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Money. What can I do with $50k?

By Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad 

            The Black Farmers
and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA) on May 15, 2009 hosted a Town Hall
meeting in Tillery, NC between black farmers and the newly appointed Assistant
Secretary for Civil Rights of the US Department of Agriculture under the Obama
Administration, Dr. Joe Leonard, Jr. Dr. Leonard made it very clear that he was
more than just a government employee, he is an activist who has served as the
director of the Congressional Black Caucus and as an assistant to Rev. Jesse
Jackson in the Rainbow Push organization.  His relationship with President
Barack Obama goes back to when he was an assistant to Mr. Obama when he was an
Illinois state senator.

            His job is to
review all EEO complaints in the USDA and farmer discrimination complaints
against the USDA.  He said that he came to Tillery to meet with the farmers and
to listen.  He started off his day by visiting the local FSA (Farm Services
Administration) in Halifax County, NC.

            Mr. Gary Grant,
president of BFAA, opened up the floor for farmers to tell Dr. Leonard their
experience with the Pigford lawsuit and discrimination by the USDA. 

Mr. Jeff Hawkins, Macon, NC
stated, “I was in Pigford for 10 years and did not get a dime. My farm was
taken. My mother hocked her house to get my farm back. I have not been able to
borrow since I borrowed from FSA in the 1970s. Some farmers got paid but not
me.”

Similar
experiences were related by Mr. Leo Jackson, Pineview, GA, who stated in the
Pigford lawsuit they were throwing people’s claims out because of many frivolous
reasons.

Mr. Griffin
Todd, Jr., Zebulon, NC, stated that some got money and others did not.
He described how FHA (now Farm Service
Agency – FSA) would write a check for $100 thousand to a “similarly situated
white farmer” and give it to him, but Todd had to bring each bill that he needed
to pay to the FHA agent before he would write him a check. They would give Hue,
a white farmer, money in November or December but he would not get his money
until April, almost too late to plant.

            As more farmers
reported how their land was taken from them and other black farmers, Dr. Leonard
asked what happened to that land.  The farmers responded with stories of how
family members, friends, and local power brokers of USDA employees would be
given a tip on when the black farmer’s land would be auctioned off.  Then they
would get the land at below market prices then turn around and sell it to
developers to build homes or counties to build schools.

            A North Carolina
state employee who was also on the planning committee for his county stated that
there are plans developed 30 years in advance which would target sets of land
needs.  Then things would be put in place to get that land by any means
necessary.  He had actually been involved with blocking his county from taking a
black farmer’s land when he found out that they were planning to do so.

            Mr. Lucious
Abrams, Waynesboro, GA, a lead plaintiff in the Pigford lawsuit, stated that his
land has been in foreclosure for 10 years and he has not had a foreclosure
hearing, which is his constitutional right.  He also stated that he went to
testify before Judge Friedman when the fairness hearing on the Pigford lawsuit. 
He told Judge Friedman that the consent decree was not worth the paper that it
was written on and it did not represent the wishes of the lead plaintiffs.
However, Judge Friedman, completely disregarded his and other black farmers’
complaints against the “consent decree” and its results. The consent decree as
enacted completely vindicated the black farmers’ serious concerns regarding the
legal advice provided by Attorney Al Pires.

            As the
Vice-President of BFAA, a farmer and an agricultural economist, I presented a
six slide PowerPoint presentation designed to give Dr. Leonard a brief
historical understanding of how the black farmers got in their condition aided
by the USDA’s discrimination in the allocation of government subsidies. I
started out by showing a picture of the former holder of the mortgage on the
Nation of Islam’s 1600 acre farm in Georgia receiving a check for over $840,000
to pay off that mortgage.  When receiving the check the mortgage holder said,
“Money. What can I do with money? The worst thing I ever did was sell y’all that
land.”

            So I asked Dr.
Leonard what was it that this white man understood and these black farmers
understand about the value of land?  The black farmers did not go to court to
receive a $50,000 check. They went to federal court to stop the USDA from
foreclosing on their land, which the Pigford lawsuit did not do.  The farmers at
this meeting were not interested in just a money settlement, but wanted an
opportunity to farm and pass that legacy on to their children and grandchildren.

            Then I showed
graphs that represented the loss of black farm land from the high of 16 million
acres in 1910 to the present low figure of less than 3 million acres and
decreasing. I showed the relationship between the “parity ratio” and the loss of
black farm land.  The “parity ratio” is defined as the price that the farmer
receives divided by the cost of his inputs needed to produce his crop or
product.  The parity ratio started off in 1910 as a one to one relationship, but
by 1997 it had dropped to almost 0.4.  This means that the cost of production
has gone up 2.5 times the price that the farmer receives, i.e. costs have gone
up but prices of the farmer’s products have not.

