by Dr. Ridgely A. Mu’min Muhammad

Visitors from the Southern Region of the Nation of Islam came to Muhammad Farms on Saturday,
April 14, 2001. Represented was Muhammad Mosque No. 15, the Columbus Ga. Study Group, Augusta, Ga.
Study Group and Huntsville, Al. Study Group. They were given a tour of our 1600 acre farm AFTER they
did some farm work so that they would fully appreciate the tour.

Unfortunately, many of our "city cousins" think that food grows in the grocery store.
Now that ‘mad cows’, hoof and mouth disease, and "StarLink" corn have awakened the
need for safe food, many want "organically" grown food but have no idea of difference
between "gardening" a 100’ by 50’ plot and 1600 acres. An acre is 3/4ths of a football
field.

The visitors picked spinach and cabbage and some had the experience of picking cotton buds left
over from the previous year. Even though our two acres of cabbage had been severely stunted by a
cold snap on December of last year, there was more cabbage than the visitors could take home with
them.

They also pulled weeds out of our organically grown wheat, which we intend to mill into whole
wheat flour, and they also hoed weeds in our carrots. It was quite humorous to watch our novices
struggle to determine the weeds from the carrot plants, because of the weeds’ ability to mimic the
carrot tops. The carrots should be ready by the beginning of May along with wheat from last year
that we milled into flour.

After weeks of continuous rain, the ground is beginning to dry enough to plant our spring and
summer crops of navy beans, okra, tomatoes, bell peppers, egg plants, zucchini and yellow squash,
sweet corn, green beans and watermelons. These are the vegetable crops that will be grown at
Muhammad Farms. However, we are working with other Black farmers in both Georgia and Alabama which
will allow us to expand the variety of crops that we can offer our customers.

Information on the crops and pictures as they grow will be available on our web site,
www.MuhammadFarms.com .

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan recently described the state of Black economic
underdevelopment in a most succinct and poignant manner. He said that when you go to a department
store and you see the mannequins in the window, if they have on the type of clothes that you might
want, then you go in the store. In the Black community you have a few Blacks who have a little
wealth or symbols of wealth. These mannequins will make you think that you can also get these
things, if you would take full advantage of the "democracy" that America offers all of her
citizens.

This is a most excellent description of the reality of Black life in America. However some might
say that Min. Farrakhan is exaggerating to make a point or is just making up stuff to make Blacks
angry with America. Let us see if there is data to back up Min. Farrakhan’s claims. I have
analyzed some relevant economic data taken from the 1990 Census on Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the categories of Median Income,
Median Net Worth, Mean Net Worth, Median Net Financial Assets and Mean Net Financial Assets.

Net worth is the balance of what you own after debt is removed. In other words, a car or house,
minus any debts, such as a mortgage or car note. Net financial asset is the value of your financial
assets minus whatever debt is associated with owning that financial asset. A financial asset is a
claim to a present or future payment of dollars, such as a stock certificate, government or
corporate bond.

"Mean" is the average, while "median" is "most likely" or where
most of the individuals fall within a given category. A comparison of "mean" versus
"median" can give you an idea of how skewed or balanced a distribution is within a certain
category.
We will see the importance of this type of analysis further down.

As a member of a "democracy" one expects to earn money, own property and participate in
capitalism. When we look at the data, it is clear that Blacks are behind every other ethnic group
when it comes to income, net worth or net financial assets. Why? Are Blacks lazy or stupid?

First of all if we look at the income gap between Whites and Blacks, we see that Blacks are
"most likely" to earn about $20,508 or 61% (.61) of what Whites earn ($33,600). However, most Blacks are much
further behind Whites when it comes to net worth. According to the 1990 Census the common Black has a net worth of about
$6,127.26 or 12%
(.12) of the most common White’s $52,944.01. These disparities get much worse when you look at net financial
assets. The most typical Black owns about $100 in net financial assets, while the most typical white
owns $7,400. The most typical White owns 74 times more financial assets than the most typical Black.
So, basically Blacks do not participate in this portion of the "American way of life".

