Black Agriculture in the 21st Century ~ President Obama State of the Union

Sacramento, CA ~ Black Agriculture in the 21st Century will become the new paradigm for youth job creation, career development and sustainable communities throughout the United State of America and byeond.

President Obama proposed $1.15 billion for ‘Black Farmers’ toward a final resolution of Pigford Class Action claimants’ in the 2010 budget. President Obama has said the proposed settlement funds would "close this chapter" in the USDA's history of discrimination. President Obama's first State of the Union Address will have good news for all of U.S. Agriculture.

President Obama echoed Judge Paul Friedman’s Pigford Class Action Consent Decree statements in saying that "he hoped farmers would be made whole and will have the chance to rebuild their lives and their businesses.”

USDA~National Agriculture Statistical Service, 2007 Agriculture Census Data show an amazing disparity between Black Farm Operators and White Farm Operators income levels is the front line toward ending our nation's current economic recession and a possible beginning dialogue to the 2012 Farm Bill debate.

The 111th U.S. Congress has thus far failed to provide the requested $1.15 billion to compensate discriminated black farmers in legislation or provide specific public policy solutions to close the decades of missed opportunity to participate in USDA funded programs.

Black Agriculture in the 21st Century is the notion of developing new relationships to expand upon the past “southern strategy” and expose the silent capitulation to current legal reality of “Plessey vs. Ferguson, a separate but equal notion” alive and well within the United States Department of Agriculture, economic apartheid a 1862 vs 1890 official U.S. public policy.

A historic “Black Farmer Southern Strategy” must expand to include nationwide support to press Congress to immediately appropriate President Obama’s 2010 budget request inclusive of a solid methodology for service delivery to nationwide Pigford claimants toward receiving a streamlined one-stop process throughout the nation.

Black Agriculture in the 21st Century, will expand the vision to include: Haiti recovery efforts, Water for Children Africa, Global Famine Relief and other international efforts where USDA is providing essential services to save lives and build futures.

California, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands and many other regions will join the “Southern Strategy” and bring significant political leadership capital from our elected U.S. Congressional delegations and State Legislative representatives to forever expand the limited focus of Black Agriculture policy conversation based upon the past "Black Belt South Strategy."

Together, we can focus attention upon closing the enormous disparity gap of Black Farmers Operator income throughout the vast global reaches of USDA policy programs, in both urban and rural communities while creating opportunity for small family farms while producing another Reginald Lewis, Beatrice Foods International.

Youth job creation, career development and sustainable communities are the fundamental investment priorities that may close the “foul chapter” of legal systemic institutional racism from the “last plantation in America.”

Together, we join the Obama Administration through Secretary Vilsack and continue our community based partnerships to move toward actualizing equity and equal opportunity within the new and improved “People’s Department of the United States Department of Agriculture.”

Here is a list of the Southern Regional Rally locations and dates:

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS - February 6, 2010, 11 AM
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - February 8, 2010, 11 AM
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI - February 9, 2010, 11 AM
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 10, 2010, 11 AM
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA - February 11, 2010, 11 AM
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - February 12, 2010, 11 AM
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - February 13, 2010, 11 AM

National Rally ~ Washington, D.C. ~ February 15, 2010, 11 AM
Executive Office, United States Department of Agriculture

John Boyd, Jr. National Black Farmers Association continues to lead the charge. We join in response and urge our many nationwide, regional and local Black Agriculture leaders to demonstrate the strategic operational unity that Judge Paul Friedman referenced in the original consent decree and seize the moment.

Black History Month 2010 is time to recall the pain, destruction and death upon which the United States Department of Agriculture was established in 1862 during the U.S. Civil War and build upon the faith and courage to overcome centuries of death and destruction, we are not well today.

We must answer the prayers and suffering of our elders and ancestors to provide a new paradigm and nurture new youth leadership for full participation in all aspects of our global U.S. Agriculture industries, Black Agriculture in the 21st Century will continue to create that new paradigm, building upon a solid foundation.

I leave you love. I leave you hope. I leave you the challenge of developing confidence in one another. I leave you respect for the use of power. I leave you faith. I leave you racial dignity.

Mary McLeod Bethune

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Michael Harris, CEO, Publisher
Black Agriculture Journal
USDA/CBO Partners Solutions Team Member