            Nonetheless, the
US government gave out checks to white farmers to compensate for this increase
of cost while finding creative ways to deny black farmers these same subsidies
and payments.  The USDA would loan black farmers money and hold their land as
collateral.  Then like a vulture, they would wait until a drought or other
natural disaster hit.  At which time they would rush to pay the white farmers
disaster checks, but deny the same payments to black farmers.  Then they would
turn right around and demand full payment on the loans due by the black farmers.
When they could not pay, the USDA agents continued to add up interest on the
debt until they drove the farmer into foreclosure.

            In the meantime
the USDA put in irrigation systems on a cost share basis for white farmers in
the South, but did not help black farmers put in systems.  So when the droughts
hit, the white farmers turned on their irrigation and watched their crops grow,
while the black farmers watched their crops burn up.

            Over a ten year
period from 1982 to 1992, the USDA gave each white farmer an average of $1,023
per acre in crop subsidies while restricting black farmers to only $274 over the
same time period.  Since farm land prices in the 1980s ran about $1,000 per
acre, the USDA essentially helped white farmers to buy another acre for each
acre they had.  And of course the land that they bought was the acreage of
distressed black farmers.

            The mystery of
black farm loss is solved and the solution is simple.  President Barack Obama
needs to write an executive order stopping all USDA foreclosures on black farm
land, removing all USDA debt on that land and retuning the land that was
foreclosed on: not a “bailout”, not a “handout”, just a “cleanout”. Don’t make
black farmer salute the flag while taking their land.

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

I was invited to speak on behalf of the Black farmers at the Selma, Ala commemoration of the 1965
Edmund Petis Bridge crossing. However, it seems that even though I was personally invited by the
head organizer the week before, she developed more “hope” in an x-president, Bill (Savior)
Clinton, his wife, Hillary (Second Coming) Clinton and the upstart Barack (African-American) Obama,
than in the value of keeping the last remaining parcels of real wealth in America, land.

Politicians are absolutely amazing “story” tellers. Barack started out at the breakfast
on Sunday, March 4^th giving Selma credit for his birth. You see, his father was a goat
herder in Kenya, but because of the civil rights movement in America, he was one of the Africans
brought to America to study during the 60’s. There he met his white wife from Kansas who was
inspired by the Civil Rights Movement to look beyond color in choosing a mate. So she married Barack’s
father and therefore it was like a homecoming for Barack to come to Selma, because probably without
that crossing of the Petis Bridge he might not have been born. Oh please!!!!

Then that afternoon Hillary gave credit to the Civil Rights Movement for opening up the doors for
women and therefore allowing her to become a US Senator and now a candidate for the presidency. Oh
please!!!

Bill just walked around and waved to the herd of Black groupie acting admirers who just wanted to
touch the hem of his garment.

I assume that the reason that I was not allowed to speak was because the Negroes were afraid that
I might bring substance to the conversation, thereby embarrassing the dignitaries. They may have
thought that I might ask Bill why he did not simply sign an executive order and pay the Black
farmers in the Pigford v Glickman lawsuit after the Black farmers had gone to jail a couple of times
to protest how they were neglected within the Consent Decree. Or maybe they thought that I was going
to ask him why he got rid of welfare.

Maybe they thought I would ask Hillary if she thought that she could have beaten John F. Kennedy,
Jr. in a fare race for that vacant Senate seat in New York in 2000. Maybe they thought that I would
ask Barack if he thought it was a little odd that both of his major opponents dropped out of the
Senate race in Illinois because of scandals, therefore projecting him into the forefront of Black
“hope” for a Black or should I say African-American president. Or maybe they thought that
I would ask Obama if there was a difference between a Black descendent of slaves in America and an
African-American.

In fact I was not going to ask any of those hard questions. I was just going to tell the 5,000 in
attendance that the Black farmers did not “win” the lawsuit, but the government got away
with a scam. The courts have failed the Black farmers and now the Black farmers were depending on
the Federal legislators to give justice, make them whole and stop USDA foreclosures. That is if they
can get anyone to listen and a congressperson with enough “testicular fortitude” to
sponsor the bill.

The Black farmers did not initially go to Washington in 1997 to ask for $50,000, but they went to
stop the foreclosure on another 3,000 Black farmers and get the land back that had already been
stolen.. Instead, their lawyer, Al Pires, who was a former Justice Department lawyer, opened the
lawsuit up to non-farmers and required that legitimate farmers had to prove discrimination all over
again by identifying a “similarly situated white” farmer who had gotten the loans that
they had applied for.

Of the 21,000 applicants allowed into the class, 13,000 were awarded the $50,000, while another
8,000 were denied. Within this 8,000 that were denied were the original 3,000 who were under the
threat of foreclosure by the USDA. Now the USDA has started kicking these elderly farmers off of
their land and out of their houses.

