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Saturday, August 7, 2010

Find out more about the Black Farmers Plight: Consolidated Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation

Editor's note: This is independent research/notes because I am angered at not finding this issue resolved and finding very little detail on the issue. What is the problem? Why can't the black farmer have what is rightfully his? Why won't the United States Senate vote to appropriate the funds for the black farmer's settlement? If it looks like racism, walks like racism and talks like racism, what do you think most people think? That it is racism? Why is the USDA so set against helping farmers? I do not understand. I just don't understand this issue. I will revise my research/notes periodically as all of this information comes from sources other than myself.

Congress established a new remedial process for relief under the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (”2008 Farm Bill”).  This case, the Consolidated Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation, consists of discrimination claims by African-American farmers authorized by Section 14012 of the 2008 Farm Bill.
You should visit this web site.
You may feel as if this has nothing to do with you but did you know many black people today come from a line of farmers? They were scattered throughout the south. Many of us were deemed sharecroppers, however.
According to Wikipedia, sharecropping is a system of farming in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land (e.g., 50% of the crop). Sharecropping has a long history across the globe however my focus today is the southern United States.  Sharecropping occurred extensively in colonial Africa, Scotland, and Ireland, and came into wide use in the Southern United States during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877). The South had been devastated by war; planters had ample land but little money for wages or taxes. At the same time most of the former slaves had labor but no money and no land; they rejected the kind of gang labor that typified slavery. Similarity to serfdom or indenture, it has been seen as an issue of land reform.

Odesio answers a similar question on straightdope.com.

"The first thing you have to understand is how labor works in relation to cotton in the days of yore. Cotton was an especially labor intensive crop and when it was being planted and especially when it was being harvested you needed a large labor pool to get the job done. When the planting and harvesting was done you just didn't need the labor pool at all. So the planters after the Civil War have a problem. How do they ensure they have the necessary labor at the necessary time and how do they get that labor for as cheap a price as possible?

The answer was the share crop system. Landowners would rent out property to tenants, perhaps give them a little seed money, and buy up the cotton when harvest time came. Most of the tenant farmers were illiterate and all of them were pretty much uneducated. This made it easy for the landowners to control the price of the cotton and to determine just how much money the tenants owed them at the end of the year. "Sorry, Mr. Johnson, but it looks like even though you had a bumper crop that you still owe me $25 at the end of the season."

Whether sharecropping was more efficient than the antebellum plantations is hard to say. To begin with it's rather difficult at times to figure out whether an antebellum plantation was making a profit in any given year because they didn't all keep efficient financial records like a corporation would. I've run across notes from a plantation with an I.O.U. written down for 1853 but I'll be damned if I ever ran across an documentation that the loan was ever paid back. Nor do I typically run across a useful ledger detailing income and expenses like I would for a rail road or a shipping company.


From a social standpoint it was also a good way for the elite to maintain control over labor, particularly black labor. One of the biggest race riots in Arkansas occurred in 1919 when members of the various farmer's unions attempted to get better prices for their cotton. Whites seemed to think that this was insurrection." -- Odesio