Furthermore, there are only a few Blacks who participate in owning financial assets at all and
those "few" among Blacks is a lot less, percentage wise, than those "few" among
Whites. Let us compare the median to the mean of net financial assets between Whites and Blacks. The
median for Whites is $7,400, while the overall mean or average is $56,199. This indicates that
although most Whites have very little, there are a few Whites who have a lot. In fact if you divide
the mean ($56,199) by the median ($7,400) you get about eight (8). This figure does not tell you a
whole lot unless you do the same calculation with Blacks and make the comparison.

The mean net financial assets of Blacks is $7,600 while the median is $100. When you divide
$7,600 by $100 you get the number seventy-six (76). Now when you compare this distribution ratio of
76 for Blacks and 8 for Whites, we find that the distribution is more skewed for Blacks than Whites
by a factor of 9 (76/8). This means that within the White community, although you have a few
"haves" and a lot of "have-nots", within the Black community you have even fewer
"haves" and a lot more "have-nots".

This tells me that the "system" allows very few Blacks to participate in capitalism
or the "money-making-money" sector of "democracy" in comparison to Whites. Yet
these same Blacks can be pointed to by those who want to demonstrate that "some have made
it". However, these "some" that have made it only window dress the underlying reality
that most Blacks are dirt poor when it comes to financial assets, net worth and even income.

Therefore, the statistics when analyzed properly demonstrate the absolute truth of what Minister
Farrakhan has said. A few Blacks are used as "window dressers" or mannequins in the
storefront of democracy to make the other Blacks believe in a false hope that somehow, one day they
can play at capitalism too.

It is most interesting that when you do the same analysis of the distribution of  net worth
and net financial assets for
Hispanics and Asians, Blacks still have the most with nothing and the least with a lot. This reminds
me of the historical anecdote about the "uncle Toms" amongst Blacks who were given a few
more biscuits and legs of chicken than the other slaves so that they would do "massa’s"
bidding. Recently a few Black preachers were invited to have "dinner" at the White House
by President Bush. I wonder if "chicken and biscuits" were served. Also, take a look at
Genesis 47:22 and study the Biblical precedent for the new FBI or "Faith-Based Initiative."

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

The United States has an embargo against the import of anything from Cuba (especially her ideas).
The US will not allow American citizens to buy anything from Cuba and bring it back to America.
Under the "Helms-Burton Act" America revoked the licenses of ships to dock at American
ports if those ships dared to transport goods to Cuba from another country. America has ignored the
2004 UN resolution which demanded that she lift the embargo against Cuba.

Only after Hurricane Michelle devastated Cuba in 2001 did America even allow Cuba to purchase
food and medicine from America. Cuba has imported food grains but no medicine because she does not
trust the American pharmaceutical industry.

Before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Cuba offered to send 1,100 doctors who spoke English
to help the hurricane victims. America rejected the offer. Why?

America reluctantly returned 6 year old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba in June of 2000 claiming that
America wanted him to have a better life in America. Elian’s mother died at sea while she and
other relatives were trying to reach America in a small aluminum boat in November of 1999. Elian’s
father stayed in Cuba and wanted his son to return and Elian wanted to return to his father. America
would give the world the impression that the Cuban government has her people under house arrest and
is denying her citizens the right to flee "tyranny" and escape to freedom in South
Florida.

From March 19^th to March 28^th I was a part of a delegation that visited
Cuba with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. We saw that the blockade against Cuba had reduced
the levels of consumption of luxury items in Cuba. However, Cuba had developed over 71,000 doctors.
These doctors are paid very low wages compared to doctors in America. Therefore, the doctors in Cuba
should be the first Cubans to flee Cuba if given the chance, so they could make big bucks in
America, if money and luxury are what they want.

