- Just ahead on Black Issues Forum, a new lawsuit on behalf of black farmers illuminates once again racial inequity in agriculture, but also continuing efforts by black farmers to gain ground.

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[upbeat music] ♪ Welcome to Black Issues Forum, I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

Agriculture is big business, especially here in North Carolina where it is one of the top industries feeding our economy.

Farming has long provided generational wealth for farmers and their families.

But while black people have been farming ever since our country's inception, black farmers have always had to battle racially discriminatory practices to do business and hold onto their land.

Despite social progress today, black farmers are still fighting for a seat at the table and they're also using innovation to create space.

Today, we will talk about both of these efforts starting with a young farmer in Orange County, who's not only growing food, he's working to bring more young people into farming.

Producer Kenia Thompson takes us to Sankofa Farms in Efland to meet farmer, Kamal Bell.

- My idea for our community, is to have a similar distribution program to what the Black Panthers had.

I want our food to be at a lower cost, or free to us.

- [Narrator] Free food is a rarity within the black community, but Kamal is determined to put an end to local food deserts with Sankofa Farms.

- We started Sankofa in 2016.

That's when we received the fund acquiring the farm in 2016.

The savior in our stories are people who are like us.

They're black people.

- [Narrator] And historically, black people held majority ownership of land.

16 million acres, to be exact, in the early 1900s - So Sankofa comes outta West Africa, comes outta the Akan language, and it's represented - We just had a bumblebee.

[laughs] That's a good sign this time of the year to see bumblebees.

- [Narrator] Okay, good!

Speaking of bees, Kamal is also a beekeeper.

Let's take a little detour and visit the honey bees on site.

We're gonna go and take a look at the beehives that they have here.

And so we've got to have safety first.

You wanna put my gloves on?

- You're outside.

You'll have resources like honey or pollen.

But toward the middle of the colony, is where you'll have what's called a brood chamber.

And that's where the queen lays her eggs and that's where the bees raise the eggs to larvae.

When they hatch out, they'll become larvae, to pupae, and then you'll get a full adult honey bee.

- Okay.

- So we're gonna go inside the brood chamber.

- Now these bees seem very calm.

Is that normal?

- That's based on their genetics.

- Okay.

- So we have different types of genetics at the farm.

These are Italian honey bees.

But we do have Russian bees as well.

- The honey that they create, how sacred is that?

- So, I think that honey is very, very sacred, and we can actually can see some right here.

It's shiny.

It's right here.

- Oh, I see it.

- And what I do with it, depending on the weather, and the condition of the hive, we will actually leave the honey inside the colony.

- Bee season is coming to an end.

And so you allow them to hibernate during the winter, and keep them safe.

- So they do something similar to hibernation.

- Okay.

- It's called over wintering.

So hibernation is technically like going into a dormant stage and almost sleeping.

But what bees will do, they actually don't go to sleep.

They just cluster up in a ball, and vibrate, to keep it around 95 degrees.

And then on days where it's 55 degrees or warmer, they leave the colony to use the bathroom, to go forage on resources.

And the queen uses that time to lay eggs to keep the population stable.

- [Narrator] Now, let's get back to the root of it all.

The meaning of Sankofa.

- It is represented by a mythical bird whose body is facing forward, but is looking back, clasping an egg.

The egg represents, or is symbolic of our history.

So the idea behind the Sankofa bird is to embrace your history as you move forward in life.

So how we teach it to our students is we want to center African history to solve our context as we move forward to address things that we see in our communities.

Through my maturation through college at North Carolina A&T, I was able to get connected with resources that put me in a position to eventually acquire a farm.

The USDA originally denied me.

They didn't wanna give me the farm.

So then I had to appeal it, but then as I started to research, I saw why there was a disconnect between black farmers and acquiring land, and their relationship proximity to the USDA.

Historically, what the USDA has done is they have a loan, a predatory loan system that doesn't carry the black farmer.

So you end up getting these revolving loans that completely, that eventually compound, you can't pay on 'em, and then you go into a process where they take your farm.

- [Narrator] For Kamal and many other black farmers, the land is what matters most.

- Farming just allows you to be in a safe place.

For me, it's about the totality of our people being able to get reintroduced back into agriculture.

A lot of the conversation has been centered around land justice and us, in reparations.

Though that has come up a lot, sovereignty, but I think we have to start having a different conversation about what to do once we get the land.

Kamal Bell is creating space through his work and farmers are also fighting for ground in the courts.

On October 12th, civil rights attorney Ben Crump filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of four black farmers claiming breach of contract on the Congressional repeal of a $4 billion debt relief program for minority farmers.

This was an amount that was covered in the March, 2021 budget reconciliation package.

Before the money from that package could be dispersed, white farmers filed an injunction claiming the program was unconstitutional and that it discriminated against them.

