Sen. Corey Booker authored a bill which attempts to redress harm done to black farmers by decades of being refused access to loans/services by the Department of Agriculture, loans which white farmers were routinely given. The bill is law, but has been held up by a coalition supporting white farmers alleging it is discriminatory to help black farmers. The article above highlights the legal assistance work one non-profit is doing in the meantime to help black farmers. @StillIRise1963
@Barrikoi1 This land issues touches a lot of us. It happened to my family as well in Maryland. Black farmers seem to go through hell in all sorts of ways, from seeds to loans to land.
@alyazaIt doesn’t seem one hears good news about black farmers very often. The attorney in the article is sure fighting the good fight though. I just started volunteer gardening this year with incarcerated teens, primarily kids of color. People deserve a full range of life experiences.
While in the Peace Corps, I taught one young man, our school Captain (our class leader in the Kenyan system). He paid for school costs by plowing four acres with a team of oxen for corn
@Barrikoi1 Unfortunately, we don’t. There are some great lawyers focusing on African Americans and land nowadays. It’s an uphill battle, like most things around here, but the only way forward is through. I only started to learn a little bit about the history and present day plight of Black farmers during the Trump admin. And, I think gardening is a great thing for young people to learn. There’s something centering about growing things, using your hands, working with soil.
@alyaza@Barrikoi1 I wish I’d had a stint in the Peace Corps. The world is a fascinating place.
@alyazaI had a good friend in the Peace Corps, Dorothy Hamilton, who joined the Peace Corps after retiring from teaching in Oakland. Dorothy was 72! She was an African-American, and served her entire two year term, which not everyone is able to do. She had raised one son, who became a Postmaster, so I guess she felt free to try an adventure. This was in 1982.
@Barrikoi1 I knew an older woman who joined to get away from her husband. She was Catholic and couldn’t divorce him, so she joined. I just looked to see that it’s being reconstituted post Trump. I might just go have an adventure in a few years.
@alyazaI understand once you’ve learned two languages the third is much easier, so you’d be in a good situation even if you didn’t go to a Spanish speaking country. 👍