In Reconstruction-era United States, sharecropping was one of few options for penniless freedmen to conduct subsistence farming and support themselves and their families. (Another solution was a crop-lien system, where the farmer was extended credit for seed and other supplies by the merchant.) It was a stage beyond simple hired labor, because the sharecropper had an annual contract. During Reconstruction, the Freedman's Bureau wrote and enforced the contracts.
Don't worry, I'm getting to my point, however, in the sharecropping system croppers were assigned a plot of land to work, and in exchange owed the owner a share of the crop at the end of the season, usually one-half. The owner provided the tools and farm animals. Farmers who owned their own mule and plow were at a higher stage and are called tenant farmers; they paid the landowner less, usually only a third of each crop. In both cases the farmer kept the produce of gardens.
The sharecropper purchased seed, tools and fertilizer, as well as food and clothing, on credit from a local merchant, or sometimes from a plantation store. When the harvest came, the cropper would harvest the whole crop and sell it to the merchant who had extended credit. Purchases and the landowner's share were deducted and the cropper kept the difference—or added to his debt.
Though the arrangement protected sharecroppers from the negative effects of a bad crop, many sharecroppers (both black and white) were economically confined to serf-like conditions of poverty. To work the land, sharecroppers had to buy seed and implements, sometimes from the plantation owner who often charged exorbitant prices against the sharecropper's next season. Arrangements also typically gave half or less of the crop to the sharecropper, and the sale price in some cases was set by the landowner. Lacking the resources to market their crops independently, the sharecropper was sometimes be compensated in scrip redeemable only at the plantation.
Thus the cost of production and price of sale were both largely controlled by the land owner, with the sharecropper having little, if any, margin for profit. These factors made sharecroppers dependent on the plantation owners in a way that perpetuated some of the aspects of slavery, and in the late 19th century maintained a stable, low-cost work force that replaced slave labor; it was the bottom rung in the Southern tenancy ladder.
Sharecroppers formed unions in the 1930s, beginning in Tallapoosa County, Alabama in 1931, and Arkansas in 1934. Membership in the Southern Tenant Farmers Union included both blacks and poor whites. As leadership strengthened, meetings became more successful, and protest became more vigorous, landlords responded with a wave of terror.[24]
Sharecroppers' strikes in Arkansas and the Bootheel of Missouri, the 1939 Missouri Sharecroppers' Strike, were documented in "Oh Freedom After While".[25]  

Machines helped stop the sharecropping system. It replaced human labor.  However, how did black farmers make the jump from sharecropping to owning and profiting from their farmland? Did they finally pay off the debt to Mr. Charley? (I am still researching this question. Feel free to help if you like.)



When the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was created, 90% of the American people were farmers. It was not until almost two decades after it's creation, that Cabinet status was achived by USDA on February 9, 1889. The Federal Farm Loan Act became law, July 1916. This Act sought to respond to the inadequacy of credit at reasonable rates for farmers, according to The Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association.  Many black farmers across the nation experienced discrimination in their dealings with U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies in their states. Across the nation, black farmers alleged, and the USDA later agreed, they were denied access to loans and subsidies provided by the government.[6] On a national level, farm subsidies that were afforded to white farmers were not afforded to black farmers.[7] Since they were denied government loans, emergency or disaster assistance, and other aid, many black farmers lost their farms and their homes.[8] The BFAA also say they now represent less than 3% of the population. In North Carolina there has been a 64% decline in African American farmers in the past 15 years, from 6,996 farms in 1978 to 2,498 farms in 1992.
You can draw your own conclusions.








National Black Farmers Association

National Black Farmers Association

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate failed Thursday to approve nearly $5 billion for a settlement between the Agriculture Department and minority farmers reached more than a decade ago, prompting finger pointing by members of both parties and outrage among many black farmers.
It is one thing to win a lawsuit for damages. It is another thing to collect what you are owed. If you happen to be a black farmer who was part of a $1.25 billion settlement from lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, you are still waiting after more than 10 years. This week, the U.S. Senate kicked more dirt in your face as it again stripped the lawsuit settlement funding from legislation. It is time for the White House to intervene in this travesty of justice. http://www.blackfarmers.org/html/080610.html

Read each class carefully:
http://www.blackfarmers.org/html/litigation.html
1. Class for Pigford Claims Remedy Act of 2006, H.R. 5575

An African American person who farmed or attempted to farm between January 1, 1981 and December 31, 1996, applied to USDA during that period for participation in a federal farm credit or farm program and who believed that they were discriminated against on the basis of race in USDA's response to that application; and filed a discrimination complaint on or before July 1, 1997, regarding USDA's treatment of such farm credit or benefit application and who previously filed a discrimination complaint that was determined to be late in Pigford v. Glickman.

2. Farm Subsidy Class
An African American person who farmed or attempted to farm between 1994 and present who applied to participate in a federal farm subsidy program and who believed that they were discriminated against based on race by being denied participation or equal benefits of that farm program.