Therefore if America felt that her system was better than Cuba’s, she should be glad to allow
the Cuban doctors to taste the "freedom and prosperity" of America. Instead Fidel Castro
offered the doctors and America refused. Hmmmmmm? Could it be that America knows that the Cuban
doctors would have a better chance to convert the victims of Katrina to the Cuban way, rather than
America to convert the doctors from Cuba to the American way?

After America rejected the offer of Cuba to send doctors to aid the victims of Katrina, a massive
earthquake struck Pakistan. Cuba sent these same doctors, called her "Medical Brigade", to
attend to over 100,000 extremely injured victims of that earthquake. Those doctors and technicians
did not seek political asylum in Pakistan. They came back to Cuba after doing their humanitarian
work. We met some of them on our tour and they told us their story of how they worked along side
Turkish and American doctors in the mountains of Pakistan.

Why did these doctors come back to Cuba? Why do the Cubans love their country?

On our visit we saw a country of civilized, well fed, well mannered and happy citizens. Cuba
offers her citizens free education from kindergarten through graduate school. She guarantees that
each citizen receives a base quantity of staple food items. She is reaching out to Black farmers in
America to purchase food products to supplement what Cuba grows at home.

Cuba gives her citizens free medical care including major
surgery, eye surgery and dental surgery. In Cuba the constitution guarantees the right to medical
care. Cuba has one doctor for every 156 of her citizens. According to the 1990 Census there was only
one doctor for every 1,449 Black people in America and only one doctor for every 415 white people in
America. So the Cuban people have better access to medical care than do the American people, Black
or white.

The life expectancy in Cuba was 45 years before the Revolution in 1959. Now her life expectancy
is 77.8 years. She has eliminated measles and tetanus. Her enfant mortality rate is between 5 and
6%. She has polyclinics available in every municipality and convenient to even the most remote
mountainous area of the country.

Cuba not only has 71,000 doctors to serve her population of 12.2 million people, she is sending
doctors around the world in 120 countries. She has deployed 28,200 medical doctors and technicians
throughout the world and has set up medical schools in 4 countries. She has 3,000 foreign students
in her medical schools, all on full scholarship. 82 of these students are Blacks from America. This
number is far short of the 500 full scholarships that Cuba has offered to Black high school
graduates who want to become doctors to service their people back in America.

The whole continent of Africa only has 50,000 doctors. Cuba has developed a strategy to set up 11
medical schools in Africa that should produce 20,000 students per year for the next 10 years to
bring the total number of doctors to 250,000 in ten years.

Under "Operation Miracle" Cuban doctors have performed 250,000 operations to return
site to the blind. Eye surgery is free. She has established ophthalmology centers in Bolivia and
Venezuela. Cuba’s goal is to cure most of the estimated 5,000,000 blind people in South America.
Cuba has even offered free eye surgery to 100,000 American citizens. We wonder if the American
government will deny her citizens a chance to be given back their sight free of charge.

Why does the American government hate Cuba? Cuba allows her citizens to practice whatever
religion they choose. According to the head of religious affairs in Cuba, some people even practice
more than one religion. We even attended a Christian church service on Sunday morning, March 26^th.

Housing is free to every citizen. Farmers can own their own land. However, the farmers have
learned to work together in production, credit and marketing cooperatives. There is no unemployment
in Cuba, because either you have a job or you are in school.

In Cuba everyone is their brother’s keeper. There is no person who is alone or lost or
isolated. In the time of a natural disaster or the threat of invasion, everyone is prepared to act
immediately to save the lives of Cuba’s citizens or protect them against aggression. Even the
farmers keep in reserve a certain number of meat animals in case the city people need to flee and
retreat to the countryside for a time.

So why does the American government hate Cuba? Cuba is educating the ignorant, healing the sick
and opening the eyes of the blind. Cuba’s governing philosophy is what she calls "The Cult of
Human Rights". It now seems that America does not want such a "cult" to infect and
spread to other countries. If Cuba was allowed to influence other governments, then they would be
obligated to see to the needs of her citizens instead of pandering to the bloodsuckers of the poor,
i.e. the international bankers, trans-national corporations and the "merchants of death"
(pharmaceutical-biotech-agribusiness cartels).

