agriculture - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-28T12:08:08Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/agricultureHumanity Helping Sudan Project determined to #Feed50k in Africa by the end of the year.https://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/humanity-helping-sudan-project-determined-to-feed50k-in-africa-by2014-09-30T17:09:55.000Z2014-09-30T17:09:55.000ZMistah Wilsonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/MistahWilson<div><p><a href="http://www.humanityhelpingsudanproject.org/feed50k/" target="_blank"><img width="750" src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828567820,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="3828567820?profile=original" /></a></p><table class="widget-columns-table"><tbody><tr><td class="widget-columns-column"><div class="widget widget-text" id="widget-8fed52e4-9f58-94f4-8064-8723ce4dd15d"><div class="widget-content"><h1><span class="palette-color4-4">#Feed50K</span></h1><h2><span class="palette-color4-4">The Famine No One Is Talking About</span></h2><p><span class="palette-color4-4"> On July 9, 2011, South Sudan officially gained its independence from Sudan. The young nation’s brief history has been a tumultuous one. Since December of 2013, South Sudan has been embroiled in a bitter civil war between the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups. Thousands have already perished, and the violence persists despite an official cease-fire.</span></p><p><span class="palette-color4-4"> In addition to loss of life, approximately 1.1 million South Sudanese have been forced to flee from their homes to refugee camps, such as those in the Gambella region of western Ethiopia. These refugees have also been cut off from food and other vital resources. Livestock has been lost, and farmers have been unable to plant and harvest crops due to the ongoing fighting. In fact, The United Nations considers South Sudan’s current situation the “worst in the world” when it comes to food. By the end of the year, it is estimated that 235,000 child refugees could be facing malnourishment, and 50,000 of them could die from starvation.</span></p></div></div></td><td class="widget-columns-column"><div class="widget widget-video" id="widget-a8626eb5-b1c1-2cd9-beda-6c1afe61836c"><div class="widget-content"></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="widget widget-text" id="widget-2d58b9c0-da7f-460a-be76-66e37b0fa66a"><div class="widget-content"><p><span class="palette-color4-4"> </span><span class="palette-color4-4">With other world events occupying the vast majority of the media’s attention, the plight of the South Sudanese refugees has not received the attention that it warrants, and therefore they are not getting all of the help they need. That is where organizations like the Humanity Helping Sudan Project come in.</span></p><p><span class="palette-color4-4"> </span><span class="palette-color4-4">The Humanity Helping Sudan Project (HHSP) works to “help refugees help themselves” by providing equipment and supplies that they can use to sustain themselves in the refugee camps, such as fishing nets, chicken farms and wells for drinking water. Manyang Reath Kher, a Gambella refugee and University of Richmond alumnus, founded HHSP in 2008. Over the past six years, the organization has garnered support from several sponsors, most notably VH1, Whole Foods Market, Allegro Coffee, and the American Red Cross. HHSP is also a certified non-government organization, or NGO.</span></p><p><span class="palette-color4-4"> </span><span class="palette-color4-4">To aid the 50,000 at-risk child refugees and bring attention to the ongoing famine in South Sudan, Humanity Helping Sudan Project is launching the FEED50K campaign. The goal of the campaign is to raise at least $50,000 — one dollar per fishing net — to go towards promoting sustainability and growth within the camps instead of simply solving immediate hunger. The campaign will take place primarily through social media websites such as Facebook,</span></p><p><span class="palette-color4-4"><span>Twitter, and Instagram using the simple statement #FEED50k.</span></span></p><p></p><p><span class="palette-color4-4"><span><object width="560" height="315" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data="//www.youtube.com/v/wYBmRntMLXw?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="never" ></param><param name="allowNetworking" value="internal" ></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" ></param><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/wYBmRntMLXw?hl=en_US&version=3" ></param><embed wmode="opaque" width="560" height="315" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="//www.youtube.com/v/wYBmRntMLXw?hl=en_US&version=3" allowscriptaccess="never" allownetworking="internal"></embed><param name="wmode" value="opaque" ></param></object></span></span></p></div></div><p></p></div>News and updates from the Network of Black Farm Groups and Advocateshttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/news-and-updates-from-the-network-of-black-farm-groups-and-advoca2013-04-21T02:09:47.000Z2013-04-21T02:09:47.000ZTheBlackList-Publisherhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListPublisher<div><p style="text-align:left;font-size:14pt;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><strong>As the Pigford I Settlement comes to a close: <a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001GUt4B99oriL4tkcEVnlQq5AM8a2GyP74ZpxQe53iUTry5bjmYeJ6abJH6BzCKgVEk9CprKGdWJhmdgOqLNR64FQGW84_3k85tQKHwPbPwlPdtlCz28CD5-6uddz14aR7VcRw3KXp37jwK4UiXd9B37iykKueXWsQJDG_AEyGywMaeI46rTT1p3kK_T4Hw3ButpThPd8Ix8ML9GfvgUP_THW4zirpexkAMojet73yLrZp7JM505_Xsw==" target="_blank">The Network of Black Farm Groups and Advocates state it was a productive beginning to redress decades of discrimination</a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>The Pigford consent decree on April 14, 1999 marked the first step to offer compensation for thousands of black farmers who faced decades of discrimination from the US Department of Agriculture. That first step is now coming to a close. In fact, recently, a motion was filed to "wind down" the Pigford I consent decree. Fourteen years later, as the commitments in the settlement are complete, the Network of Black Farm Groups and Advocates</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>reflect on the history of USDA discrimination against blacks and reasons for the suit.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>The lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997 (known as Pigford v Glickman) was to address the discriminatory behavior Black farmers, or those attempting to farm, experienced at USDA offices between January 1, 1981 and December 31, 1996. But this 16-year period is just the tip of the iceberg for the long-standing discrimination Blacks have experienced at USDA offices throughout the country and, in fact, throughout the history of the USDA.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>The dates for the suit were chosen because the Reagan administration abolished the USDA's office of civil rights in the 1980's and the Clinton administration reinstated the office in the 1990's. So, for these 16 years, if Black farmers filed a discrimination complaint with the USDA, their complaints were not addressed as there was no one at the USDA with responsibility to do so.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>What service should USDA staff have offered Blacks who requested loan applications or information about farm programs? The regulations state, for one, that the <span>USDA should have offered assistance with the application and assistance to the applicant to</span> determine what program or programs would best meet his or her needs. <span>Also, written applications should have been encouraged and then accepted and</span> further, written applications should have been encouraged by USDA, even if funding was not available at the time, since once funding did become available, applications were considered in the order received.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>There are other regulations as well, of course, but most Black farmers never got beyond the secretary to the supervisor or loan officer to even talk about what they needed, much less being handed a loan application form.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>Violations of the above regulations and many others between 1981 and 1996 toward Black clients by the USDA staff was rampant but, as mentioned, the behavior by USDA staff was not isolated to this 15-year period.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>In fact, if there was ever a lawsuit with documentation citing discriminatory practices by a US government agency, the treatment of Blacks by the USDA is perhaps one of the most compelling and most cited. Report after report since the 1930's New Deal farm programs and up the present have demonstrated on-going discriminatory practices by the USDA.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>Historian James Cobb, in his book The Most Southern Place on Earth: the Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity (1992), mentions the abuse of the Agriculture Adjustment Act (AAA) program. Cobb and others, such as Howard University professor E.E. Lewis (1935), note this abuse was rampant in the Mississippi Delta and elsewhere in the South. With USDA knowledge, powerful cotton planters made sure the allotment payments were filtered through them, rather than directly to their tenant farmers or sharecroppers. As a result, as little as possible of this money went to the tenants or sharecroppers.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>White planters in the South, in fact, made huge amounts of money through this corruption at the expense of Black farmers and this entitlement of white privilege in having the first access to USDA funds has been maintained to the present time.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>Other reports include the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights research results in 1965, 1967 and 1982 finding that discriminatory behavior by the USDA staff was on-going and having a devastating impact on Black farmers. In fact, in 1982 the Commission reported that the main reason Blacks have lost land is because of the USDA itself and its lack of service to the Black community.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>In 1975, The Black Economic Research Center published "Only Six Million Acres: The Decline of Black Owned Land in the Rural South" citing discrimination at USDA and local commercial banks leading to Black land loss. The report stated further that, "The matter of land and the relationship of Black people to land has considerable significance both for the social health of the general society and also for the Black community's own welfare."