Black Farmers and Cuba

[Akyeame Kwame]

The Farmer

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Lying while counting

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Since the announcement of the NAACP’s visit to Cuba and the subsequent agreement that was reached concerning Cuba’s desire to purchase agricultural products from Black farmers in America, I have been asked my opinion. As a farmer and activist I feel that this relationship will become a great benefit to both Cuba and Black farmers. However, as an agricultural economist I must look at the actual facts and determine when and how to take advantage of such an opportunity. I must look at the cost and returns structure of the commodities to be exported and the physical capacity of the farmers to produce these commodities and get them to the port.

Whenever such opportunities arise for white farmers, the US department of Agriculture goes to their database to determine how many acres are presently devoted to the requested crops and how much excess production capacity is available on the nation’s farms to increase such production if required. The US department of Agriculture has such information on Black farmers but declares that it can not aggregate according to race as of 1997. You can go to the 1982, 1987 and 1992 volumes of the "Census of Agriculture" and determine how many farmers were "Black", their total acreage, average value of equipment and average age. However, starting in 1997 they lumped Black farmers in with other minorities such as Latin Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans, which makes it impossible to make a distinction.

We as Black farm activists KNOW that they have such data separated according to race, but the USDA CLAIMS that they can not give that data to us. In other words, they are lying. However, this places the burden on us to find such information on our own which is a daunting task because Black farmers are scattered all over the country. It is a shame that we have paid our tax dollars to this government to conduct a census, then they wickedly withhold data that we need to make analyses.

To verify my comments go to the Internet at: http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/cens...-51/us1_16.pdf . You will see that Black farmers are lumped in with other non-white groups which comprise a total of 47,658. However, if you get the Economic Research Service’s November 1999 "Agricultural Outlook" you will find this quotation in the article "FSA Credit Programs Target Minority Farmers":

"From 1992 to 1997, the total number of farms operated by Blacks, American Indians, and other racial minority groups rose 10 percent to 47,658. In addition, the number of farmers who claimed a Hispanic or Latino background rose 32 percent to 27,717. Growth in Hispanic or Latino farmers and Asian farmers is consistent with growth of these racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. population.

The number of Black-operated farms, unlike farms of most other racial minority groups, declined slightly from 1992 to 1997 -- to just 18,451--and may continue to decline. Black farmers on average are older than farmers of other racial groups. Only 4 percent of Black farmers are under 35 years of age, while nearly a quarter are at least 70 years old."

How can an office on one side of the USDA building in DC have this breakdown by race while the other office claims that they do not have such a breakdown? We Black farmers know that they not only have such a breakdown but also have every phone number and address of each Black farmer, but will not give it to Black farm organizations. We also know that they have every name and address of each person that signed on to the Pigford v. Glickman lawsuit, but will not give that out to Black farm organizations. However, somehow the names of each Black farmer that got a check were sent out to other banks and lending agencies whom these farmers may have owed. We know that the FBI has been harassing some recipients of the $50,000 reward from the lawsuit, while yet denying us information which would allow us to organize our farmers. Welcome to America.

But let’s go back to some aspects of this report. The title itself is misleading, "FSA Credit Programs Target Minority Farmers", if we are to accept the sworn declaration of Attorney Rosalind Gray who was appointed the head of the Civil Rights Division of the USDA in 1998. She states: "After all the investigations and findings of discrimination, after all the findings that FSA was not in compliance with civil rights regulations, after the millions paid by FSA in settlement of administrative complaints and after the many more millions in debt that FSA has forgiven, there still has not been any change in the way programs are administered. There were many recommendations for change. Yet systemic exclusion of minority farmers remains the standard operating procedure for FSA."

Her full 7 page testimony which you can find at www.MuhammadFarms.com is well worth the read. But this issue of capital availability is most critical for a group of farmers who have been deprived of their equitable share of the tax payer dollars and put out of business. On the other hand those same tax dollars were used to keep other farmers afloat during times of disaster or low market prices. I did a simple analysis using Census of Agriculture Data from 1982 to 1992 and found that white farmers received over $331 billion dollars in subsidies which averaged out to $1,023 per cropland acreage. The Black farmers received only $273 per acre over this same time horizon and were shorted over $1 billion dollars as a group. Now this new opportunity arises and instead of this government replacing that $1 billion that they stole, they offer $100 million in additional loan programs, that they know these farmers will not qualify for. They will not qualify because they can not add in the government subsidy that the white farmers know that they will receive which is added to their cash flow statement. Not one Black farmer who "won" in the Pigford v. Glickman lawsuit and went back to the FSA to get his "priority loan" has received a dime in loans. Why? Their budgets won’t cash flow.

And let’s be real, would you loan a farmer who is over 70 years old money to buy a tractor that it will take at least 5 years to pay back the note? Remember, at least 25% of the Black farmers are over 70 years old. That being said, let us move on to develop a framework for analysis.

First of all we need to develop a "census" or database of sorts for ourselves. We have contacted the Black land grant institutions to help us develop such a database. However, according to Dr. Alton Thompson, the Dean of Agriculture for North Carolina A&T State University, the Black colleges do not yet have such a database. However, N.C. A&T has developed a research project that is addressing this need, but the findings and data will not be available for a few years. We need answers now, so we are suggesting that all Black farmers and agri-business firms who can make the opportunity with Cuba become a reality come to the "5th Annual Black Land Loss Summit" to be held in Greensboro, N.C. on February 7-9, 2003. Please go to www.MuhammadFarms.com and click on "Black Land Loss Summit" to get more details. We must get as many "players" together in one location, so that we can make an accurate determination and develop realistic strategies for success. We must do it now, because our Black farmers are growing older everyday.

