Speaking of, we have an official music video for No Regular Stud.
Congratulations to Bad Boys Hive on a box office smash. Make 100 more! We saw this movie on Sunday, and we give it four thumbs up!
A Vogue interview with the very talented Normani.
Billboard has matched Tinashe’s freak, and we are happy for her!

Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Mitu):

Victoria has done it again; here is Alright.

Things we look forward to:

I (Jumoke) look forward to someone sending me a cure for t*tty sweat. There is a persistent kiddie pool-size stain on me at all times. Someone help me!
I (Mitu) look forward to summer movies. Gimme all the actions and romcoms!