Category Archives: The Farmer Newsletter

farmer-Nov-08-99






The Farmer

Volume
2, Number 8                                         
November 8, 1999

The
Farmer


———————————————————————–

Farm Tour: and who will carry on
the legacy?

 

by Dr. Ridgely A. Mu’min Muhammad

        
A
chartered bus pulled out of the parking lot at Fort Valley State University in
Georgia on Friday morning, November 5, 1999. 
Its mission was to visit three Black farms in Georgia to get a better
understanding of the problems, successes and future of black farming in America. 
On board were farmers, researchers, administrators, USDA employees, farm
activists, project directors and extension personnel.

               
It took us two hours just to reach the first farmer, but in that period
the "academic type" got a rare chance to sit and talk with farmers in
an informal setting without looking at their watches and being concerned about
their work load.  The farmers
finally had them hostage. (smile)  Many
of these "academic type" had no idea about the evil being reeked upon
Black farmers and their families.  They
learned about the lawsuit and the reasons behind that suit. 
They learned how even today, white men who have charge of government
programs in these rural counties are demanding sexual favors from these Black
farmers wives and daughters in order for these farmers to get what is rightfully
theirs.  Slavery is not over. 
Black people in the cities instinctively know this and this is why
students shy away from anything sounding like "agriculture" when they
pick careers.

               
We first visited the farm of the Robert Brothers. 
These elderly brothers have been successful small size farmers all of
their lives and have managed to keep in tact the family legacy comprising of 200
acres of prime farm land. They are growers and marketers of high quality produce
throughout Georgia, Florida and the Eastern United States. They specialize in
watermelons and are reported to produce some of the sweetest watermelons in the
country.  I tried to get some tips. 
They gave me a few, but I guess I would have to work as an apprentice for
one summer to get the rest. (smile)

               
I joke about this apprenticeship thing but seriously something has to be
put in place to preserve this legacy and knowledge. 
These three brothers said that none of their children plan to continue
farming.  Mr. Robert 
said that "…as long as you can import food from overseas, get it
to the local markets and sell it cheaper than I can grow it, then there ain’t
much incentive to get young people to do this."

               
Our next visit was to the Kennedy Farm. 
The Kennedy family is carrying on the 150 year tradition of farming a
2200 acre spread which they have converted from row cropping to cattle and horse
raising.  Their homes are beautiful
and their farm is immaculate, I was jealous. (smile) 
But again none of these great men could guarantee that this tradition
would carry on after they leave.  One
thing that many people don’t know is that most Black farmers have other jobs and
are highly skilled.  To be a success
at farming you must know farming, livestock health, first aid, equipment repair,
electrical wiring, plumbing, truck and auto repair, building construction, heavy
equipment operations, welding, metal fabrication, accounting, marketing, law,
government regulations, and a hell of a lot about human nature.  In
other words everything you need to know to be independent in America. 
When we lose these type of men and women, we have lost more than the land

               
Next we visited the Jessie Rhodes’ farm and small farm vegetable
cooperative.  This Black man can
sure grow some collards.  He is
experimenting and inventing all the time.  The
Black farmers in that area have organized themselves into a cooperative because
they realized that they can not compete with the big farmers in terms of volume
and price.  They share markets as
well as equipment and labor. They now want to hook up with other black farm
cooperatives so that they can be like the Vidallia Onion co-op which produces 70
percent of the onions leaving Georgia.

               
This trip exposed one of the major problems in servicing and organizing
the Black farmers.  We left Fort
Valley at 9:00 a.m. and did not return until 11:30 p.m. 
We spent most of our time on the bust, which allowed no more than 30
minutes for each farm visit.  The
farmers are so far away from potential help and markets that the logistical
problem of coordinating them is tremendous. 
Do we have any military veterans trained in logistics? 
It is going to take such expertise and skills to save the few Black
farmers that are left and preserve a legacy.

               
For further information about these farmers contact Dr. Clarence Johnson,
Associate Professor of Horticulture at (912) 825-6831 or Dr. Glenwood F. Hill,
Program Leader  – Agriculture &
Natural Resources at (912) 825-6269.  For
more information about Black farm issues visit Muhammad Farms web site at: 
http://personal.lig.bellsouth.net/~drridge

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

If you have any questions, please e-mail Dr. Ridgely A. Mu’min Muhammad at drridge@bellsouth.net

Muhammad Farms

Farmer-May31-2002





Volume 5

Volume 5, Number 21                                                   
May 31, 2002

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

"Fighting the Hidden Agenda": Agriculture &
Black Survival Conference

By Lawrence A. Muhammad

 

The first annual Agriculture & Black Survival Conference was attended by over
30 brothers and sisters from: Georgia,
Ohio, Michigan, Maryland,
Missouri, Illinois and the Carolinas; and,
local farmers of the
Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association
(BFAA).

Each day contained valuable information and practical demonstrations to help
understand the need to produce and distribute
food to the 40
million people of our community, people we have been
instructed
to feed by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad,
our Messenger. The
conference was facilitated by Muhammad Farms’ manager, Ridgely A. Mu’min Muhammad and his wife,

Sister Anne Muhammad on the campus of Mercer University in Macon, GA.

Much of the conference occurred away from Mercer University. We visited a
Farmer’s Market in Macon and received sound
advice, from local
business persons, about the how-to’s of buying
produce/fruit and
the factors to consider in those decisions.
Facilities for
getting wheat, produce, and watermelons to market were
included
in our tours. One of our major goals is to go
back to our
respective cities and figure out ways to distribute
foodstuff in
our communities, especially Black farmer’s products.
Cooperatives
are a way for this to be accomplished. Working with
existing
food cooperatives, in your community, or
establishing new ones
would be a local decision. Muhammad Farms and the
BFAA are
available for technical assistance.

