"You can't blame it on the Bush administration anymore, I can't figure out for the life of me why the president wouldn't want to implement a bill that he fought for as a U.S. senator."
~John Boyd, Head of the National Black Farmers Association.
It’s a sad story on how America has undermined black farmers. New developments with the farmers have been the talk of the black blogosphere last week. Apparently President Obama is waffling in his support for black farmers. Not you Prez!!!!! Not after all “ya peoples” came out to support you? I know white folks supported Obama and other races as well. But black folks came out in droves. Black folks who haven’t voted since Reagan was in charge came out. I’m not going to jump on the “You better look out for us” bandwagon. But when there are clear injustices in America, he needs to give them priority. Do you think during Dubya’s term in office they got an audience with him? If you weren’t Colin Powell, Condi, the Maid or the Butler you didn’t see that dude. If you want further background on black farmers in America please check out: “We Didn’t Get Nothing:” The Plight of Black Farmers.
Does President Obama owe anything to the black farmers? Does he owe anything to black folks in general? What do you think?
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6 comments:
The black blogosphere is interesting.
I'd make the argument, most black bloggers are in some semblance of a metropolitan area--what we know about farming? We didn't give the black farmers two craps until this story dropped---WTF?!?!?
I agree that the way in which many in the Black blogosphere have reported on this particular story is somewhat baffling. Many, for example, ran with an incomplete and misleading AP story, without following up what was actually said to the farmers by representatives speaking on behalf of Congress and the administration. Some commenters to a few posts I saw seemed completely ignorant about what, exactly, the Pigford case was about.
Honestly, I am much more concerned about holding the administration accountable for what it has not yet done yet to fulfill Candidate and Senator Obama's promises regarding Katrina/levee breech relief and rebuilding efforts.
But I guess NOLA is no longer "sexy" or something...
Uppity – I wanted to do my post a little different on the subject. I gave the book as a reference so people who don’t know the background for this situation will be informed. Actually my mother is from North Carolina (large percentage of black farmers with issues). She grew up working on farms picking tobacco (we aren’t that far removed America). By the time I came along most of my relatives were Gentleman Farmers (I use the word loosely). I remember my Great Grandmother feeding the hogs, chickens and growing vegetables etc. My Grandmother across the street had a chicken coup and a corn field. Now am I sitting out in the cabbage patch blogging right now….ha ha ha NO! But I come from people that lived off the land. When people were freed as slaves, farming was their specialty. To see the numbers of black farmers decrease is frightening. It’s not like we got into farming last week. Our history in farming is historic (George Washington Carver!!!!!!!!!)
Post racial - holding the administration accountable for Katrina…..you will be holding your breath on that one. People are going to try to make Katrina a blurb in the history book (i.e. The Trail of Tears). It’s sad but that’s the difference between Greenburg Kansas and 4th Ward NOLA. One is praised for how it rebuilt the other is swept under the rug.
Well my dad and his older sisters always talk about picking cotton as kids down in Louisiana as a means of feeding a seven member house. But actual farming no. I didn't mean to discredit the actual plight of these farmers, my comment was actually more a criticism of black bloggers.
Not you per se, lol.
We need to get to the bottom of this before we judge. Lets send out information to Michele Obama to check out.
lets get to the bottom of this. Send the info ot Michele Obama to check out
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