</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>Congress and the USDA itself have conducted numerous studies on civil rights abuse and discriminatory behavior by the USDA.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>The white economist John <span>Helmuth, on staff of the Senate's Small Business Committee, conducted a study of USDA's 1985 loan programs in Virginia, Mississippi and North Carolina. From a Los Angeles Times article in 1986, entitled "Fast Losing Lands : Blacks Hit Hardest by Farm Crisis", it is noted that Helmuth "discovered that the processing of blacks' loan applications takes a full month longer than whites' applications; black farmers are twice as likely to be rejected, and half of the approved black loans are closely supervised. Only a third of the loans to whites are supervised, he reported." He also found surprisingly, that FmHA offices operate differently from each other "even though they are governed by the USDA's policies and regulations."</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>The USDA reports on discrimination include the Miller "Disparity Study" (1996)</span> <span>that found that from 1990 to 1995, minority participation in FSA programs was very low and minorities received less than their fair share of USDA money for crop payments, disaster payments, and loans. Under the Obama administration another USDA study entitled "<span>Civil Rights Assessment" (2011) again found disparity in the treatment of whites versus blacks in USDA programs.</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>In 1997, USDA Secretary Dan Glickman held listening sessions across the country to hear from minority farmers about the USDA. Glickman said "We have a real opportunity to make positive change in the area if civil rights enforcement at USDA to ensure both our employees and customers are treated fairly and with dignity."</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>Following the listening sessions, Secretary Glickman commissioned a USDA Civil Rights Action Team (CRAT). It is important to note that this was the USDA's own self-study and review. And further, it is also important to note that at the outset CRAT admitted discriminatory treatment of minority farmers by the Department and then explored ways to resolve these problems. The CRAT report was known as "A Time of Act" (1998).</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>Finally, after decades of studies and reports citing discrimination experienced by Blacks at USDA offices, and after excessive loss of Black-owned land, families destroyed, and thousands of Blacks leaving the South because, for one, of lack of services and loans by the USDA, the Pigford lawsuit was settled in 1999 to begin at least some redress of this painful discriminatory behavior. </span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>President Obama's USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack, in fact, began, at the outset of his service in 2009, to implement various programs at USDA to address the historic discrimination throughout his agency. Yet much still needs to be done.</span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><span>Further, as Pigford Class Counsel Attorney J.L. Chestnut noted "No amount of money could adequately pay for the pain and suffering experienced by Black farmers, but at least the nation is now acutely aware of their plight and hopefully the changes at USDA can begin." </span></p>
<p style="color:#8c2000;font-size:14pt;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>Network of Black Farm Groups and Advocates</strong></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Arkansas Land and Farm</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Development Corporation</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Calvin King</em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a target="_blank">(252) 826-3017</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>calvinrkingsr@yahoo.com</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Gary Grant <a target="_blank">(870) 734-1140</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>TILLERY@aol.com</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Federation of Southern Cooperatives/</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Land Assistance Fund</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Ralph Paige</em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a target="_blank">(404) 765-0991</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>ralphpaige@federation.coop</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Land Loss Prevention Project</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Savi Horne</em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a target="_blank">(800) 672-5839</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>savihorne@gmail.com</a> </em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Mississippi Family Farmers Association</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Eddie Carthan</em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a target="_blank">(662) 458-0983</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>shirleycarthan@ymail.com</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Willard Tillman</em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a target="_blank">(405) 201-6624</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>wtillman2@cox.net</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>Rural Advancement Fund</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Georgia Good</em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a target="_blank">(803) 378-9450</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>georgiagood_6@hotmail.com</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><strong>United Farmers, USA</strong></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em>Contact: Hezaheiah Gibson</em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a target="_blank">(803) 410-2055</a></em></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><em><a>Bentondot@aol.com</a> </em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;font-size:11pt;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"><em> </em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="left"></p>