3. New Class
An African American person who farmed or attempted to farm after December 31, 1996 and was discriminated against on the basis of race by USDA when USDA denied the African American farmer participation in a federal farm credit program or denied equal participation in a federal farm credit or farm program in retaliation based on race for participation in the Pigford v. Johannes class action or filed a complaint of discrimination since 1999 and USDA dismissed the accepted complaint without investigation or failed to process the case.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Senate Fails To OK Funds For Years-Old Settlement With Black Farmers | Roland S. Martin Blog

Senate Fails To OK Funds For Years-Old Settlement With Black Farmers | Roland S. Martin Blog

Can someone explain to me why this type of thing happens? All kinds of attention was drawn to it. Maybe the affected parties should have organized a letter writing campaign to contact their US Senators to voice their opinion instead of letting this crucial issue fall by the wayside. Is this too late to fix?

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

FBI issues warning of Terrorist Activities Related to Hobby Shops

The FBI Campaign Communities Against Terrorism is aimed at educating hobby shop owners and the industry on the Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Hobby Shops.

What Should I Consider Suspicious?


Potential Indicators of Terrorist Activities Related to Hobby Shops

Be part of the solution.

Require valid ID from all new

customers.

Keep records of purchases.

Talk to customers, ask questions, and

listen to and observe their responses.

Watch for people and actions that are out

of place.

Make note of suspicious statements,

people, and/or vehicles.

If something seems wrong, notify law

enforcement authorities.

Do not jeopardize your safety or the safety

of others.

Preventing terrorism is a community effort.

By learning what to look for, you can make a

positive contribution in the fight against

terrorism. The partnership between the

community and law enforcement is

essential to the success of anti-terrorism

efforts.

Some of the activities, taken individually,

could be innocent and must be examined by

law enforcement professionals in a larger

context to determine whether there is a basis

to investigate. The activities outlined on this

handout are by no means all-inclusive but

have been compiled from a review of terrorist

events over several years.

• Demonstrating unusual interest in remote-controlled aircraft.

• Demonstrating interest that does not seem genuine.

• Inquiring about remote controls and model aircraft payload

capacity and maximum range.

• Inquiring about learning to fly expensive giant-scale aircraft

without first learning to fly small-scale aircraft.

• Possessing little knowledge of activity for which the purchase

is intended.

• Exhibiting unusual interest or specific interest in rocket motors

or igniters.

• Demonstrating no interest or enthusiasm for the hobby or

sport.

• Shoplifting or purchasing

Large quantity of model aircraft fuel.

Several large aircraft, engines, or transmitters.

Model rocket motor igniters without adequate knowledge.

Large quantity of paintball equipment and supplies with

very little information about local paintball activities.

• Using cash for large transactions or a credit card in someone

else’s name.

It is important to remember that just because someone’s speech,

actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different, it does not

mean that he or she is suspicious.

Communiittiies Agaiinstt Terroriism

What Should I Do?

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL FEDERAL BUREAU

OF INVESTIGATION OFFICE

This project was supported by Grant Number 2007-MU-BX-K002, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Each indictor listed above, is by

itself, lawful conduct or behavior and may also constitute the exercise of rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. In addition, there may be a wholly innocent explanation for conduct or behavior that

appears suspicious in nature. For this reason, no single indicator should be the sole basis for law enforcement action. The totality of behavioral indicators and other relevant circumstances should be

evaluated when considering any law enforcement response or action.

 

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Wyclef Jean steps toward Haitian presidential race

Wyclef Jean may run for president of Hati, Reuters reports. I hope he does. I believe it would be good for Haiti.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Eric Deggans: What I learned from meeting Shirley Sherrod: It's time for media to help us find a new way to talk about race


What I learned from meeting Shirley Sherrod: It's time for media to help us find a new way to talk about race

Maybe we can use our existing communication vehicles to begin a conversation about race. We can use Facebook and Twitter and blog post distribution to have a conversation that spans the nation and the globe.
We can use the editorial pages of African-American newspapers–as we have always done–but we have to pay attention and participate. We have to do it when we do not feel like it. We have to do it when we get laughed at, mocked and talked about.