Local farmers, from the Black Farmers Agricultural Association (BFAA) met
with us Saturday. The Georgia Chapter of BFAA’s President, Eddie
Slaughter,
conducted their regularly scheduled meeting at Mercer
University,
allowing us to get updated on their plight and fight against
the
USDA, Black politicians, and others who are consciously and in some
cases
unconsciously part of the effort to prevent Black Farmers from
recovering
their lost land. Land lost as a result of programmatic
deception
and political
gobbledygook. The recently passed Farm Bill,
states Mr. Slaughter, "was
$190 billion dollars… 90% of
all that money and
subsidies will go to your largest corporate
farmers in this country.

The Cargills, Continental Grain, Tyson Poultry and all these other
people." Mr. Slaughter further states, "…what you have to realize
is
that 60% of Black farmers will not even get or
receive one penny
of that money and the few of them that do will have
less than
one percent of everything that white farmers
receive."

On the subject of the Consent Decree, to accept the terms of the out of court
settlement, Mr. Slaughter told us that, "Joseph Lowery was
brought
out of retirement to sell Black farmers on Consent Decree. They
gave
him thousands, and thousands, and thousands of
dollars to do it…
after they did this; everybody was calling in,
praising Joseph
Lowery for brokering a $2.5 billion dollar
settlement for Black
farmers in America. ‘That’s the biggest lie that
was ever
told! … They named a street after Joseph
Lowery in Atlanta
somewhere". Mr. Slaughter went on to say, "Joseph
Lowery,
I can forgive him because he’s not going to
prosper because of
it. He is only just one in a whole slew of them
[Black leaders]
that did us all these years". Mr.
Slaughter believes that
although their numbers are small, " BFAA is not
going to
give up because one, with God, is a
majority".

The BFAA has filed a lawsuit against the USDA, and others, but
not to get money. They filed a lawsuit to get
their land
returned to them not $50,000. The important matter is that
the
land must be secured because the 40 million strong in this country
is
getting ready to
lose the ability to feed themselves. Mr.
Slaughter states, "To lose the ability to feed ourselves is
unconscionable
for a people
this big and this strong… there is something
seriously wrong us as a
people. Our (BFAA) slogan is ‘A
landless people is a
helpless people’. And for us to turn
Black farmers into refugees in
this country… everybody should
be crying out from every
pulpit in this country, across this
land, about this kind of injustice!"

The highlight of the conference was the "Footsteps Of The Messenger" tour.
We visited the cities of Sandersville, Deepstep,
Wenona, Arabi,
Macon and Cordele in Georgia, all of the places where The
Messenger
walked: the church where his father preached and he met Sister
Clara,
Poole Road, the train stations he surely used, the site of a
lynching
he observed, the places he lived and worked. What a way to
get
‘high’.

No one gets tour would be complete without putting some time in at Muhammad
Farms. We had the privilege of helping to get rid of
some weeds
that were growing around the organic Black Diamond
watermelons
that will be ready for harvest starting at the end of
June. We
also picked several bushels of squash that were ripe for
picking
– some of which we brought home. If you want to
be a part of
the success of the Three-Year Economic Program, by
participating
in Muhammad Farms activities, then use the
following means for
contact. Email: drrridgely@muhammadfarms.com; go on
the website
www.muhammadfarms.com; call Dr.
Ridgely or Sis. Anne Muhammad at
(888) 995-8119, or fax (229) 995-6771.
Reserve your weekend or
week day.
There is always something to do and see. Public and
private schools are
also encouraged to visit Muhammad Farms so
our
children can see what a real farm is.

The contact information can also be used to place orders for upcoming crops,
delivered to your city. The Muhammad Farms
website has a
calendar of crop production for you to view. Your local
Farm
Marketing Coordinator is your best contact for
arranging crop
deliveries to your community.

 

 

 

 

Farmer-May21-2002





Volume 5

Volume 5, Number
20                                                   
May 21, 2002

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

On "Life And Debt"

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Stephanie Black uses Raggae music to decorate the ugly tales of how the IMF destroyed Jamaica in
her film documentary, "Life And Debt". This movie is so "real" that you
think that it was first class "Hollywood" tricknology. But on further viewing one sees
that the violence and terrible conditions that the beautiful people of Jamaica have been forced to
live in is all too real. Here are some of the story lines:

1. Dairy farmers in Jamaica were forced out of business as the US dumped 134% subsidized powdered
milk on the market.

2. Jamaica singer, Sizzla, sing out while slave wage garment workers make Tommy Hilfiger shirts
and Brooks clothing for America. The garment workers were paid $30 per week then when they
protested, the companies in the "free trade zone" brought in boat loads of Asians to
replace them.

3. Ten year old American scrap meat is dumped on the Jamaican market.

4. "McDonalds" forces an indigenous restaurant named "McDonalds" to close
down even though the Jamaican restaurant was there first.

5. Former Prime Minister Michael Manly admits regret at signing IMF agreement.

6. Vegetable farmers were encouraged to grow hot peppers to ship to America, but their product
never met "grade" requirements.

Jamaica’s story is not an isolated case of good intentioned white folks making a mistake. This
movie could portray many countries in the so-called "Third World" as the IMF and World
Bank hide behind lofty sounding names and profess lofty goals as they "bloodsuck" the poor
and gullible.

Here is a quote from Michel Chossudovsky in "The
causes of global famine",
October 19, 1995:

"Since the early 1980s, grain markets are deregulated under the supervision of the World
Bank, US grain surpluses are used (far more systematically than in the past) to destroy the
peasantry and destabilize national food agriculture. The latter becomes, under these circumstances,
far more vulnerable to the vagaries of drought and environmental degradation. Similarly, subsidized
beef and dairy products imported (duty free) from the European Community have led to the demise of
Africa’s nomadic pastoral economy. European beef imports to West Africa increased seven fold since
1984 with the effect of displacing local level livestock producers. In the Sahel, the deregulation
of the grain market under the supervision of the World Bank was initiated at the height of the
1983-84 drought with devastating social consequences. " (full text at: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/28/039.html

Have you ever heard of "PL 480"? It is a federal government food give away program to
foreign countries. It is run by the State Department and the not the Department of Agriculture,
because it is an instrument of Foreign Policy, i.e. war. On June 19, 2000 Guyana asked Jamaica to
amend their Food Aid Program. Actually it was America’s Food Aid Program that was dumping cheap
rice on the Jamaican market which destroyed Guyana rice export market to Jamaica.