Books and lectures by Dr.
Ridgely A. Mu’min

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

(I apologize for taking so long to produce another article. However, we are in the middle of
planting season at Muhammad Farms and Mother Nature gives you one chance to get it right, so please
forgive me.)

Let us start out with some quotations from the Bible, Genesis 47:20-23.

"20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man
his field, because the famine prevailed over them, so the land became Pharaoh’s.

21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to
the other end thereof.

22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them by
Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; wherefore they sold not their lands.

23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for
Pharaoh; lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.

Now, let’s ask a few questions. Question 1: Why did Joseph have to buy the land from the
Egyptians for Pharaoh? Was not "Pharaoh" already the king over the land?

Question 2: Why were the Egyptians moved to the cities? Who were these "Egyptians"
anyway?

Question 3: When Joseph says "I have bought you this day…", does this make the
Egyptians chattel slaves to "Pharaoh?

Question 4: Who was this "Pharaoh" anyway, and how does that relate to the Black
farmers and their struggle against the USDA?

First of all let’s go to the World Book Encyclopedia for an understanding of the term
"Pharaoh". "Pharaoh was a title of the later kings of ancient Egypt. The Egyptians
did not call their ruler pharaoh until the Eighteenth Dynasty (1570-1300 B.C.). Even then, pharaoh
was not one of the king’s most important titles. Writers of the Old Testament usually used pharaoh
as a title for the king of Egypt."

The World Book is correct on two points:1. The Old Testament does refer to the kings of Egypt as
"pharaoh" as though it was a proper name and not a title. They never give you a specific
name that would tie you to a historical character. Why? 2. "Pharaoh" was a title of later
kings. According to Dr. Budge in his "Hieroglyphic Dictionary" the term
"pharaoh" or "per-aa" meaning "great house" was used by 4 kings of
Egypt, all foreign invaders starting in the 27th not 18th Dynasty.

The first set of these latter day invaders, who called themselves "pharaoh", were
Persians: 1. Xerxes, 2. Khabbasha, and 3. Artaxerxes, in that order. Now we do have a historical
figure "Xerxes" who, according to the World Book Encyclopedia, became king of Persia in
485 B.C. and who, according to the Bible in Esther, did persecute some Jews in Persia. Of course,
this was some 800 years after the reign of Ramesses II, who Bible scholars try to pin the Exodus on.

The next set of invaders and usurpers who used the title of Pharaoh were the Greeks or
Macedonians, namely Alexander II. The Persians and Greeks were not the first to invade Egypt and
usurp the throne. The Hyksos, or "Shepherd Kings" were the first way back in the 15th
through the 17th Dynasty about 2000 B.C.. Some of them, according to James Blaikie’s "A
History of Egypt", carried the names "Yekeb-hal", "Jacob is God" and "Yekeb-ba’al",
"Jacob is Lord". Could these be related to Joseph and his father Jacob in the Bible or
"Yakub" in the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad? Hmmmmmm?

So back to our previous questions, did the Egyptians enslave the Jews or did the followers of
"Yekeb" or "Jacob" or "Yakub" enslave the Egyptians? Why were the
Egyptians (Black Africans) herded into the cities? And what does this have to do with the Black
farmers and the Black people of today?

Maybe nothing, but the Black farmers are completely bewildered as to why the USDA has conspired
to take their land and why their own lawyer, Alexander Pires, sold them out for a few pieces of
silver. (Well maybe $18 to $38 million is not just a few pieces of silver.) We don’t know exactly
what Al Pires got, the same way that the Black farmers never knew exactly what the white farmers got
from the USDA that rightfully belonged to them.

Now the Black farmers have been deprived of their land and their children have been herded into
the cities. So if I bring a Biblical or spiritual perspective to our plight, excuse me. However,
"I smell a skunk, so he can’t be far. Somebody has been dipping in the cookie jar." This
cookie jar is the tax payers money that was used to enrich the white farmers down South at the
expense of the Black farmers. Now tax payer money is being used to develop genetic weapons to poison
Black African people in America and Africa, who have been taken off the land and corralled in
cities, "Deja Vu II".

