California Black Farmers Support Unity Rally For Justice in our Nation's Capitol

WASHINGTON, DC ~ Leaders of the nations largest Black farmers organizations will mark a decade since the inception of the grassroots movement for justice in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) farm system across the nation, at a rally outside the USDA headquarters (facing the National Mall.) Today, 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, April 26, 2006.

The famous mules Struggle and 40 Acres will be in Washington for event. Farm organization leaders and hundreds of members and supporters will then meet with Congressional supporters on Capitol Hill.

Speakers will include Dr. John W. Boyd, Jr., president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association; John J. Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO; Reverend Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow Push Coalition; Leroy W. Warren, Jr., Chairman of the NAACP Federal Sector Task Force; and Gary Grant, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association; and others.

Major timely issues are now on the agenda of the nations leading Black farmers groups. They will be asking government leaders to:

Provide Black farmers with equal credit opportunity.

Include Black farmers in subsidy programs.

Return money taken from farmers through offsets.

Order the USDA Office of Civil Rights to re-open thousands (over 9,000) Black farmers complaints that were closed without an investigation.

Revamp the County Committee System that discriminates against Black farmers.

Distribute program funds in a fair and equitable manner.

Put a stop to US Marshal's/USDA blatant abuse of the laws of land

Restitution for farmers whose land/farm have been seized thru abusive and unlawful acts.

For a decade the plight of Black farmers has captivated national attention. The issue has been discussed in the Oval Office of the White House, in the leaders chambers of Capitol Hill, and in farm houses across the nation. Yet for ten years the movement has struggled with a difficult reality: justice has not been achieved. The number of Black farmers in America, once 1 million strong at the turn of the century, has dwindled to fewer than 20,000 Black farmers. Black farmers can best be described as a dying profession.

Discrimination and mega-farms owned by global conglomerates have contributed to this dramatic decline. Each year bankruptcies and farm foreclosures take their toll. Our National Black Farmers Association and Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association have worked tirelessly to give Black farmers the tools, advanced farm techniques, and legal aide needed to help them succeed.

The NAACP, AFL-CIO, Democratic National Committee, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention are among the national organizations supporting the rally. The California Black Farm and Rancher Summit, June 20-21, 2006 in Capay Valley, will solidify the renaissance of Black Farmers in the golden state.

The test of real support for Black Farmers is what takes place in local communites across America in the coming months.