I was sent to Selma by the Black farmers to introduce to the audience and the politicians the
proposed “Endangered Black Farmer Act of 2007” that is geared to put an immediate stop to
foreclosures and force the USDA to provide money and services to the remaining and new Black
farmers. If highways can be diverted to protect the spotted owl, then surely foreclosures can be
stopped to prevent the extinction of Black farmers. If special breeding, incubating facilities and
wild life preserves can be set up to protect endangered species of animals, then surely programs
could be put in place to develop and incubate the next generation of Black farmers. Or are these
animals more important than Black farmers?

Yes, I may have asked that tough question to the audience of urban dwellers and their urban
serving lawmakers, but I was denied the opportunity the same way that I was denied at the 2000
“Redeem the Dream: 37th Anniversary March on Washington” and Gary Grant, Pres. of BFAA was
denied to speak at the 2000 Million Family March in DC. At least I had enough sense to force my way
to the front line of the march over the Petis bridge while holding up the cover of the Final Call
Newspaper with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the front.
At least the people there got a chance to take a picture of two true Black leaders staring them in
the face.

Well, what will the urban dwellers say when they are denied food to eat or if they just keep on
eating the slow poisons dished out to them by the “merchants of death”? Oh, that is a dumb
question, dead folk can’t talk.

But there is still hope for the urban dwellers, not the hope in storytelling politicians or
“We shall overcome” singers. When Rev. King made the transition from Civil Rights to Human
Rights and economic empowerment, he was shot down. However, Allah (God) has protected the Honorable
Minister Louis Farrakhan to the point that he is more than a great orator but has inspired the
Nation of Islam to come out of its “urban” shell and realize the value in land ownership
and growing our own food. He first started off by re-instituting the Three Year Economic Savings
Program in 1991, followed by the purchase of 1600 acres of farmland in Georgia at the end of 1994.

Gary Grant got his chance to speak at the 10^th Anniversary of the Million Man March in
2005 where the Millions More Movement was inaugurated. He finally presented the plight of the Black
farmers to a national and international audience. Minister Farrakhan included Agriculture as one of
the nine ministries of the Millions More Movement in his October 15, 2005 address on the Mall in DC.
He backed up his support for agriculture by having two agricultural sessions as a part of the 2007
Saviours’ Day Celebration weekend. In his speech on Sunday, February 25^th, he again
stressed the importance of those nine ministries and demanded that members of the Nation of Islam go
out in the communities, set up these ministries and make them work for the benefit and salvation of
a people trapped in the concrete jungles of America.

So “hope” is alive, kicking up dirt on some land of our own and fighting for more.

The Ministry of Agriculture hosted a workshop at the 2009 Saviours’ Day Convention entitled
"Farming for Life". This title was a shortened version of "The farm is the engine for
our national life", which is a quotation from the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in his monumental
book, "Message to the Black Man."

In the workshop, I presented a "Three Year Economic Development Plan" under the
umbrella of the "Three Year Economic Savings Program". I explained why the "Three
Year Economic Savings Program" which was set up by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad in 1963 and
reinstated by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1991 is still relevant today and can be
illustrated with a little math as follows:

Population 40,000,000

1/2 Pop 20,000,000

Acres needed 6,300,000

Price 1994 per acre $1,000.00

Cost of land $6,300,000,000.00

Equip $2,000,000,000.00

Total cost $8,300,000,000.00

Per person $415.00 per person

$10 per Month 41.5 months

Years 3.45 years

Research has revealed that we need 6.3 million acres of land to feed 40 million black people one
meal a day for a year, if they don’t eat meat. In 1994 the average price of farmland in the South
was about $1,000 per acre, therefore it would take $6.3 billion to purchase the needed farmland.
However, to produce food on that land it is estimated that we need at least $2 billion in equipment
and facilities, bringing the grand total to $8.3 billion.

Now, if half of the 40 million (20 million) black people had donated $10 per month to the Three
Year Economic Savings Program starting in 1991, in 41.5 months or 3.45 years we would have had that
$8.3 billion figure by 1994. However, although many people did contribute, the vast majority of our
people did not, which meant by the end of the three years (1994) there was just enough money from
donations to allow us to purchase the 1600 acre farm in Georgia (Muhammad Farms).

Therefore until we as a people have purchased and put into cultivation 6.3 million acres of land,
the Three Year Economic Savings Program will continue to seek your donations and be a reminder of
what we could have done in just 3.45 years, if we had harkened unto the call of our beloved
Minister. However, the Ministry of Agriculture is not going to sit still and do nothing while
waiting on the masses of our people to wake up. It is presently farming the land in Georgia and
helping other small farmers in the Nation of Islam get established and market their products.