On Memorial Day Weekend the Ministry of Agriculture and the Georgia Chapter of the Black Farmers
and Agriculturists Association (BFAA) are sponsoring an "Agriculture and Black Survival
Conference" to be held on the campus of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. For details go to
www.MuhammadFarms.com and click on "Agriculture and Black
Survival Conference." It is now time to plan and act.

The modern "Pharaoh" ain’t playing with Black people. The intent of the government of
the United States has been made clear. The "Shadow Government" has been exposed. Genetic,
chemical and biological war has been declared against the darker people of the world. Read
"Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity" written by the British Medical Association and come
to the "Agriculture and Black Survival Conference",
May 24-27, 2002 in Macon, Ga., to develop an answer.

Peace, Doc

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

It is spring and time for Muhammad Farms to start shipping some of its "holisticly"
grown produce to our customers. Starting the last week in April we are preparing to distribute
broccoli, cabbage, carrots, sweet peas, and spinach. For the summer we have planted wheat that we
will grind into whole wheat flour along with squash, sweet corn, eggplants, cantaloupes, butternut
squash, watermelons, black beans and navy beans. We have posted pictures of our crop and harvest
schedules on .

Under the leadership of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan the Ministry of Agriculture for
the Nation of Islam has set up buying clubs in eleven cities and established liaisons with many
more. In the past Muhammad Farms has serviced customers in various parts of the country. However,
each year our potential customers seemed to be surprised when the food arrives. They had been so
used to buying highly processed prepackaged ready to microwave food-like substances or simply
gorging themselves at "Murder King", "McDeath" or "Sintucky Fried
Chicken", that when we ship a load of spinach or broccoli or sweet corn, our potential
customers go into "what do I do with all of this fresh produce" shock.

At the kickoff of the Millions More Movement the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said that we
needed to set up our own supermarkets in our neighborhoods and support the Black farmers. The
Ministry of Agriculture went to work and taking the lead from the "New Way of Life" food
buying club in Atlanta fostered the development of similar groups in other cities.

These food buying clubs serve a number of purposes. First, since they purchase quantities of
fresh vegetables and fruits from their local farmers market or food wholesaler, they are saving
money and learning different methods of cooking and storing fresh produce. We even have a list of
recipes on www. MuhammadFarms.com to help them to find tasty methods to utilize the types of produce
that we grow.

Second, when Muhammad Farms has produce available it is just a matter of substituting our produce
for a few items in the food box. Also we have reached out to other Black farmers and connected them
to the buying clubs in their areas.

Third, once the members in the food buying clubs get accustomed to cooking the best of foods,
they and their families refuse to eat junk again. The commercial food system forces food to grow too
fast then picks produce before natural ripening. Therefore the food buying club members are shocked
when some taste for the first time, vine ripened "real food".

When the number of regular buying club members reaches 50, they are ready to incorporate. After
their cooperative reaches a steady membership of 500 families, they are ready to use the capital
that they have been collectively saving to set up a cooperatively owned supermarket.

Fourth, as the buying club develops into a cooperatively owned corporation, a sense of family and
community is established which is the first step towards nationhood. In the days of segregation a
community was based on where you stayed. In the Black neighborhoods everybody knew one another and
looked out for each other. However, the enemies to Black people have managed to use
"integration" to atomize us into selfish "individuals" who are now being plucked
off one by one while nobody sees or cares. To find a job Black people were herded around the country
like a bunch of nomads. Now those jobs have been shipped overseas leaving even the educated class of
Blacks bewildered and stranded in strange neighborhoods. The development of these cooperatives will
be like rebuilding a community of like ideas.