<p style="text-align:center;color:#800000;font-size:11pt;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="center"><strong>2769 Church Street · <a>East Point, GA · 30344</a></strong></p>
<p style="text-align:center;color:#800000;font-size:11pt;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;" align="center"><strong><a target="_blank">404 765 0991</a> · <a style="color:#800000;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001GUt4B99oriLEHH5JM-jcgUQNwV6HH7qAPDGaaDzq2T5sdecsB_c4vBhNNNTlJQAwgbT_-CPMx3Tj5jc0bCKmaPcLKqKOTUTo89aL4yl-1QKvdWGGRc3xzw==" target="_blank">www.federation.coop</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Contacts:</strong> Heather Gray <br /><a style="text-decoration:underline;" href="mailto:heathergray@federation.coop" target="_blank">heathergray@federation.coop</a> <br /><a target="_blank">800-503-5678</a> </p>
<div style="padding-top:12px;font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;font-size:12px;" align="left"><font style="font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;font-size:12px;" color="#000000" size="1" face="tahoma,sans-serif">Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund <span style="color:#bababa;">|</span> <a>2769 Church Street <span style="color:#bababa;">|</span> East Point <span style="color:#bababa;">|</span> GA <span style="color:#bababa;">|</span> 30344</a></font></div>
<div style="padding-top:12px;font-family:tahoma, sans-serif;font-size:12px;" align="left"> </div>
<p>SOURCE: <a href="mailto:cathyharrisspeaks@gmail.com">cathyharrisspeaks@gmail.com</a></p>
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<p> </p></div>African Americans and Agriculturehttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/african-americans-and2010-09-30T14:00:00.000Z2010-09-30T14:00:00.000ZTheBlackListhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackList<div><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">(<a href="http://BlackNews.com">BlackNews.com</a>)-- Farming is a hard job, but someone has to do it. Right?<br /></font></font></font><p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">In "'We Didn't Get Nothing:' The Plight of Black Farmers", Waymon R. Hinson and Edward Robinson made an interesting revelation: "American agriculture was built upon the backs of Africans who were enslaved upon American soil." Through the progression of slavery, peonage, and land ownership, working the land became a symbol of tradition, prosperity, and, for some, independence in African American culture. First, in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Confederacy still in rebellion against the Union. Then, the Thirteenth Amendment, in 1865 freed slaves everywhere. June 19, 1865 is the day the good<br />
news of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation issued two and a half years earlier on January 1, 1863 reached Texas. Hence, the celebration of Juneteenth. At last.Forty acres and a mule promised to freed slaves through the creation of the Freedman's Bureau served as a beacon of hope for a better life - a life free of
command and control from white slave masters. According to Malcolm X, "Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice and equality."<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">Being so, agriculture represents an essential part of African American culture that has slowly become a silhouette in the light. That's why it is more important now than ever to foster agricultural education amongst ourselves and others. The origins of American history are rooted in agriculture; and agricultural beginnings are the roots of black history. The saying goes: you have to know where you come from to know where you are going. If not for us, for our next generation's sake, we cannot lose sight of our history.<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">Juneteenth celebrations like the one held on Phil and Tia Gispon's 52-acre farm celebrate "African American freedom while encouraging self-development and respect for all cultures", according to the Juneteenth website. Educating today's youth of the past and present must remain at the forefront in molding<br />
our future generations into healthy, independent, and knowledgeable individuals.<br />
Malcolm X said it best: "Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow<br />
belongs to those who prepare for it today."<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">In addition to fostering African American and agricultural education, agricultural literacy needs to be improved upon as well, especially in youth populations. For example, it is no secret that socioculture barriers exist in the field of agriculture, more specifically in agricultural education. The hot<br />