The "Three Year Economic Development Plan" is a strategy to set up a food system and
agricultural financial system that will allow us to establish the rudiments of a national system of
institutions modeled after the Economic Blue Print left to us by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The
Honorable Elijah Muhammad had grocery stores, warehouses, trucking firms, farmland, apartment
buildings, restaurants, clothing stores, schools, construction firms, meat packing facilities and
import/export businesses. All established by a man with less than a fourth grade education.

The ministry’s strategy is to use the cooperative corporation business model and our food
purchasing power to develop the wealth needed to establish retail outlets and a national cooperative
bank. The full explanation of this strategy is presented in my new book entitled, "Commonomics:
Developing a Post Yakub Economy", which was unveiled at this year’s Saviours’ Day. The
basic strategic pieces of this three year strategy include: 1. Buy more farmland, 2. Increase the
production of food at Muhammad Farms and other NOI small farms, 3. Promote home and community
gardening, 4. Have at least 100 food buying clubs established and graduating into cooperative
corporations, 5. By the end of 2012 have enough patrons and members to open up grocery stores in our
major cities, 6. By the end of 2012 have enough internal stock ownership in our cooperatives to be
able to transfer that capital to our own cooperatively owned bank.

In the workshop, pieces of this strategy were presented by committees of the Ministry of
Agriculture. Brothers Frank Muhammad and Gerald Muhammad from the Gardening and Small Farm Committee
presented what you need to do to establish a garden in your backyard. Sisters Yvette Muhammad and
Jarita Muhammad from the Buying Club Committee presented the steps to establish and run a food
buying club. Bro. Gerald Muhammad from the Co-op Committee presented how to make the transition from
buying club to the cooperative corporation. Sisters Linda Muhammad and Marva Muhammad from the
Credit Union Committee presented the ten steps to establish a credit union and how to straighten out
your personal credit. As we researched the requirements for establishing a credit union or
cooperative bank we discovered that the initial incorporators had to have a good credit score,
therefore we had to present to the people a method of repairing their credit so that they could
qualify to set up a credit union.

The Ministry of Agriculture has a resource list on which can be referred to by all of those
seeking information about farming and agriculture. However, based on the interest and broadness of
the questions asked by participants in the workshop, the Ministry of Agriculture will post the
members of different committees within the ministry that can better answer your questions. The
committees established will be: 1. Farming and Gardening, 2. Buying Club, 3. Cooperative
Corporation, 4. Credit Union/Banking, 5. News/Research/Communications, 6. Real-estate, 7. Food
Processing (Cooking, Freezing, Canning), 8. Membership/Promotions/Calendar and 9. Legal.

To wrap things up, I presented a diagram on the concept of "The Course or Curse of
History?" where I explained the difference between ever recurring cycles and "iterations
to perfection". The basic concept is that as long as we do not learn from history, we will
repeat history. However, with a new vision and the will and energy to make a change, we can learn
from the past and jump up to a new ring of power as we progress to our ultimate goal of perfection
and being pleasing in the sight of our God (Allah).

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

A Black owned conference center called "Franklinton Center at Bricks" in Whitakers, NC
was the scene of the 9^th Annual Black Land Loss Summit held February 16^th
-18th. The theme of this year’s conference was "Returning Black Farmers to the Land: A
Gathering of Minds to Develop a New Strategy". The emphasis was on implementation of solutions
and not just describing the problem.

Mike Callicrate, founder and owner of Ranch Foods Direct Market, stated that "Food is the
creation of wealth. Wealth is created on the land." According to Mr. Callicrate, Benjamin
Franklin gave three ways by which wealth is built: 1. conquer it, 2. steal it and 3. plant a seed.

Archie Hart gave us a view into the problems of program delivery to Black farmers by pointing out
the discrepancies between funding to the Black Land Grant Colleges and Universities in comparison to
the white ones. Mr. Hart rhetorically asked the question of why can’t the administrators at the
1890s admit that they are under funded. He later explained that the Black Land Grants were financed
exclusively by the USDA and therefore those administrators know that if they complain too much, they
will be terminated.

Dorothy Barker, Director of Operation Spring Plant, gave us a blow by blow account of the many
barriers that prevent Black farmers from entering the fresh produce market and capture long term
contracts with the food and hospitality industry. Operation Spring Plant just completed a three year
pilot project with the Marriott Hotel chain, but had to overcome a number of barriers that all Black
farmers experience including a $5 million liability insurance policy, threats from the mafia if they
brought fresh produce into the inner city, requirements on the size of truck and demand that the
truck be less than 7 years old, increased inspections on produce when using Black truckers instead
of white truckers, increased security requirements from Homeland Security and buyers playing games
with price quotations, i.e. bait and switch.