Imagine that you are a wheat farmer in Africa or Asia. You save your money to buy seed or saved
your seed from last year. You fight monsoons and droughts to get your crop planted and harvested.
Then just as you were bringing your wheat to the city, America pulls in this huge ship that has been
waiting off shore for months just to dump cheap wheat on your market. America subsidizes her
unwilling soldiers, called farmers, to produce her weapons, called "food aid".

These African countries, like Black people in America, send their smartest children to colleges
in the West to be trained in how to fall for slick sophisticated traps. Some one with a third grade
education would not fall for such shenanigans like: "You should grow raw products for the
export market, then buy food from Europe and America. You can get rich that way and drive a
Mercedes." When will we learn?

For all of you who think that "conspiracies" are myths come see this movie "Life
and Debt" then talk to me. We will be showing this film Saturday, May 25, 2002, 8:00 p.m. in
the Willet Science Center on Mercer University’s Campus as a part of our "Agriculture and
Black Survival Conference". This conference/retreat will be held over the Memorial Day Weekend
in Macon, Ga. For more details about the conference go to: http://muhammadfarms.com/Fighting_hidden_agenda.htm

The theme for the conference is "Fighting the Hidden Agenda". Those who will attend
already know that their is a "Hidden Agenda", but who will develop an alternative plan?
Surely not a "mystery god".

Peace, Doc

Farmer-May-22-2003





Volume 6

Volume 6, Number
15                                             
May 22, 2003

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

Can Black People Survive?

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

 

While attending a conference on May 3rd at The City College of New York for a celebration of
their African Studies Program, I posed the following question during my lecture: "Can Black
people survive and thrive in a world with no meaning?"

The answer I give to my question is emphatically, No. Slaves can survive in such a world, but not
a free-minded Black people. The key here is what is the nature of a "people". A
"people" is not just the sum total of a bunch of non-connected individuals.

Black people have been seeking "unity" for the last 100 years. Yet we are as divided
now as we were then. "Unity" is not the key to survival in a white supremacist dominated
country. Obeying "massa" will allow you to survive. Disobeying him will cause you death,
unless you have an army to defend yourself.

If the only way that we could obtain food, clothing and shelter was to "unite" with our
Black self, then that is just what we would do. However, the children of our former slave masters
have made themselves the "gods" over our physical survival, and they punish us if we
attempt to unite.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote in "Message to the Black Man" in 1965:

"Today, the international conception of honor, pride and dignity is not concerned with
individuals within a country but is rather concerned with your work and value as a part of an
established nation.

In order to be recognized today you must represent your nation. We must understand the importance
of land to our nation." (p.223)

On my way up to this conference I was listening to National Public Radio. They had a conversation
with two people working with orphans whose parents had died as a result of 21 years of civil war in
Angola. One of these workers made a profound statement on the distinction between the
"African" mind and the "European" mind. She stated that Africans’ sense of
self was completely interwoven with the group. The individual had no meaning except as he or she was
related to the group. This is in strong contrast to the type of "individualism" taught by
western societies. I might add that Blacks in America have bought into this concept of
"individualism" lock, stock and barrel.

As descendants of Africans we want "honor, pride and dignity" without land and a
"King" or leader. We have placed ourselves in an impossible position by expecting to gain
these things as "individuals". On top of this, many of us have visited Egypt with scholars
such as Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan and seen the dark skin, broad noses and kinky hair of the builders
of the pyramids. We have come back defiant, not willing to bow down to white supremacy but unwilling
to break away and build a nation. This is very dangerous.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said that we must have "land" to have a nation. I have
been working with Black farmers since 1997 to help them save the land that Black people still own.
However, we own this land as individuals and not as a people. Without this concept of
"group" or people we as Black farmers have not been able to unite successfully and stop
the USDA from continuing to take away more land.

During the last administration when the Democrats had power they caused divisions within the
Black farm movement by offering the possibility of USDA funding to one set of farmers, if they broke
away from the other group of "trouble makers". When the Republicans took power they caused
divisions within the Black farm movement by offering the possibility of USDA funding to one set of
farmers, if they broke away from that other group of "trouble makers". When will we learn?

To show you how this system continues to work against our unity and the productive utilization of
our resources and talents, we held a Black Land Loss Summit in February of this year. At that
conference Min. Akbar Muhammad, the International Representative of the Nation of Islam, spoke to
Black farmers about visiting Zimbabwe. Immediately after such invitation and acceptance by these
farmers, America and Britain slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe and a rash of civil unrest broke out in
Zimbabwe.

Another theme at the land loss summit was developing a strategy to fulfill the offer by Cuba to
purchase from Black farmers. Now somehow Cuba has become a "threat" to America and
normalization of relations has been put back on the back burners.

Many Black farmers and Black people in general will not want to believe that the government of
the United States is that concerned about what a small group of Black farmers are attempting to do.
The government of the United States has "Nia", purpose. Do you know what that "Nia"
is? Do we as Black people have "Nia" or do we just say the word on the fifth day of Kwanza?

Is our "Nia" to integrate with our slave masters’ children? The Honorable Elijah
Muhammad said:

"In what other country on this earth will you find 22 million people within the framework of
another people’s government seeking to become qualified citizens joyously singing the song of
integration? Our people are the fools of the nations. Integration means self-destruction, and the
means to this end is exactly that — death and nothing less." (p.223)

These words were published in 1965. It is now 2003. A whole generation has chosen
"integration" as a means to survival and prosperity in America. A lot of that generation
is now behind bars and the other set lives at the bar, drinking and trying to figure out what went
wrong.