topic to date, "Where does your food come from?" is a perfect example of a<br />
misunderstood socioculture dynamic. The reality: most individuals have no idea<br />
where the tomatoes to make spaghetti sauce come from or how the chicken gets to<br />
their dinner plates. Popular food initiatives such as Farm to School and Farm to<br />
Fork are working to change that reality. Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign,<br />
the rising leader in raising a healthier generation of kids, has helped attract<br />
national attention to the childhood obesity crisis.<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">Thanks to agricultural movements in the "good-food revolution" such as Growing Power Inc., founded by Will Allen in 1993, healthy, local food choices are no longer limited to wealthy communities. People in low-income neighborhoods<br />
deserve the benefit of eating "real" food as well. In an April 2010 Jet article<br />
featuring "The Urban Farmer," Allen stated: "Much of the poor food of this<br />
country is in low-income areas and mostly people of color communities, so it's<br />
good to see people of color start to recognize and get on board. Eating good<br />
food was always thought that only rich could eat this healthy organic food and<br />
we've dispelled that notion." With the goal of empowering youth, Growing Power<br />
Inc. is moving mountains - mountains that have acted as hurdles in obtaining<br />
fresh fruits and vegetables.<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">The Milwaukee-based company is not alone in this challenging endeavor. The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) is a non-profit, grassroots, community organization aimed at changing perceptions about food,<br />
where it comes from, and who controls it. In realizing the power of our youth,<br />
one of the core purposes of the organization serves to encourage young people to<br />
pursue careers in agriculture, and other food related fields. In the South,<br />
black farmers banded together to form the Southeast African American Farmers<br />
Organic Network (SAAFON). The farmers of Savannah, Georgia partnered with<br />
multiracial organizations to assure access to local, organic food for everyone.<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">In academia, MANRRS (Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences) has built upon incredible history, fostered inspirational excellence, and provided world-class opportunities ensuring that the field of<br />
agriculture is weeded diversely. The national society, founded on the campus of<br />
Michigan State University in 1982, serves to promote academic and professional<br />
advancement by empowering minorities in agriculture and other related fields.<br />
With over 50 chapters, the inclusive society acts a networking tool and social<br />
forum, amongst other roles in assisting youth to succeed in the minority-bleak<br />
field of agriculture and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and<br />
mathematics) disciplines.<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">Since the twentieth century, African Americans have used the land as means of pursuing a better life. African Americans and agriculture are inseparable. Prominent historical figures in agricultural and science fields have paved the<br />
way. George Washington Carver, Charles Henry Turner, Ernest Everett Just, Roger<br />
Arliner Young, Percy L. Julian, Emmett Chappelle, and Dr. Charles Richard Drew<br />
just to name a few.<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">Presently, minorities in agriculture and related sciences, from all walks of life, are making their mark on agriculture - one cow, one sow, one plow at a time. Agriculture is the food that we eat, the clothes we wear, the land we farm<br />
and the animals we produce, but it is often perceived as not a common place for<br />
minorities?<br /></font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">Guess again.</font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2">Our history proves otherwise.</font></font></font></p>
<p><font><font><font color="#000000" size="2"><i><span style="font-weight:bold;">Shakara Tyler is a Penn State University senior majoring in Agricultural Sciences with two minors in Agricultural Communications and Law and Liberal Arts. During the summer of 2010 she was a research scholar at Michigan State<br />
University in the Summer Research Opportunities Program. This article was<br />
originally printed in The New Citizens Press based in Lansing, MI.</span></i></font></font></font></p>
<br /><p><font><b>CONTACT:</b><br />Shakara Tyler<br />484-639-1834<br />styler7788@gmail.com</font></p>