What are the larger implications of this lawsuit?

And let's talk about it.

Let's get right into it.

I wanna introduce La'Meisha Wittington of Advanced Carolina.

LA, welcome, first of all.

But why after Congress approved a plan does there appear to be kind of a switcheroo where now those funds to relieve black farmers' debts are no longer available through the original plan but through a replacement plan with a bigger pot of money which sounds really good, but it's available to all farmers?

- So thank you first, Deb, for having me a part of this really critical conversation.

This is one of, when we talk about land loss, especially for black families, this is one of the largest civil rights fights of our generation.

And so for context, we have to talk about the actual lawsuit, but before then, the actual policy and the legislation that was challenged.

So the American Rescue Plan Act, as we call it ARPA, is this federal policy, this legislation that allocated historic amount of funding, the largest amount of money we will ever see or have ever seen in the history of this nation due to COVID-19.

And so this funding has been divided into different pots, different buckets.

And so we saw Congressional elected officials like Senator Corey Booker who actually introduced this legislation.

When we're talking about protecting black family farm land from land loss, we see Senator Warnock and other officials who actually make sure to step into place to say, well, let's make sure we can actually kinda support farmers who have been in debt and have also been discriminated against historically, and have been in a deficit long before Pandemic, pandemic just exacerbated that existing deficit.

So when we talk about black land loss, we already know that $326 billion worth of land was lost from black family farms, we're already in a deficit.

So this bill, 1005 of the American Rescue Plan Act was supposed to allocate, and did say it, that the US Department of Agriculture who is a history of discriminating against, well, black families and farmers and brown families of farmers.

We're talking about Native Americans, Alaskan Native, Asian-American, specific Islanders and Hispanics.

And so this portion of the American Rescue Plant Act was supposed to allocate and actually pay 100% of the farmer's outstanding debts, and an additional 20% to cover tax liabilities, just to get folks outta debt.

And debt that really we shouldn't even be in if it wasn't due to the discrimination we wouldn't be in.

And it would've covered those loan costs.

So that's some of the lawsuit.

But then we could talk more about your question here in a moment around, well, what's shifted?

Why is that now changed?

But I'll pause there.

- Thank you, thank you.

So in a way, there were some reparations made available, but the reparations haven't been paid.

And here white farmers have come through and said, "Well now wait a minute, that's not fair."

And filed an injunction.

And so now, none of those black farmers were able to get that debt relief and so to speak, level the playing field.

And it just seems like this has been going on since, to my knowledge, at least the '80s.

In and out of court, black farmers go to court, they get the ruling in their favor because the documentation is there but it takes so very long for this to happen.

Meanwhile, they're losing land, they're going out of business, they're unable to purchase seed.

And now we're in a place where Ben Crump has filed this lawsuit, why are they able to just magically make this switch in Congress when it was already agreed upon?

- So something you name, this is a cycle, that's what I really wanna call it.

And it was built into the tapestry of our nation, the very founding.

And so some of the very first fights for black land was actually post emancipation, because right in 1862 before the emancipation papers were signed, there was actually laws that were passed to prepare for emancipation that was going to allocate land called the Homestead Act, the Freeman's Bureau, Field Orders number 15.

These are actual names of policies and laws that were passed in the federal level to move and to actually delineate land amongst free people of color.

And so what happened is that once that policy was passed and land was supposed to be given back to black communities, the various same thing happened.

Former Confederate leaders who now had political positions within the federal government, specifically President Andrew Jackson, overturned it.

So what we saw was, from the very inception, this nation has been the cycle of rightfully giving land back to our foundationist communities, back to emancipated folks, and then the building of the economic and political power squelched, because of being overturned by challenges of people who wanted to and what happened during that time is not only was it overturned but the land was given back to former plantation owners.

- And you know- - So we also see this legacy.

- Right, we see the legacy and like you said, we see the cycle and that's why John Boyd I believe, has said you know what?

We're sort of given up on the courts to provide any kind of fairness in this.

And Black farmers and others are trying to find their own remedies and go correct things and count on themselves even though these subsidies, these programs are entitlements that all farmers are entitled to kind of cash in on.

But the government is indeed failing in that way.

Let me ask you this, are there programs out there to assist in keeping land and perhaps even obtaining land?

- Sure, so it's a longer conversation to talk about the different programs so I'm going to steer folks into the direction of organizations that can help you navigate maybe the differences, whether it's heir's property issues you may be incurring, maybe it's from heir's property to wills to conservation land trust.

There can be so many different programs that can meet the needs of your land issue so the Land Loss Prevention Project, F.A.R.M.S which is F.A.R.M.S with Jillian Hishaw.

We have the Interfaith Food Shuttle and I also have to elevate my own firm, Nebiyah, N-E-B-I-Y-A-H Consulting, actually helped mitigate land loss and have been able to help secure 100 acres this year alone for two different families and about $13 million for another community.

