It is a sickness for black people to have more regard for other people than they have for themselves! You love these holidays, You love that white picture of Jesus whom you have never seen, You love animals (only because they don’t talk back), You love supporting all these bogus charities, You don’t love yourselves through your actions, You don’t love black people who look just like you! That is sick! You love the dream! We rather hold the hands of white supremacy before we hold the hand of black sovereignty, black self -determination and black love! How sick can we be?!!!!!!!!!!
That dream of little black girls, little white boys, little black boys and little white girls holding hands together……that dream is leading to our demise. That false premise, that everything is okay……That illusion, that drug, that false hope……That dream! That dream that your enemy, your adversary, your foe is going to wake up and see you as human! That dream! That dream! That dream of equality!……That dream! That dream! That dream that your vote counts!!!!! That dream! That dream! That dream…….That slavery never happened, That dream…that our ancestors were not kidnapped, That dream…that our ancestors were not brutalized…That dream……..That Jim Crow never happened! That dream of being free, but knowing that you are not free! That dream of wanting to be treated right and knowing that you are not being treated right! That damnable nightmare of “One Nation Under GOD” indivisible and justice for all…….
Wake up from your slumber, my mighty people, Wake up from your slumber, my mighty people!!!!!! Look at yourself in the mirror, Look into your children’s eyes! Look at all that potential! Our children (good, bad or indifferent) should be our priority! Our children have limitless potential and we should guide them! Our children deserve the right to be sanctified (set apart) and for us to deem them as special. Our children are potential freedom fighters! Our children are potential healers! Our children are potential agents of change for the world! We need to see that in our children and act accordingly…..Not later, but NOW! NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOW OUR CHILDREN THAT WE CARE AND VALUE THEM!
Time For An Awakening
Bro. Reggie
Community
-
BLACK FARMERS STILL FACING LAND LOSS, DISCRIMINATION.
Farming is one of the main staples in human life, unfortunately, Black farmers have struggled to get the same rights as White farmers. Today, Black farmers are still fighting for their rights. From 1920 to 2000, Blacks went from owning 20 million acres to 1,500,00 acres owned by Black farmers. U.S. Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman consented to the decree on April 14, 1999. The settlement recognized discrimination against Black farmers. The settlement was the largest civil rights class action settlement in American history with over $2 billion. Black farmers continued to protest due to not receiving the money from the settlement and debt relief. Investigations were launched which led to the discovery that the USDA was holding back three quarters of the $2.3 billion. This led to another suit, Pigford II. To many Black farmers the claims amount of $50,000 was not sufficient, it has been more about access to loans, debt relief and land loss. The administration under leadership of President Obama that has claimed victory for our Black Farmers is far from the truth. The discrimination that contributed to the decline of the Black Farmer as well as loss of land, that lead to the Black Farmers Settlement, still persist. You can get involved and join this fight for our farmers by joining an organization.
Here is some information:
Black Farmers & Agruculturalis Association (BFAA) at tillery@aol.com or call 252 826-3017.
https://www.gofundme.com/39m8623g
-
Black Farmers Continue Pressing USDA and Obama Administration and Supreme Court for Justice.
By Barrington M. Salmon Aug. 7, 2016
For more than two decades, Black farmers have driven tractors to Capitol Hill and walked the halls of Congress, coaxing, cajoling and confronting lawmakers.
They have also filed lawsuits, protested and demonstrated. All of this an effort to correct an admittedly egregious legacy of racism and discrimination by the US Department of Agriculture.
Despite high profiled settlements several years ago, just last month, three dozen farmers and their supporters from Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kentucky descended on the steps of the United States Supreme Court. At the rally and demonstration, the protesters promised to fight until they’re heard and one of their members, Bernice Atchison, filed a writ with the Supreme Court.
“[Former USDA Secretary Dan] Glickman acknowledged that the agency had discriminated against Black farmers. We have dealt with bias, discrimination and double standards,” said Georgia Farmer Eddie Slaughter in front of the court. “We had supervised accounts which meant they had power over our money and county loan officers discriminated against Black farmers. It’s been nothing but fraud, deceit and breach of contract. Our damages are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. They have persecuted us and now, 35-40 percent of Black farmers have been run out of the business. They were supposed to return one and a half million acres of land to Black farmers but didn’t.”