<br /></div>America In Red, White and Youhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/america-in-red-white-and-you2010-07-22T04:02:01.000Z2010-07-22T04:02:01.000ZRaynard Jacksonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/RaynardJackson<div><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000">July 22, 2010</font></span></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"></font></span></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000">Raynard Jackson</font></span></b></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">During the past two weeks, Americans has once again been forced to confront our intractable issue of race—live and in living color. Regular readers of my column are well aware of my writing modus operandi. My job is not to make you agree with what I write, but rather to make you get beyond your personal biases (and we all have them) and to consider another point of view. </font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">If, after having read my column, it motivates you to discuss what I wrote with a friend or colleague, then I have done my job! I would that all men thought like me, but since mortals are not quite ready for such a responsibility, I must continue to challenge my readers to be better than they are.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Last week I wrote about the NAACP and their resolution to label the Tea Party as racist (“The NAACP Has Racism Down To A Tea (Party)”). My point was that we must call out racists whomever and wherever they are in order to speak with moral authority.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">This week, race is yet again being played out in black and white. A Black political appointee from the Obama administration was fired from her job based on a video tape that had been altered. The altered tape made the appointee appear to be spewing out some of the most vile, vitriolic rhetoric imaginable. She was promptly fired, only to find out that the tape was altered and that her comments were not really what they were being projected as being (She has since received an apology from the Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture and offered another job). If you want to know more, google Shirley Sherrod.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">But, here’s the point; despite all of America’s problems, we still are a great country. We are not a perfect union; but in union, we can walk down the road toward perfection. </font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">The first letter in union is U! How appropriate. The next letter is n. Then the next letter is i. It’s only when you n i come together that we have the beginning of a more perfect union. Without u-n-i, there can be no union.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">I think we have spent enough time on the NAACP and the Tea Party debate. I think we need to lower the rhetoric surrounding Shirley Sherrod and her being fired from her job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Inspite and despite all of our problems in the U.S., everyone seems to be trying to enter the U.S.; not leave the U.S. The reason is quite simple. When Americans focus on what unites us and not what divides us, then and only then can we begin to see the more perfect union.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Remember how we united after 9/11? For a moment, there was no Black or white---just Americans! People hugged and talked with people heretofore ignored. Why did it take a tragedy for this type of outpouring to take place? </font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">When I saw the altered video of Shirley Sherrod’s comments, I was red with anger, then when the truth came out about the video being altered I became white with embarrassment, and then I felt kind of blue until I asked myself, what are you going to do?</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">So, this is my challenge to my readers. I want you to put the u-n-i back in union today. I want you to go to a co-worker that you totally disagree with politically and have a conversation with him to see what you can learn from him. You might just find that you both agree on one or two things. I want you to go to someone today from a different race and learn something about their country or culture. I want you to take the time to stop and have a conversation with a homeless person on the street. You just might be surprised to find yourself talking with an accomplished scientist, former recording artist, or former professional athlete.</font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Get out of your comfort zone and do something different. Think a new thought. Take a different path home from work today. Have lunch at an Ethiopian or Cambodian restaurant. </font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">Do these things, and then tell me if you still think so and so is a racist, homophobe, or hateful. Sometimes friction removes the rough edges. How much more if you open your mind to knew thoughts. Even if you disagree on certain issues, it’s a lot more difficult to label one a racist if you have had some personal contact with him. </font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><font color="#000000"><font face="Calibri">In the end, it’s up to each of us to make America a more perfect union and it begins with U! </font></font></span></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color:#0000FF;font-size:10pt;"><font face="Calibri">Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-public relations/government affairs firm. He is also a contributing editor for ExcellStyle Magazine (<a href="http://www.excellstyle.com">www.excellstyle.com</a>).