So when we talk about reach out to us because what's happening is this process, this program's supposed to allocate $4 billion.

It has been halted by the courts because of these lawsuits that was brought by attorneys from the former Trump administration.

So it's still ongoing, still fighting the courts, that's what we have to do.

Our protest has to be in the courts because that's how it's set up.

But in the meantime, contact these organizations to help mitigate farm land loss or help you to acquire that land.

- Excellent.

Well, LA, the battle for equity in farming does not end in the fields.

Foods harvested me to make it to market for buyers.

Twice a month, The Black Farmers Market in Raleigh and Durham is creating access and opportunity in this space.

Producer Meredith Brown brings us this story.

- If you want to know what a pocket of joy looks like, come to The Black Farmers Market.

[bright upbeat music] - It's different from going to a grocery store like, you know what I'm saying?

It's just the culture of it, I guess.

- It feels like I'm at like a family cookout or something.

- It's not like walking into an outdoor store, it is walking into a party.

Our farmers, our ranchers, our growers, they are like healing and reconciling our relationship to the food we eat and the ways in which we are planted on land that doesn't harm us but is actually for our good.

[bright upbeat music] [Amber humming] - There's very little Black owned land in the United States and so that's something that is a really big issue for Black farmers.

Being on this land means a lot because it allows me to carry on traditions of my family and the family that used to own this land and keeping it within a Black family allows it to generationally continue to pass down and stay within Black hands.

- Ooh, I hit the jackpot again.

- Ooh, yes, you did.

Beautiful.

Elijah's Farm is named after my son.

A lot of the kids in his age group do not get the same experiences as I had as a kid that kinda made me a hard worker and very diligent so I wanted to give him those opportunities and I wanted him to have something that was in his name.

Part of the benefit of The Black Farmers Market is that it allows each of us to be able to sell within our community which would not normally happen because we don't find Black farmers in the grocery store.

You don't find Black farmers products at the market.

And so being able to have a market allows us to expose more people in our community to what we're doing.

- The mission of The Black Farmers Market is to inspire a self sufficient community that supports and protects Black farmers and entrepreneurs.

Eating is a human experience, everybody needs food to survive.

Because of that, the market is for everyone.

We intentionally prioritize people of color, Black people specifically because we want Black people to know that farmers markets are for them too.

- When you come into this market, your perspective of agriculture changes here.

It's people who look like you who are supplying the goods and the services.

- OMG Lemonade, we're all natural beverage company.

We specialize in flavorless, delicious and nutritious lemonade, from farm to family.

That's what makes us unique.

- We really just wanted to come experience the sense of community and kinda get to know some of the local farmers that are here in the area especially some of the Black local farmers.

That's something that I kind of grew up with and around and I haven't been able to find it since.

So it's been really amazing seeing this kinda pop up and being able to come from Greensboro.

- This is not just a space for commerce, it's a place for community and education and so people can come and enjoy this market without needing to buy produce.

- The Black Farmers Market has helped me to grow as a business because they gave me my start.

If it wasn't for The Black Farmers Market, I wouldn't be prepared to go to the other markets that I now attend.

It has just opened up doors that would not have normally been open to me so that I could get to a point to be successful.

- Everyone should make it their responsibility to come to one of these events.

There's plenty throughout the summertime.

Find a date, come to Durham or come to Raleigh and make your way here for sure.

- [Deborah] The Black Farmers Market is held monthly in Durham and Raleigh through November.

In Durham, the market is at Hillside High School.

And in Raleigh, you can find it at the southeast Raleigh YMCA.

For more information on dates and times, visit blackfarmersmkt.com or follow their Facebook page by searching for The Black Market NC.

- I'd like to welcome Brielle Wright, a lifelong farmer, who in 2020 co-founded, along with her sister, the Farmer's B.A.G., which stands for "Blessed", "Abundant" and "Gifted".

Brielle, welcome to the conversation.

You know, a lot of people are excited about the black farmers' market and it's indeed a market for all consumers, correct?

- That is correct.

- Interestingly enough, when this story was shared on our North Carolina weekend series, there were some comments, and I'd love your feedback.

For example, one viewer wrote, "I don't understand the double standards," and another simply said, "Racism.

Amazing."

And another one wrote, "So is my whiteness welcome there?"

What are your thoughts when you hear those comments?

- Well, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to be here and speak about this.

When I hear those comments, I would just like to ask you to come out to the black farmers' market and experience it for yourself.

It is a welcoming and open environment where everyone can come and enjoy the good food, the music, and just the culture.

Being able to submerge yourself into what black culture is and how vast and how much of a variety you get when you walk into that space.

I love the fact that we get to answer questions like this because it gives people an opportunity or gives us an opportunity to say, "Come on out and see us."