The Farmer

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Can Black People Survive?

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad



While attending a conference on May 3rd at The City College of New York for a celebration of their African Studies Program, I posed the following question during my lecture: "Can Black people survive and thrive in a world with no meaning?"

The answer I give to my question is emphatically, No. Slaves can survive in such a world, but not a free-minded Black people. The key here is what is the nature of a "people". A "people" is not just the sum total of a bunch of non-connected individuals.

Black people have been seeking "unity" for the last 100 years. Yet we are as divided now as we were then. "Unity" is not the key to survival in a white supremacist dominated country. Obeying "massa" will allow you to survive. Disobeying him will cause you death, unless you have an army to defend yourself.

If the only way that we could obtain food, clothing and shelter was to "unite" with our Black self, then that is just what we would do. However, the children of our former slave masters have made themselves the "gods" over our physical survival, and they punish us if we attempt to unite.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote in "Message to the Black Man" in 1965:

"Today, the international conception of honor, pride and dignity is not concerned with individuals within a country but is rather concerned with your work and value as a part of an established nation.

In order to be recognized today you must represent your nation. We must understand the importance of land to our nation." (p.223)

On my way up to this conference I was listening to National Public Radio. They had a conversation with two people working with orphans whose parents had died as a result of 21 years of civil war in Angola. One of these workers made a profound statement on the distinction between the "African" mind and the "European" mind. She stated that Africans’ sense of self was completely interwoven with the group. The individual had no meaning except as he or she was related to the group. This is in strong contrast to the type of "individualism" taught by western societies. I might add that Blacks in America have bought into this concept of "individualism" lock, stock and barrel.

As descendants of Africans we want "honor, pride and dignity" without land and a "King" or leader. We have placed ourselves in an impossible position by expecting to gain these things as "individuals". On top of this, many of us have visited Egypt with scholars such as Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan and seen the dark skin, broad noses and kinky hair of the builders of the pyramids. We have come back defiant, not willing to bow down to white supremacy but unwilling to break away and build a nation. This is very dangerous.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that we must have "land" to have a nation. I have been working with Black farmers since 1997 to help them save the land that Black people still own. However, we own this land as individuals and not as a people. Without this concept of "group" or people we as Black farmers have not been able to unite successfully and stop the USDA from continuing to take away more land.

During the last administration when the Democrats had power they caused divisions within the Black farm movement by offering the possibility of USDA funding to one set of farmers, if they broke away from the other group of "trouble makers". When the Republicans took power they caused divisions within the Black farm movement by offering the possibility of USDA funding to one set of farmers, if they broke away from that other group of "trouble makers". When will we learn?

To show you how this system continues to work against our unity and the productive utilization of our resources and talents, we held a Black Land Loss Summit in February of this year. At that conference Min. Akbar Muhammad, the International Representative of the Nation of Islam, spoke to Black farmers about visiting Zimbabwe. Immediately after such invitation and acceptance by these farmers, America and Britain slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe and a rash of civil unrest broke out in Zimbabwe.

Another theme at the land loss summit was developing a strategy to fulfill the offer by Cuba to purchase from Black farmers. Now somehow Cuba has become a "threat" to America and normalization of relations has been put back on the back burners.

Many Black farmers and Black people in general will not want to believe that the government of the United States is that concerned about what a small group of Black farmers are attempting to do. The government of the United States has "Nia", purpose. Do you know what that "Nia" is? Do we as Black people have "Nia" or do we just say the word on the fifth day of Kwanza?

Is our "Nia" to integrate with our slave masters’ children? The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said:

"In what other country on this earth will you find 22 million people within the framework of another people’s government seeking to become qualified citizens joyously singing the song of integration? Our people are the fools of the nations. Integration means self-destruction, and the means to this end is exactly that -- death and nothing less." (p.223)

These words were published in 1965. It is now 2003. A whole generation has chosen "integration" as a means to survival and prosperity in America. A lot of that generation is now behind bars and the other set lives at the bar, drinking and trying to figure out what went wrong.

As a farmer I can look at a field that did not produce well and figure out "what went wrong". If I do that same thing next year, guess what? The same thing will go wrong again.

We have had over 400 years of experience here among white people in America. Thus far their sole purpose seems to have been exploit, enslave or kill all non-white people of this country and the world. In light of recent events in this country and this country’s involvement in non-white countries around the world, has that "Nia" changed?

They have a strong and active "Nia". What about you? Therefore I repeat, "Can Black people survive and thrive in a world with no meaning?"
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AK

[Akyeame Kwame]

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[IfasehunReincarnated]

I really commend the level of organization being attempted by Black Farmers. I usually go the Muhammad Farms to read updates.

But unless you're into cattle, tobacco or cotton I dont see many black farmers doing real well. Even Muhammad Farms is a shadow of its former self. (Which leads me to ask where my money went when the collection plate went around for the 5 Year Economic Plan that included an expanded Muhammad Farms.)

My question is how do non-farmers help?