Slaughter concluded, “We’re here to say Black farmers of 2016 are the Dred Scott of 1857. He demanded to be free. The fraud and corruption amounts to economic terrorism against Black farmers. We don’t have anyone standing up for us. The Congressional Black Caucus or President Obama could have created a national investigative commission. But they’ve done nothing. Equal justice under the law does not exist in this.”
Bernice Atchison, president of Black Farmers of Alabama, agreed as she recounted her long ordeal since the USDA seized and sold 239 acres of family land.
“My husband’s father died and they sold the land on the steps of the courthouse,” she explained as she held an armful of folders. “I’ve been fighting since 1983. I’m 78 years old. It’s been a long time for me. I have enough evidence that it would take a truck to haul it away. I walked the halls of the Capitol Hill with (the late) John Boyd, going from office-to-office.”
In 2004, Congress asked Atchison to testify before a subcommittee.
“They said my face was the face of the 66,000 Black farmers who’d been denied and said my due process had been violated,” She recalled. “Congress called me as an expert eyewitness before them and a judge gave me standing in the court. I’m the most impacted but I haven’t been paid. They’re punishing me. We’re asking for justice not a set amount.”
Atchison said she has a case on the docket that she filed in 2014. But, she says she and her colleagues have hit a brick wall.
“It’s been 20 years that farmers have been saying that they’ve been mistreated and we’re still losing land,” said Gary R. Grant, president of the Black Farmers & Agriculturists Association & The Land Loss Fund. “Where we had one million farmers, that number is down to 20,000. Many farmers feel a sense of helplessness, a number are suffering from disease and health issues we’ve never dealt with such as diabetes and high blood pressure. They’re wiping us out. The land isn’t disappearing. It’s been stolen from us.”
Grant said there has been no Congressional investigation into the assortment of alleged abuses by local farm service agencies.
“Not a single employee at USDA has lost their job,” said Grant. “Between 1981 and 1996, 64 percent of Black farmers have (disappeared) and only one person was forced to retire but with full benefits.”
Repeated attempts to secure comments and reaction from the USDA were not successful. However, a 1994 USDA study examined the treatment of racial minorities and women as the agency was weathered allegations of pervasive racial discrimination in the way its employees handled applications for farm loans and grants to primarily Southern black farmers. Between 1990 and 1995, researchers found that “minorities received less than their fair share of USDA money for crop payments, disaster payments, and loans.”
The final report noted that the USDA gave corporations 65 percent of loans, while 25 percent of the largest payments went to White male farmers. Further, 97 percent of disaster payments went to White farmers, with less than 1 percent reaching black farmers.
The study highlighted “gross deficiencies” in the way the USDA collected and handled data which muddied the reasons for the discrepancies in treatment between Black and White farmers in such a manner that the reasons couldn’t easily be determined.
Carol Estes, in a story about the travails of Black farmers in a Yes! Magazine article headlined, “Second Chance for Black Farmers,” details one of the many challenges.
Estes reports, “The USDA does provide a remedy for farmers who believe they’ve been treated unfairly: They can file a claim with the agency’s civil rights complaint office in Washington, DC,” she said. “There’s a hitch, though. Ronald Reagan shut down that office in 1983, and the USDA never informed farmers. So for the next 13 years, until the office was reopened by the Clinton administration, black farmers’ complaints literally piled up in a vacant room in the Agriculture building in Washington.”
The farmers who congregated in front of the Supreme Court cited figures ranging from 14,000 to 40,000 cases they say the USDA has failed to process. The official put in charge of unblocking the bottleneck is a part of the problem because he’s made no effort to facilitate the processing of the backed up claims, they charge.
The farmers have received two settlements, Pigford I and II, class action lawsuits which together have allocated about $2.25 billion to tens of thousands of Black farmers. The first lawsuit was settled in April 1999 by US District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman. And in December 2010, Congress appropriated $1.2 billion for 70,000 additional claimants.
The judgment was the largest civil rights settlement in this country’s history. While some see the settlement as a victory, for most Black farmers it’s bitter-sweet because the settlement payments aren’t enough to buy farm equipment, give farmers long-term comfort; and in no way makes up for the destruction of rural Black communities and the theft of land by government officials, they say.