As a farmer I can look at a field that did not produce well and figure out "what went
wrong". If I do that same thing next year, guess what? The same thing will go wrong again.

We have had over 400 years of experience here among white people in America. Thus far their sole
purpose seems to have been exploit, enslave or kill all non-white people of this country and the
world. In light of recent events in this country and this country’s involvement in non-white
countries around the world, has that "Nia" changed?

They have a strong and active "Nia". What about you? Therefore I repeat, "Can
Black people survive and thrive in a world with no meaning?"

 

farmer-May-10-00






The Farmer Newsletter-May 10


Volume 3, Number
8                                                                                                 
May 10, 2000

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

“Waters for President!”

by Dr. Ridgely A. Mu’min Muhammad

According to wire reports a House resolution urging the federal

government
to speed up
settlement payments to black farmers in a
discrimination lawsuit was
defeated yesterday after
coming up against the unlikeliest of opponents: black
congressional leaders.
  The non-binding resolution,
requiring a two-thirds majority under a
special House
procedure, fell to a 216-180 vote with the Congressional Black
Caucus
(CBC) leading 179 Democrats
and one independent in opposing it. The full story can be
found
at:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/virginia/farm09.shtml

Gary Grant, president of BFAA, said, “I am sure the CBC is doing the


right thing by exposing the double tongue
of Rep. Dickey, but it certainly would have
been better
for them to
defeat his resolution and introduce their own.
We will see.”
Grant further added that “Glickman
and his crew of lynch men/women did
nothing yesterday
to give me hope. They lie as a matter of principle — no
conscious.
Waters is great –too bad we don’t have more like her.”
Some
200 Black farmers and 100 more supporters held a rally in the park
at
14th and Independence across from the USDA building on Monday, May
8th.
Fifteen
states were represented and the Rally was endorsed
by 60 organizations.
The organizers had invited
all members of the Congressional Black Caucus to join them in
protesting
continued
discrimination and stonewalling by the USDA.
However, none showed up
except Rep. Maxine Waters. 
She not only showed up but “showed out”. She gave a
blistering speech
lecturing the USDA, the Justice
Department and the FBI for what she said was a” conspiracy against the
Black
farmer”. “It is a shame,” she said,
“that you and I have to keep on
coming to Washington
to deal with this same issue time and time again. When we had the hearings for

the Black farmers we thought that we were
on our way. When we removed the statute
of limitations, we
thought we were almost there. When the Consent Decree was written
by
Judge Freedman, we thought we had
finally arrived. But here we are again, time and time
again.”
Rep. Waters did not just stay and talk, she led the rally across
the
street to visit Dan Glickman.
Although the Black farmers were told before hand that Glickman
was
not
in town, and after another 13 farmers went to jail
after trying to
peacefully enter the USDA to talk
with Glickman and/or his lynch people, and after Rep. Waters
insistence
on entering the building herself, finally Glickman popped up and invited her,
Gary Grant
and lawyers Stephon Bowens
and Darlene Smith to enter and voice their concerns. According to Gary Grant,
“When Rep. Waters asked questions, Glickman
and his
lynch men/women flinched. You could tell by their facial
expressions
and body
language that they were lying and being found out
by Rep. Waters.”
Grant further added that he had
never seen anyone methodically tear down a wall of lies to get to
the
truth so eloquently as
did Waters. When
Gary Grant came back outside to tell the farmers and supporters
what
happened in the meeting between Glickman and Rep. Waters, the chant
rang
out “Waters for
President, Waters for
President!”
Dr. Ridgely Muhammad adds, ” Rep.
Maxine Waters has already investigated
the government’s
role in bringing drugs into the Black community. Now she is
uncovering
the conspiracy against the
Black farmers and ultimately the contamination of the food supply
of
Black people in the
cities. Let us now march to the
Democratic Convention to be held in L.A.
in August and
continue
the chant: ‘Waters for President!’ “

Peace, Doc

Rep. Maxine Waters Fights for Justice for the Black Farmer!


Farmer-Mar6-2004





Volume 7

Volume 7, Number
8                                                    
March 6, 2004

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

Levitate or "Fly" Home

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Historically it can be said that when "white folk sneeze, Black folk get pneumonia". So
what happens when white folk get pneumonia? The downturn in the American economy has resulted in the
loss of 2.6 million manufacturing jobs. On February 20, 2004 Senator Chris Dodd wrote a letter to
President Bush asking Mr. Bush not to hide these loses by re-classifying service jobs, such as fast
food workers, as manufacturing work.

In a way re-classifying fast food workers may be appropriate. They are implicitly saying that the
fast food industry does not serve "food" but manufactures something made to look like
"food", i.e. "Mad Cow burgers" and "Frankenfood". A steady diet of
this manufactured stuff can be attributed to obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, all major
plagues in the Black community.

In the meantime a report by Mark Levitan found that in New York City in 2003 nearly half of Black
men between the ages of 16 and 64 did not have jobs. The prospects for these Black men getting jobs
are narrowing since many manufacturing jobs have gone overseas and now American companies are
"outsourcing" high tech jobs overseas as well. David Zielenziger in a December 2003
article called "US Companies Moving More Jobs Overseas" writes:

"Morgan Stanley estimates the number of U.S. jobs outsourced to India will double to about
150,000 in the next three years. Analysts predict as many as two million U.S. white-collar jobs such
as programmers, software engineers and applications designers will shift to low cost centers by
2014."

If Mr. Richard Russell is correct, and "workers overseas can get the jobs done at around
one-fifth the cost that those same jobs can be done in the US…", then the question must be
asked: Why should those jobs come back when the goods that they produce can come in America
basically duty-free? Add to this the growing trade deficit and debt load, America is quickly
becoming a "Third World" country, selling raw products and buying back manufactured
products. Soon she will have to make a decision on how she will pay back her tremendous debt load.
She will be forced by the international bankers to cut services and infrastructure development for
her people (tightening her waist), in order to pay back the debt.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned us that America would be closing down her factories and
would put Black people on the streets. We are looking at that day. Where will we go? In 1910 Black
people had a population of about 10 million and owned over 15 million acres of land. Whites in the
South used brutality to run Blacks off their land while their white cousins in the North opened up
temporary jobs in the North. Now those jobs are being taken off shore.