Lloyd Wright, a former head of the Civil Rights at the USDA, presented the group with the basic
structure of a bill to influence the contents of the proposed 2007 Farm Bill. The bill that he
proposed called the "Endangered Black Farmer Act of 2007" was developed by a consortium of
Black Agricultural leaders and groups over the last year to stem the tide of Black land loss and get
knew Black farmers onto the land. The purpose of this Act is to provide the services and assistance
needed by Black Farmers to ensure that Black Farmers who want to farm can stay in farming. The
assistance is in the form of policy changes, available direct credit, and access to farmland,
technical assistance and information to overcome the problems created as a result of lack of
services in the past due to discrimination.

Mr. Wright, who is also the 2007 recipient of the "A Man Called Mathew Award", gave a
historical perspective on how land was acquired by Blacks after slavery but was taken from Black
farmers over time through acts of terrorism. With the combined resources of a few black ministers,
entrepreneurs, and educators, more than 50 black-owned lending institutions were established by
1911, with annual transactions worth more than $20 million. By 1910, about 16.5 percent of land in
the south was black owned. But, by 1928, most whites would not sell land to blacks.

There was a 30 year period of lynching where Black land owners, farmers and community organizers
were targeted. Of the 551 cotton growing counties in the US, 345 (62.6%) had at least one lynching
between 1900 and 1931. One hundred and seventy of these counties (30.9%) had 10 or more lynching
between 1900 and 1931.

The Black Land Loss Summit provided a perfect segue into the Agricultural Workshops held at the
Nation of Islam’s 2007 Saviours’ Day Celebration held in Detroit, MI on Friday and Saturday,
February 23^rd and 24^th. In line with the Saviours’ Day theme of "One
Nation Under God" the theme of the Ministry of Agriculture was "Why we must grow our own
food". Our strategy session on Friday brought together community leaders such as Reverend James
Bevels who has moved to Alabama to work closely with Bishop Luke Edwards, who over the last 40 years
has put together a thriving agricultural based community based on the Economic Blueprint of the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Gary Grant, President of BFAA, and Attorney Rose Sanders gave the history of the Pigford v
Glickman Consent Decree and presented the "Endangered Black Farmer Act" which was revised
the previous week at the Black Land Loss Summit. Oscar Smith, owner of a trucking firm that operates
10 refrigerated tractor trailers, described what Black farmers and Black consumers in the cities
need to have in place for Black truckers to make that vital transportation connection.

Emil Muhammad, an agricultural student at Florida A&M University described how he made his
career choice. He decided that if he wanted to be "free, strong and healthy, you can’t be
free, strong or healthy eating other’s food."

In agreement with Bro. Emil the group of 33 organizers decided that Black people must establish
an independent and safe food production, processing and marketing system where we control our food
from the "land to the man". The Ministry of Agriculture of the Nation of Islam must
therefore be expanded and become the Agricultural Ministry of the Millions More Movement.

The strategies to be further developed after Saviours’ Day will be designed to: 1. Keep Black
farm land within the Black community, 2. Develop promotional campaigns and training programs for
Black youth to enter Agricultural careers, 3. Develop Urban Gardens, 4. Set up distribution systems
for products from Black farmers, 5. Develop Black owned supermarkets in the cities, 6. Develop our
own food processing plants, 7. Mobilize the people to grow their own food to protect their health,
and 8. Develop proper rules of governance among ourselves.

The group was divided into committees which determined what was to be presented to the larger
body on Saturday. Presenters emphasized to the 200 workshop participants how the projects and
programs that they were already working on could be expanded and coordinated to fit the long run
goals of the Ministry of Agriculture. Efrion Smith, of the Michigan based collective buying system
called Consumers Unlimited, LLC, pointed out the value of food buying clubs in providing an outlet
for Black farmers and urban gardeners.

Sister Jean Muhammad, Director of the Three Year Economic Savings Program, gave the history of
this economic development program, its track record and why it should be the center pin for pooling
our resources and financing our Agricultural movement, while I presented last year’s
fiscal report of the Three Year to the participants and asked for their continued support.

This Millions More Movement Agricultural Ministry had its first conference call on Thursday,
March 1^st and will be the backbone and "seed" for a new economic paradigm under
the banner of "Do For Self or Die A Slave". I will be going across the country
delivering produce and chanting "Do For Self or Die A Slave".

(Click here for previous Farmer Newsletter
articles)

By Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

You learn a lot about the mental condition of Black people by approaching them with the Final
Call Newspaper. Recently I have run into a rash of similar attitudes centered around
"truth". Specifically, when I asked some young Black men if they would like a copy of the
Final Call Newspaper, they threw "Jesus" up in my face. One said, "You need to know
Jesus?" another said "I don’t need that paper because I got Jesus."