For example, the farmers detailed the travails of Eddie and Dorothy Wise, North Carolina farmers who were forced off their 106-acre farm in January by 14 heavily armed sheriffs and federal marshals. They said this happened without the couple being granted any hearing. Wise, a 67-year-old retired Green Beret and his wife, a retired grants manager, lived on their farm for more than 20 years. After being evicted, the Wises lost their property and are living in a hotel. A GoFundMe page is soliciting help for the family. Supporters have raised $6,000 toward the $50,000 goal.
“Nothing has been done to enhance the opportunities and fairness. What they’ve been doing is working to manipulate and separate the black farmer from his community where he lives, and critically himself,” said Grant.
Lawrence Lucas, who worked with the federal government for 38 years, said little has changed at the agency.
“There’s a reason why they call the USDA ‘the last plantation.’ The civil rights problems there have not been fixed,” said Lucas, president emeritus of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees. “Ninety-seven percent of Black farmers did not get the debt relief promised in the agreement. Things are not better, which is why we have to stand up.”
The farmers said the White House, the US Department of Justice, Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights leaders have done little to bring this long-running saga to a close.
“Cases have not been processed and no investigation has been undertaken,” Lucas said.
Oklahoma resident Muhammad Robbalaa said he was at the rally “because a fighter doesn’t quit.”
He said, “I have an older brother who lost his land in 1983. He had a stroke after we fought a battle with the State Supreme Court,” said Robbalaa, 75. “They ruled that it was other folks land and they gave it to White folks. I’m still in the cattle business and my daughters have come back and joined the business. I originally owned 250 acres of land but now I’m on leased land.”
Grant, Slaughter, Atchison and the other farmers said the government has colluded, nothing’s changed, they are further victimized and the land they own continues to be seized and stolen.
“People think that Pigford and $50,000 settled all our issues, but it hasn’t. You can’t even buy a tractor with just that,” Grant said. “They continue to take and foreclose Black farmers. The (lawsuit) assured us a hearing before foreclosure and that has not happened. All we want is justice and equality.”
-
“One Million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors” (OMCBV&C)
We are calling for (minimally) one million Race-conscious Black voters to join forces with us, and as our One Million continue to hear and heed our call-to-arms, the abundance of talent, skills, and expertise to be found among you will readily become evident, and each of you will begin to find or make your place in our ranks, and take on assignments critical to our eventual success.
What is a “Conscious Black Voter?” The One Million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors Movement refers to Black individuals who are fully aware that our race needs the best-and-brightest we produce to place the interests of our people collectively in “first-position.” In doing so, we put into practice what all other racial and ethnic groups do routinely and automatically.
This is By calling the best and brightest among us to join forces and pool resources to build the capacity of our race to advance and protect its collective interests, the One Million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors campaign seeks to have black people do what other groups have done and do every day: Lift ourselves out of our lowly condition by our own collective efforts! A conscious Black voter would do this by voting as part of a solid block of Black voters determined to influence public policy decisions so that they favor rather than hurt black people, and open pathways to a better future for our children.
Correspondingly, a conscious Black contributor would readily pool his/her financial and other resources and resourcefulness to provide the wherewithal to underwrite the costs of projects and programs designed and intended to serve the needs and interests of our people.
To the skeptics out there who think Black folks are too individualistic to come together in such a large number, that one million Black folks will not cooperate, that we have too many schisms among us, and we will not trust one another, we say, “Not so.”
To the doubters who continue to have faith in Democratic AND Republican platforms, which have ignored our needs, collaborated against our best interests, and engaged in flawed analyses of problems and the solutions thereof, we say, “not so fast.”
We submit to you that even within the most reactionary, non-revolutionary Black person there is at least a REMNANT of a DESIRE to love Black people; and it is that residue of unrequited love that we are appealing to. Our assertion is that there are at least 1 million Black folks actively seeking for ways, means and reasons for us to come together to take corrective ACTION.
We invite you to become One of the Million Conscious Black Voters and help us break the ties that bind our people to dependency, self-negation, and the lowest rung on the political, social and economic ladder of American society.
Be “One of the Million” and let’s finally let our people and everyone else know that we are very serious about being economically and politically empowered.
PLEASE JOIN http://www.iamoneofthemillion.com/
