FORUM VOICES The plight of African American Farmers

We need to come up with a plan of action immediately to increase African American farms and farm workers in the United States.

African Americans earn approximately 1.3 trillion dollars annually in the United States and over 80% of what we earn and spend goes into the hands, pockets, and bank accounts of another race of people. Why?

It is my honor to engage in a nonviolent economic war between African Americans and every other race of people living in the United States and across the world, in favor of African Americans without throwing one punch or shooting one bullet.

Please, come and go with me on a short journey and allow me to share some information with you related to urban revitalization and farming.

In 1967 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made a speech entitled “The Second Phase of the Civil Rights Movement,” recorded in Atlanta, Ga.

He specifically indicated that “no other race of people except African Americans or ethnic group had to face slavery on American soil and how America made the Negro’s color a stigma.”

Dr. King mention in this recording how “ America freed the slaves

Recovering Reconstruction: A Community Workshop

Keynote: Friday, July 7 at 6:00 p.m. Workshops: Saturday, July 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Mark your calendars for this important two-day event to be held at the Springfield Baptist Church in beautiful downtown Augusta, Georgia.

On Friday, Dr. Déanda Johnson will give a keynote to open the two-day event followed by Saturday workshops with:

•Dr. Steven Berry, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

•Robin Waites, Director of Historic Columbia Foundation, Columbia, SC

•Christopher Barr, Reconstruction Era National Historic Park, Beaufort, SC

•Dr. Valinda Littlefield, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC in 1863, gave the slaves no land or nothing or nothing to get started, but at the same time was giving away millions of acres of land.in the west and the mid-west to the White peasants from Europe to establish an economic base.”

The event is free, but please RSVP HERE to save your seat! Scroll down on the ticket page and to us know if you’d like to enjoy a free lunch on Saturday. The lunch is available to the first 75 registrants, so don’t be late!

I am mentioning the topic about farmland in this newsletter because many people might not have heard about the discrimination lawsuit filed by Black farmers against the United States Department of Agriculture. Even though the lawsuit was filed about 20 years ago black farmers are being rewarded today for the setback. This atrocious act of discrimination performed by the USDA had a fractional impact on the wealth-gap between African Americans and other races of people in the United States from the corner store to the supermarket.

Accumulatively the small amount of farmland that our African American farmers do own and cultivate the United States our government treated them unjustifiably pertaining lending and borrowing federal grants and caused many of them to lose their land.

In my previously newsletter I emphasized on the fact of how important it is for young African Americans to learn the residential and commercial building trade, in which I am initiating a 300-billion-dollar urban revitalization project that involves teaching building skills (OJT) to the less fortunate unemployed Americans in urban America of all races.

Learning the farming trade is just as important as the building trade and is very profitable because we need to grow and manufacture the food we eat including livestock right here in the United States.

There are approximately 2 million farms in the United States and African Americans farmers make up less than 1% of that number.

How many of our Historical Black Colleges and Universities teach agriculturalism? Out of approximately 107 HBCU’s, the only one I can think of is Fort Valley State University located in Fort Valley, Ga. We need to come up with a plan of action immediately to increase African American farms and farm workers in the United States.

It’s a shame that white supremacy is the number one threat in America today which is a form of mental illness, which activates hate crimes and racial disparity. And what makes this situation so detrimental to our country is when white supremacist is elected to public office on the municipal, county, state, and federal level, they implement acts of discrimination. Why would anyone want to stop farmers from growing food with all the hungry and starving people in the world.

We can’t turn back the hand of time, but we can press on to make life better for ourselves and our children.

When I sit down at the dinner table to eat or open a can of vegetables, I would like to know that everything I consume and digested was grown and raised by African American Farmers. Let’s keep that money circulating within our race.

Melvin Lorenzo Kelly, The African American Business Project

Celebration from the Sideline

Preparing to cross the finish line, my mind wanders back.

Not to every step I’ve taken, but every step I’ve forsaken. Roles, jobs, titles, honors. Set aside to achieve. For what good is a shelf overflowing when the desired trophy is missing?

But this was no easy task, at first. Sense of self, interwoven with outward. The revealing question of, “Who am I without...?” I have been without. Without job. Without school. Without a defined future. Without human contact. Without housing. Without trust. Without inward belief. All of the questions required answers. Or consumption. I laid bare upon the fires. Until content with who I am. Individual. Husband. Furry father. Friend. Family member.

And as I cross the finish line I glance over to see all I let go, celebrating from the sideline.

By James Aaron Snow 6/7/23