Hurricane Katrina and now our recent visit to Cuba have given us new insight on the problems
facing Black people here and need for the unifying program of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad now
being implemented by his best student, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. The victims of
Katrina in New Orleans were and are still being treated like refugees in their own country. They
were not organized enough to protect themselves against the plans of FEMA. They did not have
contacts outside of New Orleans who had the resources to get them out and put them up on some
property owned by Black people.

In Cuba each family in the cities knows that they will be sent to a family in the country in
times of emergencies. The farmers in Cuba are a part of their national security program.

A leader of the Cuban young social workers told us that the farmer in Cuba is respected because
they need him so that they can eat safe food in times of peace. The head of the national association
of cooperatives told us that each farmer is required to keep on hand a certain number of meat
animals for times of emergencies or invasions so that the city people can leave the danger areas and
survive in the countryside.

The Cuban farmers grow their food organically out of necessity because they can no longer get the
chemicals or fertilizers from Russia or the US. As a result the whole country is healthier,
increasing the life expectancy from 45 to 77.8 years over a 46 year period. McDonalds may have
invaded the Holy City of Mecca but not Havana, Cuba.

Cuba has been through the "fire" and come through as a healthier, wiser, and supportive
society. They were forced by necessity to survive on their own or give in to the "Beast"
90 miles from her shores. Unfortunately, although Black people are suffering in America, they still
have "hope" that white America might accept them. It may be time to let that type of
"hope" die. For five days we watched the victims of Katrina beg America for help. It was
pitiful and scary to watch those Black people being mistreated by FEMA while at the same time
portrayed as villains by the media.

Now the Black people of New Orleans have been scattered to 44 different states while their
government is preparing to have elections without them. Over 10,000 FEMA trailers are still in
Arkansas while Black people have been forced to fit into communities around the country that don’t
necessarily like them because of how the media portrayed them during the hurricane.

Compare this to Cuba where they were able to evacuate everyone from areas in the path of
hurricanes without one loss of life. Compare the situations of those Black people in New Orleans
where the National Guard were ordered to shoot to kill "looters" to save property, while
in Cuba the first priority is the saving of lives not property.

Compare the life styles of Blacks in America to the people of Cuba. In Cuba the people live under
a philosophy of the "Cult of Human Rights", while in America we live under the "Cult
of Greed and Avarice". In America Blacks are shaking their booty, singing dirty songs, running
and jumping over each other to receive that pot of gold that was promised them by the slave traders
that tricked them to America starting in 1555. They still believe that if they get discovered or hit
the number they can participate in the American Dream. They are even gambling with their own health
by putting their mouths in the enemy’s kitchen while they run around fighting for the
"gold".

After Katrina any Black person who still believes that America is looking out for their best
interests, can truly be classified as "Lost in Space". But for those who are not lost we
offer good food from Muhammad Farms and other Black farmers and we say "set up a food buying
club." Information on how to set one up can be downloaded at or email us at drridge@bellsouth.net.

2006 Harvest Schedule for Muhammad Farms

Books and lectures by Dr.
Ridgely A. Mu’min

By Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Spring is the season for planting your garden. Hopefully you have already prepared your land,
planting pots or raised beds. If you have not and need to know how, review the articles written in
"The Farmer Newsletter" on www.MuhammadFarms.com such as: "The Sun in your
Garden", "Getting ‘Grounded’", and "The Faith of Seeds".

After reading these articles and you still need more specific information, then contact one of
our gardening experts on the "Farming and Gardening" committee of the Ministry of
Agriculture. Their contact information is located on our same website under the heading
"Ministry of Agriculture Resource List".

At this point in history if you do not yet know that we need to grow our own food and develop a
new food distribution system then you need to go back and read the many articles that we have
written on the subject archived on "The Farmer Newsletter". There are many articles
archived under the "News" link on www.Muhammadfarms.com as well that would be profitable
to go over as a background to understand why the US government does not want you to grow your own
food. Now they are planning to control your backyard. Read "Government control of your garden:
HR 875 and SR 425?" On the other hand, First Lady Michelle Obama is setting up a vegetable
garden at the White House. Maybe more of us should do the same at our homes. Muhammad Farms and the
Ministry of Agriculture are here to serve you when you are ready to make a move.