Today 40 million Black people now own less than 3 million acres of farm land. As bad as slavery
was, slavery did not break our spirit of self-reliance. We bought 15 million acres in our first 45
years after slavery, but now we sell our inheritance for a new car or bag of dope. We are so bold as
to laugh at the farmer, but yet we still love to eat. We have traded "common sense" for a
"B.S." degree.

Even now most of our remaining land is in the South while we are being herded into
"concentration camps" in the big cities of the North. Four and six lane "defense
highways" encircle the Black communities with video cameras watching almost every inch. New
"noise" walls are being built along these "loops" to divide Black communities
from the grocery warehouses. Water systems and power grids are being sold to foreign investors. Both
can be cut off with a flip of a switch.

If anarchy breaks out in the cities, where will Black folk flee? White folks have family and
friends who own land in the countryside. Everywhere Black folk try to run will be owned by somebody
else. It would be wise to leave these cities, now. The jobs are not coming back and neither are the
grocery stores, unless you put them there.

Where will you go, what skills do you have to survive and what goods or service can you produce
and sell to your neighbors? What "trade" have you mastered? A four year liberal arts
degree can’t fix a car, build a house, make a dress, fabricate a tool or grow a blade of grass.
You have been set up for the kill. The people who were the producers and artisans for America have
been reduced to a group of "lottery players" waiting on "a dream". Instead of
using their brains to make things happen, they are engrossed in dreaming up the right set of numbers
in games of chance.

In 1991 Minister Louis Farrakhan implemented a program of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s
called the "Three Year Economic Savings Program." We presently work on a 1600 acre farm in
Georgia that was obtained through the donations to this program. We urgently encourage you to
participate in this program with your financial support. Along with acquiring land, we are working
with other Black farmers to set up distribution systems to the cities. However, most cities do not
have independent Black owned stores or coops. Please read past articles in the "Farmer
Newsletter" on www.MuhammadFarms.com to learn how to set up a coop in your city.

For those of you who do not want to participate directly in a "Nation of Islam"
program, please keep your eyes and ears open for the debut of the "Black Family Land
Trust." Black leaders and organizers are preparing an instrument to save, protect and increase
Black land ownership that will give everyone a chance to be a part of the solution

And for those of you who are seeking reparations but are not asking for land, we want you to do
this exercise for us. Stand up. Now, levitate off of the ground. Now think, how much money
(reparations) can someone give you so that you can exist without land to plant your feet?

And if you think that voting for a new "white" president will save you, remember what
Min. Farrakhan said in his 2004 Saviours’ Day address: “Black people are so angry with President
Bush that they’re willing to give Senator Kerry a free ride. Getting rid of Bush and getting John
Kerry … will mean you’ll get more of the same.”

Help save the land we still have, pool our resources to get more and "fly home" to the
South. Some may argue that Africa is our home. However, according to the prophecy of Abraham, we are
not to leave the land of our 400 hundred year affliction until we acquire great
"substance". Credit cards and non-productive trinkets are not "substantive
assets." Let us first work our way out of the cities (Babylon) back to the land in which we
soaked our sweat and blood (the South) as we prepare for the great Exodus.

 

Peace, Doc

 

 

 

Farmer-Mar5-2003






Volume 6


Volume 6, Number
12                                 
March 5, 2003

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

Planned Economies or “Smoking Guns”

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

I was in an Internet discussion recently where certain age old apologies were presented that
attempted to explain away the plight of the Black farmers as just a case of being out of step. He
stated:

“Unfortunately, due to size advantages of larger and more industrial farming outfits, Black
farms will have a tough time competing…In essence, these farms must obsolete themselves and take
on a new structure of business or be obsoleted and be vanquished forever.”

In other words, it’s the victims’ fault. What if this “obsolete”-ness was planned
by a hostile government? Would that change the perspective?

Then this past weekend I attended a Black economic summit in Columbus, Ga. The head of the local
Chamber of Commerce stated that in the Columbus area only 10% of the Black owned businesses hired
more than one person, while over 50% of Asian businesses in this same area hired more than one
employee. Another presenter stated that he was married to a Vietnamese and that she would drive to
another city or state just to buy from another Vietnamese. Could Asians be following some type of
“race-first philosophy” or as so-called white people and “Negroes” call it
“reverse racism”?

Now the reason for the pitiful economic state of Black farms and Black businesses can be summed
up as, “Black farmers and businesses are too small and inefficient to compete and it is racist
for Black people to go out of their way to help them out.” No wonder Black people have a hard
time figuring out what to do in America, while foreigners come here and “make it big”.

In my struggle to “pin the tail on the donkey” or find the agricultural policy
“smoking gun” pointed at the Black farmer, I had to go on a journey from Gore Vidal, to
Timonthy McVeigh, to Joel Dyer and finally to the “Committee on Economic Development” 1962
report entitled “AN ADAPTIVE PROGRAM FOR AGRICULTURE.” This report was used to shape
agricultural policy for the last half of the 20th century.

A few quotations from this 1962 report are in order:

“Net migration out of agriculture has been going on for 40 years, and at a rapid rate.
Nevertheless, the movement of people from agriculture has not been fast enough…The adaptive
approach utilizes positive government action to facilitate and promote the movement of labor and
capital where they will be most productive and will earn the most income.”

This “adaptive approach” recommended that vocational agriculture courses in rural areas
be scrapped, agricultural prices be substantially lowered and temporary income programs be
instituted to protect the most suited for survival. In addition, more surpluses should be dumped on
developing nations, consumer prices should be kept low, rural electrification should be slowed down
and rural workers moved to be factory workers in the cities. These measures, according to this
report, would “Reduce Farm Labor Force by One-third in Five Years.” Remember this
was in 1962.