</font></span></i></p></div>fwd: Engineered by British City of London bankers and Anglo-American industrial elite, the greatest hunger crisis in history is ravaging the worldhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/2055350-BlogPost-52052008-06-05T05:46:18.000Z2008-06-05T05:46:18.000ZBLACKWATCH - Dr. Brother Raheru Ptah Sun of Asaruhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/BLACKWATCHDrBrotherRaheruPtahSunofAsaru<div>Much of this can be seen in context via the work of Dr. Arthur Lewis, Dr. Ben's Physician. Always remember that they are and never have been more than 9% of the earth's population. The World White Supremacy Elite hides behind them and none of us have ever mounted an effective focused attack on those who by many many accounts have devastated the planet.Good as time as any to reclaim the burden of this from them.<hr /><b>Let Them Eat Mudcakes</b> By Luise Light, M.S., Ed.D.“The impact of globalization is felt most by those who benefit from it least.”--Eric Hobsbawm, “On Empire”The greatest hunger crisis in history is ravaging the world. Engineered by British City of London bankers and Anglo-American industrial elites who are apostles of “free markets,” they have captured control of world trade through a system of supra-regulatory bodies (WTO) and international trade and tariff agreements (GATT, NAFTA) designed to optimize profits for the industrialists and their investors while forcing the rest of the world to comply with their rules that strip away all consumer protections and supports which they call disparagingly, “barriers to economic efficiency.” In this schema, there is no room for poor people who are judged “useless eaters,” in that they don’t have the resources to shop in the marketplace and contribute to the profits of transnational middlemen and corporations. The financial elites who own the system, recognize two classes of useful eaters, those who are dependent and do as they are told, no matter how dire the consequences for them, and those who are masters, who create all the rules of the game and absorb the profits.In the thirty or more years it has taken to institutionalize this controlling infrastructure, we have witnessed declines and deficits in every area of life on the planet that we consider socially, culturally, and humanly important: world health has plummeted precipitously, the destruction of nature has accelerated and now all life on the planet is threatened. Economic insecurity, inequality, intolerance, and racial injustice have grown as people are more preoccupied with the daily struggle for survival. Can it be that the British bankers and traders have learned the secret of going back to the future? They seem determined to reverse history and return most of us to the roles of medieval serfs who must pay fealty to our lords, at the cost of our lives.In this new global marketplace, there is no room for hundreds of millions of urban and rural poor so they have been cut out of the picture, a strategy that seems to be in play, right now. In just three years, global food prices have climbed 83 percent, according to the World Bank, placing a life-sustaining diet beyond the reach of the poorest and most vulnerable people on earth. Staple foods that poor people depend on as their major source of calories are the most inflated in price, with rice, the grain of choice for half the world, at a 19-year high, and wheat, the staple for another third of the world, at a 28-year high. Other foods essential for a basic nutritional diet in poor countries, cooking oil, eggs, and dairy, have been equally hard hit by price inflation, affecting the working and middle classes, not just the poor.The exorbitant increases in world food prices threaten the stability of governments, with the potential for violence growing as people ravaged by starvation become ever more desperate. Food rioting already has been reported in 40 countries. The president of the International Red Cross warned recently, people become violent when access to food is withheld and their survival is threatened. The potential for destabilizing wars on every continent is now possible.What is behind this global food crisis? Various rationales have been offered, including the removal of food tariff barriers, liberalization of trade, and enforcement of policies that require developing countries to switch to exporting cash crops and importing food staples for domestic needs. The results of these policies on the economies of poor countries have been nothing short of catastrophic! Cheap subsidized, surplus commodities from rich nations are dumped on poor countries who are experiencing shortages, resulting in decreased local food production and employment. Farmers become dispossessed from their land and stripped of their ability to feed their families. FAO has documented the devastating consequences of such “trade liberalization” policies on the rural poor and local economies in the case of biofuels. Routing corn into biofuels, the FAO predicted in the State of Food and Agriculture Report in 2007, would create scarcities in essential food supplies and price inflation.Other key factors in skyrocketing food prices are the huge spikes in the costs of fuel and transportation, devastating weather catastrophes due to climate change, and growing water shortages. The breakdown of food self-sufficiency in countries is planned to destabilize Third World governments but also to “de-peasantize” these countries, making them more attractive for foreign investors.At risk are 1.2 billion people in the world who live at or near poverty, earning less than $1 a day. Runaway food prices across the globe have placed 200 million people on a deathwatch, in imminent danger of starving to death. Is it any wonder there are angry people in the streets threatening governments across the globe, demanding food? Governments