Right now we at Muhammad Farms are quite busy farming, because we bear witness to the truth of
the warning of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and now the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan by
utilizing our 1600 acre farm in Georgia to grow pure "wholistically" grown food for you.
We have so far planted field corn, wheat, sweet corn, carrots, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, rutabaga,
and watermelons. In the next few weeks we will plant navy beans, squash, cantaloupe, bell peppers,
eggplant, and okra. If you would like to get some of this good food, again go to
www.MuhammadFarms.com and contact a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture in your area and
get ready for some good food.

It is very difficult to farm, do research, right articles and books, plus service my Final Call
Newspaper customers and then repeat information that I have already presented. This is why we set up
www.MuhammadFarms.com and made it a repository of information. So when I do the research and write
an article or find other valuable information, we post it on the website and leave it, so that you
can retrieve it at anytime. Another way of utilizing the website is to just log on and read
everything posted. This will bring you up to speed and help you understand why we must do something
for ourselves in the line of food production and distribution.

If you read these articles and pay attention to the news, you will see that the US government is
not concerned about the health and economic well being of Black people in particular or poor
"out of the loop" White people in general. This same government over time took away the
land of Black farmers and refused to give any of that land back. The government had one of its own
agents to produce a bogus Black farmer lawsuit "consent decree" which gave the appearance
of paying the Black farmers some money, but made no attempt to give back the land that was stolen by
the USDA and sold at discounted prices to USDA employee family members.

Yet the US treasury has turned over all the present money and future money of the tax payers to
the banking industry. At the same time they are trying to control your backyard garden. They are
also planning to make all small farmers tag all of their farm animals and even their produce, while
at the same time exempting the large industrial farms with herds from such requirements all under
the excuse of "National Security". It is the large industrial farms that have produced
"mad cows", not the small farms. It is the large industrial farms that spray raw sewage on
spinach, not small farms. It is the US government that produced "Terminator Seeds" and
gave the patent to Monsanto, not small farmers. It is the US government that forced the Iraqi
farmers to turn in their natural seeds to receive Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds, not small
farmers.

Recently I was alerted by people who visit the MuhammadFarms.com website on a regular basis that
the site was down. I contacted my web master and after a few days he was able to get the site up
again. However, he told me he could not determine why it went down nor understand how he was able to
get it back up. Could it be that "Big Brother" does not like the fact that you are getting
so much information about his plans to destroy the people through the food?

If you do not know by now that the US government is working for the International Bankers, as the
Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has warned us, and not for you, you might as well "forever
hold your peace" and put back on the shackles. But for those of you who already know, get busy
with your gardens and please continue to support the Three Year Economic Savings Program so that we
can help Minister Farrakhan get that one million acres of land that he talked about at this year’s
Saviours’ Day.

Volume 3, Number
6                                                                                                        
April 24, 2000

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Is it Organic?

“Is it ohganic?” The next time I hear somebody ask that question I am

Volume 3, Number
5                                                                                                                                        
April 20, 2000

The Farmer

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Debt is Slavery

by Gary Grant and Dr. Ridgely A. Mu’min Muhammad

As we walked the streets of D.C. on Sunday, April 16th carrying our BFAA banner
it was enlightening to observe the response of the other