What this report failed to tell us was that the “income protection programs” were to be
administered by the USDA on local levels by “county committees” consisting in the South of
racist so-called white landowners. Therefore as the prices and resources were being lowered for all
farmers, so-called white farmers in the South would be able to determine who would survive this war
of attrition by controlling the government hand-outs.

The result has been that Black farmers have lost another 6 million acres of land from 1960 to
1997. The chart below tracks the “parity ratio” (a ratio of farm prices received divided
by cost of non-farm products bought) and the acres of Black farm land measured in millions. As one
can see, as the parity ratio goes down so does the acres of Black farmland owned. When the parity
ratio spikes up, Black farmland ownership rebounds. In 1960 the parity ratio was about .8, which
means that farms were 8/10ths as profitable as they were in 1910, while in 1997 they were only
4.5/10ths as profitable.

However, more white farmers were able to survive, prosper and grow because they were
beneficiaries of a government policy of wealth redistribution from the Black to the white. As an
example, white farmers were given four times more government subsidies in the 10 year period from
1982 to 1992 on a per acre basis than was given to Black farmers ($1023 verses $274). At the same
time, the Reagan administration (“the hostile government”) in 1983 got rid of the Civil
Rights Division of the USDA, so that not a “mumbling word” could be heard from these Black
farmers as they languished on this “adaptive approach” cross.

So while we were taught to hate “communists” and “planned economies”, the
“hidden hand” of white capitalism and racism was working in the dark on government
advisory boards such as the Committee for Economic Development (CED). Now who and what is the
Committee for Economic Development (CED)? Answer: the big corporate bosses. In their own words:

“CED’s work is supported by voluntary contributions from business and industry. It is
nonprofit, nonpartisan, and nonpolitical

The Trustees, who generally are Presidents or Board Chairmen of corporations and Presidents of
universities are chosen for their individual capacities rather than as representatives of any
particular interests.”

From their www.CED.org web site we learn that it is still doing policy research on such issues as
welfare reform, judicial selection, campaign finance, international policy, immigration, health care
and social security. Of course the CED is not the only such “think tank”. There are many
including the Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
whose suggestion that America go to the war with Iraq was rejected by President Clinton but accepted
by President Bush. Of course it would be hard for Bush not to accept their analyses since they now
have prominent seats in his cabinet. Their acronym of “PNAC” is close enough to
“PANIC” for me.

Therefore the Black farmers and family farmers in general did not have a chance against the CED
and other “think tanks” who controlled the wealth, the education and the politics behind
the scenes of both “parties”. Even when you catch these “devils” red handed as
was done in the case of Enron and the California “energy crisis”, this new set of policy
shapers now have the power to not only keep the plans for your future a secret, they can also hide
in anonymity thanks to “the powers that be”, such as Vice-president Cheney. He was even
able to crush the GAO suit which aimed to make him just give us the names of this administration’s
“Energy Advisory Board.” Wow, Stalin would be proud.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Farmer-Mar31-2003





Volume 6

Volume 6, Number
13                                            
March 31, 2003

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

Buying "Groceries"

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Here at Muhammad Farms we are pleased to see the increased desire of our people to want produce
from our farm and from the other Black farmers. For a long time Black people have shown no desire to
support Black farmers nor have they had an awareness of diet as a contributing cause to most of
their health related problems.

When we get calls or emails from potential customers who want to buy their "groceries"
from Muhammad Farms, we hate to disappoint them by telling them that we do not grow
"groceries". We understand that most people have no idea as to how the food system works.
All they know is that whenever they go to the restaurant they can just go to the menu or salad bar
and choose whatever they like. They can wake up in the middle of the night and have a craving for
something and just go out or even pick up the phone and bam, their desire is fulfilled.

Many people now want to know how they can support Black farmers and purchase food from them. I
have published many articles concerning the plight of the Black farmers, but I have yet failed to
properly educate the people of the underlying structure that causes the problem

To be very blunt, the whole infrastructure by which Black farmers grew food and sold it to Black
people has been destroyed. It simply is not there. "Integration", "urban
removal", "benign neglect" and blind faith in the goodness of white folk took care of
that.

Think of a wide river that once used to be spanned by a large bridge. People went back and forth
across that bridge everyday and never thought about its importance. However, one day it was bombed
and now there is no other way to cross over to the other side of the river. You may be able to see
the people on the other side but you can not reach out to them. You may have worked on the other
side of that bridge and be able to see your factory, but without the bridge you can’t get to work.
They, good white folk, keep promising you that they will build you another bigger and better bridge,
while you sit on the other side and suffer. You won’t even buy a boat because some "negroes"
keep telling you that would offend the good white folk who promised you a new bridge.

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us an economic blueprint back in 1963. If we had followed that
blueprint and not gotten off the path we would not be in our current non-productive predicament. Now
is the time to pull that blueprint back out and use it. You will find it on pages 173-175 of
"Message to the Black Man."

When I heard the Honorable Elijah Muhammad say that agriculture is the root of civilization, I
changed my major in undergraduate school from architectural engineering to agricultural economics.
Since then I went on to achieve a PhD in agricultural economics from Michigan State University. I
taught agricultural economics in college. I have operated a 1600 acre farm since 1995. I have fought
the USDA for and along with Black farmers. I know this white man’s system and I joined the Nation
of Islam because it has the only solution to our economic difficulties as Black people in the
wilderness of North America. We tried integration and got nothing but an opportunity to integrate
the low morals of this decadent society into our now destroyed homes and communities. We let the
poison in and now wonder, why are we all sick? Now our neighborhoods do not have grocery stores, but
they are building drugstores on every major corner. Why?