Then after a brief debate on scripture and history one of the men said, "Well, truth don’t
matter" and another one said, "What’s truth got to do with it?" Of course these
statements threw me for a loop and made me wonder if it is worth trying to teach our people. I had
to look up the words "truth" and "matter". According to the dictionary
"truth" means "the state of being the case: FACT" or "the body of real
things, events, and facts: Actuality." "Matter" means "to be of
importance." So in other words they were saying that fact or actuality has no importance to
them. How could that be unless: one, their physical existence was based on a false reality or they
did not care about living anymore?

What is the false reality under which these young men were living? Could their statements be a
profound commentary on the state of the American culture?

If their parents were farmers and involved in the Pigford v. Glickman class action lawsuit, then
they may have reason to say "truth don’t matter". This lawsuit was established to
redress the wrongs done by the US Department of Agriculture against Black farmers.

To begin, the Black farmers did not go to court to get $50,000. They initially went to court to
stop the foreclosures on about 3,000 farmers. The "Consent Decree" brokered by the farmers’
lawyer, a former Justice Department lawyer, was not in the best interest of the farmers and the
farmers knew and protested the fact. However, "truth" did not matter to Judge Friedman and
he signed this "Consent Decree" which the farmers did not consent to.

The result of this non-farmer-consented "Consent Decree" is that many non-farmers got
paid $50,000 and the very farmers whose lands were under the threat of foreclosure had their claims
denied. Even today this "Consent Decree" is vaunted as being the largest civil rights suit
ever although 40 percent of the claimants were denied and ten of thousands did not hear about the
lawsuit until too late.

The Black farmers have been protesting and going to jail in protest but the major news networks
have refused to cover the story. On April 26, 2006 the farmers went back to DC behind the old mule
"Struggle" and held a rally which again was not covered by the media. On this occasion the
farmers were seeking a remedy through the Legislative branch of government since "truth"
did not seem to matter to the Executive or Judicial branches.

After the rally some of us met with Representative Cynthia McKinney concerning proposed
legislation that would stop foreclosures on the Black farmers in the Pigford case and remove the
debt that was illegally forced upon their land by the USDA. The USDA by allowing debt developed
through fraudulent and discriminatory means has made land which should be an asset into a liability
for the farmer and his family. Now the government is taking these assets by fraud and is acting like
it can’t see. Again "truth" does not seem to matter to the American government.

Rep. McKinney showed us a proposed bill that she was trying to introduce on the floor of the
House. However, to introduce a bill you must have a co-sponsor, so we asked her if someone from the
Congressional Black Caucus would be willing to be a co-sponsor. She said something to the effect
that having a CBC member as a co-sponsor would not help. Now that was interesting, because then it
would seem that she had to get a "white" co-sponsor if her bill was to have any chance of
passing. This seems like a "plantation" where the Blacks had power over other Blacks but
had to go to "massa" to make any major decisions that would affect the plantation
operation.

If a Black congress person has to always get a white congressperson to be a co-sponsor, then what
is the value of the Congressional Black Caucus and what is the use of sending more Black
representatives to DC if all they can do is beg white folk? Access to power is not power.

Of course these young men that told me that "truth don’t matter" probably do not know
very much about the Black farmers’ lawsuit, but I am sure they know something about the chances of
a young Black man getting justice in the criminal justice system in Americus, GA or America in
general. I have been to court in Terrell county Georgia and witnessed cases where "truth"
did not matter and the white folk did what they pleased in spite of evidence to the contrary.

So these young men live in a country where "truth" does not seem to matter. So what
matters? In America money and power seem to trump "truth" all day long. The
"law" is used to trap the weak, but is not equally applied to the rich and powerful.

If these young Black men are not living their lives based on "truth" then how are they
surviving physically or do they even want to live? How were they getting their food? They could not
have been farmers, because as a farmer you must know as much about the truth and reality as possible
because one serious mistake and you can go starving. So were they eating at McDonalds or Burger
King? Have they not seen "Super Size Me" which exposed the hazards of fast food?

Even if they were surviving off of junk food, how did they get the money to pay for that stuff?
Were they pimping, selling drugs, gambling or working on a job where doing things correctly did not
"matter"? It is possible that success at pimping, selling drugs or gambling may depend
more on deceit and tricknology than "truth", so their attitude of denigrating
"truth" may be a part of their profession.

Soon after these incidents I read an article by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan called
"Breaking our covenant with Death." In this article he states "We have already made
an agreement with hell and that is why hell is in our lives. We have made an agreement with death
and that is why death is in our communities."

So "truth" still matters, but a young Black man’s life in America may matter no more.
Truth only has value to those who wish to live and are willing to do what truth dictates in a
particular matter. Jesus is quoted as saying, "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall
make you free." He did not say "set" you free, for that would imply that your freedom
was dependent on someone granting you freedom. He said "make" because you have to do
something yourself. However, if you are afraid to act on the "truth", then for a short
while truth may not matter. But in the universe of reality "Truth" will have the last
word.

