by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

In agriculture we say that a farmer must do EVERYTHING 100 per cent correct, then he may have a
50 percent chance of making a profit. The farmer has to fight weather conditions, insects, diseases,
other animals and sometimes even other people to grow and protect his crop. Then of course their is
the "hidden hand" behind price and demand. The farmer must take whatever the market is
willing to pay regardless as to whether it covers his cost of production. But Black farmers on top
of all of this must fight the government of the United States just for the opportunity to put
themselves through all of this hardship just to feed a sometimes ungrateful public.

Just recently three hundred black farmers took over a U.S. Department of Agriculture regional
office in Brownsville, Tenn., Monday, July 1st, to protest what organizers called the agency’s
failure to process loan applications from growers who were counting on the money to plant this
year’s crops.

After USDA officials in Washington, DC met the final demand of notifying the 5 Brownsville, TN
farmers as to whether their applications would be funded or not, BFAA ended its 5 day Prayer Vigil
and Sit-In at the USDA Office in Brownsville, TN. The group of 25 remaining BFAA members and
supporters departed the building at 10:15pm on July 5, 2002.

"Please believe, this is just a step toward real victory in a very small skirmish with the
government," Grant stated. We still have the battle and the war ahead of us as we head North to
DC." Secretary Veneman recommended the process, pre-meetings with

substance. Through this process we, the Black Farmers, intend to walk out of her office with a
signed, sealed and delivered agreement that will make Black Farmers whole again – that will stop
this horrendous conspiracy to kill the Black Farmer by the taking of the land – by discriminating
against us in the loaning and servicing of all our tax dollars to

white farmers while using every trick in the book to deny our loans and strangle us into economic
disaster and poverty", Grant roared.

These Black farmers had to take over a USDA building just to get a chance to borrow money that
they have to pay back with interest at the end of the year. All of this is happening even after the
infamous Pigford vs Glickman (now Veneman, the new Sec.of Agriculture) supposedly redressed some of
the wrongs done to Black farmers and set forth directives to the USDA to treat them better.

But this Pigford vs. Glickman/Veneman Consent Decree and the lawyers that brought it forth have
finally been exposed through the Federal Appeals process. On June 21, 2002 United States Court of
Appeals For the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on an appeal brought forward for one of the Black
farmers whose case was basically mishandled by class counsel. There were some very damaging
statements made by these three judges that are worth repeating for those who feel that the word
"snake" may be too strong to describe Attorney Alexander Pires who is now on the
"Reparations Dream Team".

In other words class counsel got paid up front and did not do the work and had the nerve to ask
for more time and money. The ruling further went on to say: "A few months later, the district
court observed ‘a very disturbing trend’: class counsel had failed to meet their monthly quota
‘even once.’…Worse still, counsel had ‘drastically cut its staff, bring[ing] Class Counsel’s
ability to represent the [farmers] into serious question.’"

The judges continued: "The court described counsel’s performance as ‘dismal’–’border[ing]
on legal malpractice’–and ‘wonder[ed]’ whether class counsel would have been in such a
predicament had they not filed ‘three new sister class actions’ against the Department."

Class counsel, Alexander Pires, bit and dropped the Black farmers’, moved on to another set of
farmers, and now moved on to Black people in general for his new "reparations scam".
Beware of this "snake" in the reparations’ grass. The Black farmers have not yet
recovered from his venom and now must fight a new Veneman.