First of all let us define "groceries". Groceries include raw fruits and vegetables,
meats, milk, fish, eggs, canned fruits and vegetables, frozen fruits and vegetables, processed food
products, soft drinks, flour, sugar and spices. No one farm produces "groceries". You need
a whole system of farms, trucks, storage and processing facilities and the financial institutions to
back all of these things up to produce a shopping cart of "groceries".

There are two solutions to how you can buy from Black farmers and save your life. Plan 1: if you
live in a city, you need to develop a community of people who will buy collectively. You need to go
out to your local farmers market or produce wholesale market and see what they have to offer at what
quantities and prices. Then collectively you need to pool your money, select the set of items that
you can buy in quantity; go to the market or farmers; buy those items in bulk; come back to a
distribution point: church, home or institution; break the bulk orders down to the individual family
orders; distribute the food boxes; collect the money for the next go round and repeat this process,
over and over and over again. You must do this for yourself, I can not come and do it for you.

Now after you have done this for a few months, then contact me with the list of items that you
buy collectively on a regular basis, then I will find you some Black farmers to grow these items for
you.

Plan 2: The other way is to pool your resources on a national basis until you get about 4 billion
dollars. This would then allow you to purchase land and modern farm machinery, processing
facilities, hundreds of refrigerated trucks, diesel and refrigeration repair shops, large
refrigerated warehouses across the country, hundreds of smaller refrigerated warehouses, a chain of
grocery stores, a chain of franchise restaurants, a school for training people to operate and manage
all of the above entities, and a banking and finance system to handle the investments and
transactions. When you get all of this together then make sure that you have an army of lawyers and
armed guards to protect it. Now you can go into the business of buying your "groceries"
from Black farmers.

I have provided for you two different models for getting from ground zero, where we are now, to a
successful conclusion. One solution requires that you work together on a local basis and accept the
inconvenience of collective decision making and action. This communal type of behavior was the basic
economic structure in both Africa and in the South before integration. The other is a more
capitalist approach which would allow you to duplicate the present system that you have become
accustomed to. Chose one of these solution or you can just sit at home, look at TV, complain and
wait on the inevitable. Your enemy is not playing. You are a nuisance to him now. Stay tuned to http://muhammadfarms.com/The%20Farmer%20Newsletter.htm

 

Peace, Doc

Farmer-Mar28-2002





Volume 5

Volume 5, Number
17                                                    
March 28, 2002

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

"Deja Vue All Over Again"

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Why are the new reparations lawsuits getting so much public attention and people like Dr. Brock,
Min. Silas Muhammad, N’COBRA and others have been ignored by the "popular" press?

According to an article published on the Encobra.com website: http://ENCOBRA.COM/reparations_sought_from_u.htm
and a March 25th USAToday article, Mrs. Deadra Farmer-Paellmann, a former intern for N’COBRA has
filed a lawsuit against three companies on the behalf of 36.4 million Black people. Her lawsuit has
received wide coverage in both the USAToday and on national radio and t.v.

The so-called "Reparations’ Dream Team" has also gotten wide coverage in the USAToday
on February 21 and March 25, 2002 (an article a month). "Reparations" is the hot item on
radio talk shows. Jesse Jackson has all of a sudden become a spokesman for reparations. Al Pires is
getting spots on late night t.v. talk shows. Hmmmmm??

I received an e-mail from the SMRT wire service which stated that her lawsuit was put forward by
two Jewish lawyers. It is interesting that the Black farmers were never able to keep a lawsuit in
the court until a white lawyer, Al Pires, stepped in. Are Black lawyers incompetent or is there
something else going on here?

These new lawsuits are attacking corporations and not the government that made slavery legal.
Why? According to Attorney Willie Gary, in the February 21st USAToday article, the team is shooting
for an out of court settlement with these corporations. He states, "This should be a negotiated
matter. We shouldn’t be in litigations for 20 years." Is there a "shake down"
coming by the "Dream Team"? Will or have assets already been shifted out of the
corporations under attack such as with Enron? Will Black folks get the blame for these corporations
going bankrupt while Black folk never get the money and the "pro-bono" lawyers get paid?

The lawyers argue that the US courts will never allow itself to be sued. However, there is such
thing as an international court. Malcolm was killed because he was attempting to bring America
before the U.N. on the issues of slavery and reparations. There are groups still working in that
international arena. We hope that their efforts are not short circuited by this sneak attack by the
so-called "Scheme", I mean "Dream Team".

The Black farmers were tricked into this same type of out of court settlement which resulted in a
Consent Decree that they did not consent to. Therefore, I wonder will the 36.4 million Black people
be allowed to "consent" to this new "scam" or just be sold out once again by
"well-meaning white folk"?

In case you think that I am "reaching", let’s look at the recent history of the Civil
Rights Movement. The course of the present reparations issue is so similar to the advent of the
famous March on Washington in 1963.

The idea of a March on Washington to protest the discriminatory treatment of Blacks was talked
about among grassroots Blacks for more than twenty years. When the talk grew to the point of
reaching the White House, they set out to find the leader of the effort and discovered there was not
one leader and the march idea was basically unorganized. Aah, opportunity.

The White House hurriedly invited major Black leaders and told them to stop the March. However,
not one of them could take responsibility. The White House then got to work, took control of the
March idea and as stated in the "Autobiography of Malcolm X", "…with a fanfare of
international publicity, approved, endorsed and welcomed" a March on Washington. Of course now
the White House is the leader of the March to bring Black leaders together.

$800,000 was put in a pool by white philanthropies to unite Black leadership, and as Malcolm X
stated, "Now what had instantly achieved Black unity? The White man’s money. What string was
attached to the money? Advice. Not only was there this donation, but another comparable sum was
promised, for sometime later on, after the March…obviously if all went well."

Beware of the new "Snakes in the Reparations’ Grass". For
more information on the history of how Black farmers were scammed, DNA testing and the genetic
engineering of our food supply please go to http://www.muhammadfarms.com/The%20Farmer%20Newsletter.htm
.