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

"And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye
have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder
place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." (Mat. 17:20)
According to Webster’s Dictionary a "seed" is "the fertilized ripened ovules of a
flowering plant containing an embryo and capable normally of germination to produce a new
plant." A seed is a highly complex and previously reliable technology developed by the Creator
that produce more of themselves ad infinitum (with the exception of certain modern hybrids).

When farmers save a portion of their crop for seed, they have faith that the following year they
can plant those seeds and produce a similar and bountiful crop. This is why Benjamin Franklin gave
three ways by which wealth is built: 1. conquer it, 2. steal it and 3. plant a seed.

How does a "seed" generate wealth? One fertile seed of corn planted in the Earth can
produce a stalk with two ears of corn. Each ear can yield 500 grains or seeds. Therefore that one
fertile seed can produce another 1,000 seeds. You do the math.

When America invaded Iraq, one of the first moves that it made was to force the Iraqi farmers to
turn in their seeds and buy Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds. Why did America do that and is
this a sign of what she intends to do right here in America? Does she intend to make the harboring
of seeds by individuals against the law? If so, who would be allowed to grow?

Now let us factor in genetic engineered seeds and "Terminator Genes". The Terminator
technology (US patent #5,723,765) is a genetic technology that renders farm-saved seed sterile.

The U.S.D.A. developed "Terminator" technology in partnership with Delta and Pine Land,
a seed company subsequently purchased by Monsanto. "Terminator" is a complex of genes
that, theoretically, can be spliced into any crop plant, where it will cause every seed produced by
that plant to be sterile. Once the Terminator becomes the industry standard, control over the
genetics of crop plants will complete its move from the farmer’s
field to the seed company — to which the farmer will have no choice but to return year after year.
The Terminator will allow companies like Monsanto to privatize one of the last great commons in
nature — the genetics of the crop plants that civilization has developed over the past 10,000 or
more years (depending on whose "history" you accept).

This is planned seed sterilization on a planet wide scale, destroying the seeds ability to
germinate and our faith in the seed’s ability to do so. We would then have to have complete faith
in agricultural corporations, the "merchants of death", to supply our food.

These "merchants of death" try to equate genetic engineering with other plant breeding
methodologies. There are basically three ways to breed plants:

1) Open-pollination: Open-pollinated or "standard" varieties of seeds breed true to
their type. Seeds saved from such plants will produce a crop resembling their parents. While
open-pollinated varieties may have originated from a genetic mutation, or a chance cross in the
field, they have been stabilized and improved through years of selection by farmers and/or breeders.

2) Hybridization: Hybrids are the result of the deliberate crossing of two different parent
varieties, usually inbreeds. Typically, a corn variety will be crossed with a different corn variety
and the result will always be a corn. It is not possible through sexual reproduction to cross a corn
plant with a squash or a pig. Seed saved from hybrid plants is unstable in its characteristics.
Traits from parents will segregate out in various combinations in the next generation.

3) Genetic Engineering: Unlike open-pollination and hybridization, which occur in nature, genetic
engineering requires human intervention in a laboratory setting directly manipulating DNA. Genetic
engineers insert a foreign gene into the host DNA. Genetic engineering has the ability to cross all
natural species boundaries and its products are often called "transgenic" (literally
across genus boundaries). It is possible to insert a fish gene into a tomato or a pig gene into a
corn — which would never occur in nature without human intervention.

The push by Monsanto and other firms to get the public to accept genetically modified organisms
was set back by the market failure of the FlavrSavr Tomato and the recent failures of their other
products to be as financially advantageous to farmers as advertised. So now the biotech industry has
shifted its attention away from genetically modifying fresh vegetables and fruits towards animal
feed crops or crops that are used in processed foods. Fields of soybeans, corn, cotton, and canola
cover over 145 million acres of cropland in the U.S. and are the front runners of these GMO crops.

At our annual Ministry of Agricultures conference we demonstrated how to set up your home or
community garden. Along with the training came a manual and a package of 13 different types of
non-genetically modified vegetable seeds. If you were not fortunate to get such a package here are
some tips for getting non-GMO seeds: 1. Go on the Internet and type into a "Google" search
"heirloom seeds". This will give you a list of places to purchase seeds that have been
passed down through generations among farmers. 2. Look for or ask for the older varieties at your
seed stores, 3. Purchase the least expensive brand of vegetable seeds, because the genetically
modified seeds generally cost more.

If you still do not know why you should be concerned about seeds, please read "Food: New
Weapon of Mass Destruction", "The Miracle of Taste" and "If I were Satan"
on www.MuhammadFarms.com under the "Farmer Newsletter", just to get started. Use your
"faith" wisely and swiftly. Plant a fertile seed and save some seed, before the
"merchants of death" destroy the "faith of seeds" to reproduce themselves.