We have to conduct a little independent research and read existing research about us and our community. We have to be interested in ourselves. We are a wealth of knowledge, however it does little good when we do not have the infrastructure to carry out our continuous discussion on race. The ingredients are there, we only have to put it together and use it.

We have to encourage those who can, to do. We should create a black news wire service just for the chronicling of news that affects us in the black community. We have to encourage students to major in print Journalism (some of you get what I mean). Then, have those newspapers up and running and available to hire new grads to report on and in their community.
How do we do that? We create business infrastructure in our communities like in the olden days when we had to shop black and we cared about quality and good customer service because we loved ourselves. We knew the list of lovers of blacks was short but if we were on it, it would be alright.
With business infrastructure in place, advertising dollars should flow to those newspapers and back into the community. Those dollars pay salaries of news personnel. We will live with ourselves. Our community would become the community. We will witness a return to a more moral black, a discreet black and an educated black as the standard. Our families would heal and increase in size, thus increasing the economy.
Even though this is an oversimplified idea, many of you get the picture. I wish I knew how to make it a reality.


Editor's Note: Quite frankly, I am tired of begging a group of people, who obviously do not care for me or my type, to accept me. Anyone can tell when they are being excluded on purpose or when they are outright hated. I'm tired of it but I don't say anything about it. I go where I am accepted. This attitude crosses race for me. I don't fit in everywhere I go with blacks either and I conduct myself accordingly.  What is the problem with this attitude? It's restrictive and I will not learn anything about anyone any different than I am. I'll be come stupid. I'll be no better than those dumb ass racists.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Making Home Affordable Program Ramps Up Efforts

Volunteer Agency: Kaplan Thaler Group
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the Making Home Affordable Program in February 2009 as part of the plan to stabilize the housing market and help struggling homeowners get relief and avoid foreclosure.

Making Home Affordable is an initiative that includes a mortgage modification program to provide eligible homeowners with more affordable monthly mortgage payments. The Federal Government provides free resources to struggling homeowners to help them learn about options under the program, and to work with a HUD-approved housing counselor. Since the program launch, over one million homeowners have received help.

The PSAs feature real homeowners who have benefitted from the program.

Created pro bono by The Kaplan Thaler Group, a New York-based advertising agency, the new campaign is available in English and Spanish and features real homeowners from across the country who have benefited from the program.

“Even though the economy is getting stronger, many Americans are still facing the fear and uncertainty of losing their home to foreclosure,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, said.

“The Administration’s loan modification programs have given more than a million responsible homeowners a chance to stay in their homes, and we want to do all we can to help make sure that struggling homeowners know about these free resources for help,” he said.

“Many responsible borrowers continue to face challenges due to unemployment, negative equity or because of soaring utility payments,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, said.

"These public service announcements will help us to reach at-risk borrowers now, while they are still current on their payments and eligible to receive help through the Making Home Affordable Program or our expanded options for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing.”

“We are proud to partner with the Treasury and HUD on this critical campaign to educate Americans about free resources available to help them prevent foreclosures,” said Peggy Conlon, President and CEO, the Ad Council. “We hope Americans who are struggling will be empowered by these compelling PSAs and take simple actions to help them stay in their homes.”

The Ad Council will distribute the new PSAs to more than 33,000 media outlets nationwide. The campaign includes television, radio, print, out of home and web advertising. The PSAs will air in advertising space donated by the media.

The Making Home Affordable Program was launched in February 2009 to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure through no fault of their own make their monthly mortgage payments more affordable. Since then, more than 1.5 million homeowners have been offered help under the program, and almost 1.3 million homeowners have started a trial plan. Homeowners in permanent modifications under the program have a median monthly savings of over $500 each month or about one-third of their previous payment.

Homeowners that are struggling with their mortgage payments to visit www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov or call 1-888-995-HOPE (4673) to learn about their options.

Sponsor Organization: The U.S. Department of the Treasury, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Campaign Website: www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov
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Telegraph Barack Obama

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