Peace, Doc

Farmer-Mar22-2005





Volume 8

Volume 8, Number
7                                           
March 22, 2005

The Farmer

———————————————————————–

"Life is in the Balance"

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

A number of students of ancient Kemet are lording the value of the principle "Ma’at".
"Ma’at" at its most basic means "balance". Life itself depends on a series of
forces balanced together in most intricate manners, like a man on a tight rope dangling high off the
ground. A man walking such a tight rope only needs a little push, or shove or cross wind to throw
him off balance and make him fall to the earth and die.

As I was reading "Murder by Injection" written by Eustace Mullins, one paragraph struck
me square in the face: "In 1919…wheat was selling for a guaranteed price of $2.20 a bushel…"
What? We received $2.20 per bushel on a load of our wheat that we sold in June of 2004, eight-five
(85) years later. Now what other item or commodity has held its price so well?

Some might think that it’s wonderful that technology is so efficient that the farmer gets the
same thing for his wheat that he got 85 years ago. Question; how long would you stay in a business
where what you receive does not change, but what you have to spend has gone up by a factor of 9.6?
In other words, what a farmer has to buy costs him 9.6 times what it did in 1919, but he still gets
the same for what he sells to earn the money to buy those things. In other words, the farmer is the
economic slave for America’s great industrial progress.

I remember driving up to Atlanta with a load of watermelons a few years ago and having some young
Blacks laugh at me because I was hauling watermelons on our farm truck. I had to laugh along with
them, because I saw "dead folk laughing."

While they were laughing some very smart and wicked men were planning their annihilation. There
are some documents that you might want to look up on the internet. One is "Global 2000" by
Cyrus Vance, adviser to President Jimmy Carter in 1979. This document stated that the world needs to
reduce its projected population growth by 4 billion people. Also look up "Georgia Guidestones"
that were erected in Elberton, GA in 1979. Guiding principle number one was to keep world population
at a steady 500 million people. However, in 1979 there were at least 5 billion people already here.
What’s up? Can you spell "g-e-n-o-c-i-d-e"?

But how can someone produce death in such large numbers without the people catching on? One way
is by putting the economic system completely out of line with our life-support-system, causing man
to act in his own short term economic interests, while tricking him to dig his own grave in the long
term. Another way to put it is that you put man on a fast track to hell with the carrot of cheap
food and immediate gratification.

Make man hate to farm, hate to work and hate to wait and you have set him up for a collision with
reality. In 1997 twenty-five percent (25%) of Black farmers were 70 or older, while only 4% were 35
or younger. In other words, when the old ones die out, there will be no young ones to take their
place.

Oh, I bet you been looking at them "Star Wars" trilogies and think that you can live on
a planet with no farmers and no trees, just an endless array of skyscrapers, concrete and dust. No,
I’m sorry, not only will that not work, it is ugly. However, the very ones that are making
you think that you don’t need "nature" and you don’t need land, are patenting what was
"natural" and stealing all the land.

Let me make this simple. Trees and green things breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.
Humans and animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. That’s the balance, "Ma’at".
A planet without trees and green plants will soon suffocate itself with dumb humans breathing up all
the oxygen and producing what they can not breathe in, carbon dioxide.

Oh, but you believe in the white man’s wisdom and technology so much, that you are convinced
that he will always find a way with his unbalanced, no rhythm self. I ran into the president of
Dupont a few years back and we were discussing putting labels on genetically modified crops. He
assured me that his scientists had researched all the ends and outs of the new biological
technologies and they had everything under control. I laughingly said, "I hope that these
scientists you got aren’t the same ones that tried to stick four digits into two slots on our
computers." I was talking about "Y2K" where the designers of computers must not have
took into consideration that the year 2000 was going to happen and they needed a way to distinguish
between 1901 and 2001. "01" would not suffice.

I am a farmer and attended a workshop this month, March, sponsored by the University of Georgia.
The subject matter concerned the use of other herbicides in "Round-up Ready Cotton". The
presenters were explaining to farmers that although "Round-up Ready Cotton" was designed
so that the only herbicide you needed was "Round-up", certain weeds had taken genetic
information from the cotton and developed strains that were resistant to "Round-up". The
specialists recommended that the farmers needed to go back and use some of the other herbicides
along with the "Round-up" to destroy the new "self-modified" weeds before they
get out of hand. In other words, nature done fooled "Round-up". Nature will always seek a
balance, "Ma’at".

Sometimes I say, "Oh what the hell, let somebody else worry about all of that, I’m go make
me a rap video and get paid." Or you might say, "Negro you ain’t got no talent."
Wrong, I’m Black (smile). However, somebody has got to have enough respect for the gods that we
used to be to look out for the dumb children of our great ancestors. Our ancient ancestors in Kemet
knew of many technologies that this white man has rediscovered or just retrofitted from what he
could understand out of Egypt. However, our ancestors had enough sense not to use some of them,
because they could count past 100 years. You see the Black man taught the white man everything that
he knows, however the white man slept through "Common Sense 101" and he has made those
that worship his mind just as dumb.

My words are no idle boasts. The Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that were taught to
him by Master Fard Muhammad in the early 1930’s have been ridiculed by this world but never proven
wrong. Master Fard Muhammad brought us "Actual Facts", not theories. "Actual
Facts" can be checked. Bring Minister Louis Farrakhan before your scholars, scientists,
theologians and historians. Challenge him.

I as a student of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Louis Farrakhan have written a few
books myself. Read them and challenge me. I also challenge those of you who think you know Kmt (Kemet)
to read my books and challenge me on my novel understanding of Kmt and the pyramids. We are just
trying to teach you and save your life. It took us many years of study and submission to the Creator
to know what we know. Get on board with Minister Farrakhan and help us build the kingdom of God on
earth to replace "western civilization", where the white man’s heaven is the Black man’s
hell and fast becoming a slow agonizing death for white people too. Our people do not have time for
us to ego trip, trying to play catch up and "one up", because "life is in the
balance." Peace!