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

48 "And (make him) a messenger to the Children of Israel (saying): I have come to you with
a sign from your Lord, that I determine out of dust the form of a bird, then I breathe into it and
it becomes a bird with Allah’s permission, and I heal the blind and the leprous, and bring the
dead to life with Allah’s permission; and I inform you of what you should eat and what you
should store in your houses. Surely there is a sign in this for you, if you are
believers." (Holy Qur’an, Sura 3:48)

 

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad fulfilled this prophesy mentioned in the above verse from the Holy
Qur’an to the letter in his over 40 years of labor for the Black man and woman of America. In his
monumental book, "How to Eat to Live", he taught you and I "…what you should eat…"
and his many articles in the Muhammad Speaks Newspaper warned us about a day of famine and want in
America and told us "…what you should store in your houses." Have we taken heed of these
warnings and teachings or are we just "disbelievers"?

I find the end of this Sura very interesting when Allah adds "…if you are believers."
Does this mean that there are types of people who are "believers" and types of people who
are "disbelievers"? If there is such a species as a "disbeliever", then what can
one say to such a type to get him or her to believe. The disbeliever will disbelieve anything that
you say to him unless the fire or the punishment actually touches his or her flesh.

In May of 2004 the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned President Bush and America to get
out of Iraq or Allah (God) would bring down some punishment in the form of bad weather. That year 5
major hurricanes touched the shores of America and the tracks of those storms spelled out the name
"Allah" in Arabic as we documented in "The Hand of God: Hurricanes and Mighty
Snow". This was a sign for the "believers" or just "Dr. Ridgely tripping"
to the "disbelievers".

The next year, 2005, hurricane Katrina slams into the Gulf with devastating effects. The weather
"experts" predicted that there would be even more such storms in 2006. But their
"scientific" predictions failed for 2006 and 2007. This world’s scientists are at their
wits end to explain the strange weather that is plaguing America.

In the past America has been blessed with fertile soils and balanced weather patterns: not to
hot, not to wet, not to dry, not to cold. However, agribusiness has raped her soil and the weather
patterns are changing for the worst. There has been extreme drought in America’s southeast, wild
fires and mud slides in the west, now flooding in the Midwest, the "bread basket" of
America. Even the Mississippi River had to be closed for grain traffic because of the extensive
flooding.

Last year we wrote an article called "The Perfect Storm hits grain industry" where we
laid out the series of steps that would lead to extremely high food prices and grain shortages. Even
though corn prices were very high last year, farmers in 2008 decided to plant 8 percent less corn,
devoting more land to soybeans which was also receiving record high futures prices. So the grain
prices were predicted to go up even before the spring flooding of the Midwest began. Now the USDA
has lowered its expected corn yields by another 3 percent. The flood could destroy up to 20% of the
Midwest’s corn crop.

Corn is a major ingredient in most livestock feeds. Corn is also a major ingredient in the vast
processed food industry. So prices will soar. The panic is on.

Thousands of years ago Iowa used to be part of a great inland sea or lake. It is very flat and
low, flanked by the Mississippi River on one side and the Missouri River on the other while being
crossed by the Des Moines River. When all three of these rivers overflow, as they are doing now,
Iowa turns back into a lake, livestock is drowned and crops are destroyed. Truckers are being told
not to enter Iowa. The bread basket of America is soggy and off limits.

We wrote an article called "Organic is not good enough" to explain what happened to
spinach when it was contaminated with E-coli. Now tomatoes have been found to be contaminated with
salmonella. People ask us, "How can we shop wisely for safe food in the grocery stores?"
We say as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us, "get your stomach out of the white man’s
kitchen."

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad compared the "disbeliever" to a hog who never looks up to
see the impending storm until the rain, sleet or snow actually hits his back. Can we feel it yet?
There is not much else for me to write for the "disbelievers", just watch the news.

However, for the believers, keep up prayer, plant you a garden, support your local food buying
club or co-op and continue to support the Three Year Economic Savings Program. The Ministry of
Agriculture has established 17 active food buying clubs across the nation.

We don’t write as much as we used to because the time for warning is over and the "mystery
god" will not help us make Muhammad Farms or our food co-ops a success. As a farmer we work 12
to 16 hours every day, so sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to say to
"disbelievers" without hurting the feelings of weak believers. However, Allah has blessed
us with ample rain this year, so we should be shipping sweet corn, squash, eggplant, whole wheat
flour, navy beans, watermelons and cantaloupes to your area shortly. Go to www.MuhammadFarms.com.
and use our "Resource List" to contact your closest representative of the Nation of Islam’s
Ministry of Agriculture and see how you can participate in your own survival, if you are believers.