have responded by sending in riot troops and banging heads, which is not a permanent solution to a volatile, chaotic situation, and can be predicted to create more, not less discontent.While starving people in Haiti ate spiced and sweetened mudcakes, the cheapest food locally available to dull the pain of starvation, financial leaders met in Washington, just a few miles off the coast of Florida, to discuss the crisis that threatens to plunge the industrial world into a long and deep recession or even into a depression. These economic engines of the “Free World,” including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Group of Seven, the governments of the richest nations: the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan, ignored the global food crisis, focusing instead on shoring up investment banks and restoring investor confidence. One economist for the World Bank later admitted, “We did not think that the human costs of these programs could be so great and the economic gains would be so slow in coming.” You have to wonder, what did they think, or, did they think at all?Meanwhile, national governments, abandoning World Trade Organization (WTO) restrictions, are resorting to old-fashioned ways of dealing with the problem of food shortages. They are issuing ration cards, freezing prices of essential commodities like bread, eggs and cooking oil, slapping export controls on foods essential for home consumption, and re-introducing fertilizer and seed subsidies for subsistence farmers. But the most hopeful sign of the complete failure of this British attempt to install a New Imperial Economic Order, is a brewing rebellion against the WTO and GATT by farmer groups networking internationally to take down the globalists’ agenda.Recently, seven former European heads of state, five former finance ministers, and two former presidents of the European Commission, including former EU Commission head Jacques Delors, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, and former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, have gone public with an open letter to the EU Presidency and the EU Commission. The letter warns that the systemic collapse of the global financial system brings with it the threat of unprecedented poverty, proliferation of “failed states,'' migration of entire populations, and further military conflicts. The financial world, they argue, has accumulated a massive amount of “fictitious capital'' with very little improvement for humanity. Among the immediate countermeasures they propose is creation of a European Crisis Committee, and the convening of a world financial conference to “reconsider'' the current international system and the global world order.In another remarkable rejection of the British agenda that is increasing the prospects for war, the Japanese Prime Minister has called for an international effort to help Africa double rice production over the next 10 years. Japan has pledged to help African countries to develop irrigation systems, improve crop varieties, and train workers in the field. He predicted that Africa would be a powerful engine for world agricultural growth, and over the next decade, and Japan will stand side by side with Africa to develop the infrastucture needed to be successful.Japan is not alone in calling for the doubling of food production. In a recent paper, Helga LaRouche of the Schiller Institute in Germany, writing in the Executive Intelligence Review, also is calling for doubling world food production. Why haven’t the US and the British Neo-colonialists come up with a single strategy for producing more food to feed everyone on earth? It is clear that other nations are jumping in to the void and will prosper from our reckless and clumsy efforts to manipulate and control global food and fuel.As a nutritionist and a public health worker, I urge the FAO to dismantle and abolish the WTO and GATT which are instruments of special interests long associated with economic imperialism. In the 21st century, all countries must have the right to fully determine the consumption needs of their populations. In order for us to have a stable world, food sovereignty is essential. We must abandon Utopian schemes to create a single unified global food market and encourage countries to develop their own local agriculture to feed their people, decrease reliance on food imports, and boost their local economies.Right now, Anglo-American speculation in commodities is driving up the price of staples necessary for nutritional survival, and creating obscene profits for the biggest industrial food corporations. When profitability overtakes morality, we call this criminal behavior. It is time for us to recognize that access to nutritious food is a basic human right, and any institutions or individuals responsible for widespread starvation and malnutrition, either from unjustifiable trade pressures or restrictive market policies, should be called to account under international law. Adequate nutrition is central to human health and survival and makes important contributions to economic progress, as healthy populations live longer and are more productive. No government or private group has the right to abridge freedom to nourish ourselves. It is our birthright.<i>Dr. Light is the former director of dietary guidance at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and author of, What to Eat: The Ten Things You Really Need to Know to Eat Well and Be Healthy.</i></div>