So to everyone who has made those comments, come and join us at the black farmers' market and I promise you that you'll leave with a totally different perspective.

- Wow.

I love that you used the word "culture" because that's what I saw in that story.

LA, when people ask, you know, "Why is there a black farmers' market?

Why is there a black anything?"

What are you hearing?

- What I hear is history and legacy.

We were forced to create alternative food systems whether it was because of discrimination from the US Department of Agriculture, which wouldn't give us loans if we had heirs property, or bank discrimination loans, which gave loans to neighboring competitive farmers that were not of color, whether it was massacres - Wilmington 1898.

The reason that was so important with farming is because when the new government came in, they passed actual ordinances that prevented black farmers from selling within Wilmington city limits and made it illegal to buy from black farmers.

So when we talk about why, it's because we had to create alternative systems and we had to create those actual black farmers' markets whether it was in the Civil Rights Movement, through the Poor People's Corporation, who sold farmers' wares and products in storefronts, or Fannie Lou Hamer who started a co-op.

So she'd grow crops and then hire black people who were fired for protesting.

Or Jesse Jackson, who actually started the same farmers' market in Philadelphia and Chicago, or in Atlanta, the first Southern farmers' market.

Why, is because we had to, and we're inventive.

We don't just take injustice lying down.

We not only use our voices to protest against it, we use our hands to build empires and systems.

And guess what?

It's a black-owned business.

So in America, small businesses are the bedrock; in America, freedom of speech.

So I have to say, when I hear those things, we choose to name farmers' markets after ourselves because it's our products and our alternative systems.

So I just would literally behoove folks to let us mind our own black business while we're creating our own black businesses.

[laughing] - I have heard that.

I hear you on that.

And you know, the questioning of a black anything, for me, it reflects a lack of recognition of blackness as culture.

No one would question, I don't think, a Hispanic fair or an Asian grocery or a Latino bank.

So what could people better understand about black identity as a culture, Brielle?

- One of the things that I think people have to realize is that black culture is so vast, right?

You're bringing in so many people from different locations, whether, and blackness is just not African-Americans.

You have to think about black people all over the world, people of color, - That's right.

- in general, and whenever we think about the spaces we have to be in on a day to day basis, we're not always welcome in those spaces.

And for anyone, when you think about the women's suffrage movement, when you think about just different things that have happened over history, everyone wants to be seen, wants to be heard.

And I look forward to the day, whenever we as black and brown people, can be honored for that as well; that we're not looked at, like we're trying to create some separate space or separate identity.

We're just trying to share the vastness of our culture with other people.

We're just trying to tell the story in all the many different ways that we express who we are and we look forward to people being able to enjoy that with us because it's a joy to be black and brown.

Even despite, the struggles and the things that we see and the things that happen to us on a daily basis, we still have to find the spaces to be joyful and excited.

And the black farmers' market provides that safe space for us.

The black farmers' market was created out of culture and out of a need for black farmers to grow, for them to be able to thrive, for them to have a place where they could sell their goods and merchandise for equal pay and being cherished for what they do because they weren't welcome in other spaces.

So it's a beautiful thing to have, to be a part of black culture.

- I don't think that that should be missed.

What you said, the welcome is there.

People, anyone is welcome at the Black Farmers' Market.

It just so happens to be goods that are made and provided by black people.

But the inclusion part, the feeling of inclusion, and the feeling of welcome in other spaces, are at the root of why some of these new spaces get created.

If the other spaces, LA, share a little bit about, the people who you get to rub shoulders with, with regard to actually having full and complete access, and inclusion at these other markets.

- And this is something I wanna say as a resource 'cause that's a question that's come up in our conversation today, Ms. Deborah's folks are listening in.

There are communities that are able to build, of course, farmers' markets, and being able to share and resource.

But I want to make folks informed that there's a new environmental justice and external civil rights office that the US EDPA has recently announced.

And guess what, as we go into elections, it's very critical that we vote in the right people.

Because this office will have 200 staff members and be responsible for dispersing $3 billion in grants.

So when we talk about the funding that's available and the resources, resources are coming to our communities but we have to be prepared to be able to apply for those grants, to be able to be dynamic in saying, "How are black farmers?"

Also, we know the economic bedrock, right?

Of our nation.

But I really wanna amplify that because it's a rubbing shoulders in communities.

The government in this moment is creating historical funding that is going to revolutionize and transform communities, but we have to be prepared to apply for that funding in order to see farmers' markets, black farmers' markets supported and at scale across the nation, but also individual farm land and homesteads.

- Absolutely.

Thank you for sharing that information.

La'Meshia Whittington, Brielle Wright, we really appreciate you joining us for the conversation.

- Thank you.

- And we invite you to engage with us on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag, BlackIssuesForum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum, or listen at any time on Apple iTunes, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.

For "Black Issues Forum", I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

We'll see you next time.

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