protesters and news reporters to us. Some asked us, “Why were Black farmers
here protesting the IMF and World Bank?” Some asked, “Why weren’t there
more Black people from the D.C.. area participating in the demonstrations?” At
the end of the day Gary R. Grant, president of the Black Farmers
&Agriculturists Association (BFAA) stated, “This was a good day. We meta
lot of people. We got a lot of interviews with the alternative press and we got some people
to see the connection between how the USDA treats Black farmers and how the World Bank
and IMF treats the Third World.” We also noticed that as big as our banner was,
the mainstream media managed to ignore us. We were giving an interview to a
college newspaper right next to a CNN setup. We noticed the CNN reporters
listening to our conversation and thought that they may turn their cameras on us
and interview us next. However, by the time we finished the interview with the
students they were gone, poof. It became quite apparent that the seeming “here
no evil, see no evil” behavior of the major media in regards to the continued discrimination
of USDA against the Black farmers was not a figment of our imagination. Our
issue is to be kept a non-issue if the “big boys” have anything to do with it. In
fact the media has interviewed Dan Glickman but not the Black farmers about the
USDA’s progress on “minority” issues. The Washington Post ran an article
on April14 where they allowed the Secretary of Agriculture to give his one sided view
of the efforts of USDA to improve its track record. Of course Glickman put the best
light possible on the situation. However he never mentioned the number of Black
farmers that had been thrown out of the lawsuit and when ever he mentioned” improvements”
he always said “minorities” but no Black farmers or African-Americans. One must understand
that minorities include women (white women), Native Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans
and African Americans. Now that we have had a chance to look at some of denial
letters, it is very apparent that the majority of the applicants that have received compensation
either never farmed, already out of farming or are now too old to go back into farming.
On the other hand, those Black farmers who are still trying to farm are being denied, no
land held in government inventory has been given back and farmers are not being given debt
relief from old USDA loans. This says to us that the USDA has a hidden agenda of
not allowing Black farmers to farm, not wanting Black people to be able to feed themselves and
the major news media is in on it. Now, why did the Black farmers come to
participate in the demonstrations against the World Bank and IMF? Answer: The
tactics utilized by the USDA loan programs to eliminate Black family farmers are
the same tactics now being utilized by the World Bank and IMF to destroy family
farmers all over the world. 

These tactics include: 

1) Loaning money to one sector at the expense of another causing unbalanced development
and strife between sectors and peoples; 

2) funding programs that would make the farmers more dependent on outside
inputs for production and outside markets for sales; 3) eliminating small scale
sideline operations of small farmers that they utilized to develop cash flow, forcing
dependency on borrowed capital to operate; 

4) the loan programs fund projects that require additional indebtedness
putting once land owned free and clear under the burden of debt, and thereby
vulnerable to market changes beyond control of the individual farmer, thus
eventually rendering the land into the hands of the large corporations; 

5).utilize the few people or groups that are funded with government money to
keep the others in line, making them the buffer between the large corporations and
the people who are being exploited; 

6) forcing farmers and the agricultural sector to over utilize resources causing
long-term environment destruction; 

7) guaranteeing failure by loaning too little, too late with too many strings
attached;

 8) make farmers reduce biodiversity, rendering the germ plasm of the
world into the hands of a few transnational agribusiness firms who, by using
genetic engineering can manipulate the food supply of the world at will, and finally 

9) pull the rug from beneath the artificial system that the people have been made dependent
on and blame the victims for their own demise. 

10) Debt is SLAVERY. Grant states that “I invite all to join BFAA and other
supporters on May 8, 2000,10:00 a.m. in front of the USDA building on
Independence Ave. as we bring our message back to Glickman and USDA that over
40% denial rate is not acceptable.” For more information about the May 8th rally
call Gary Grant at(252)826-2800 or email: tillery@aol.com

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Recently, while driving in my truck I was listening to National Public Radio. They had as a guest
an English Economist from Oxford University by the name of Niall Ferguson. He recently released a
book called "Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World". In this interview Mr. Ferguson
argued that although there were some negative aspects of the British Empire such as: slavery, the
destruction of India’s textile industry and the death of a few million people during her
colonization of Africa, all in all when you look at the increase in per capita income for these
regions, these people were better off for it.

Now if I had a gun I might have shot my own radio. I turned it off for a brief moment but decided
to turn it right back own. When the "devil" speaks, you need to listen. I say
"devil" here, not because of race or nationality, but because of the evil intent to
justify wrong, then try to make the victim accept being the victim and even thank his oppressor.
This is the old game that so-called white people drilled into the head of their once slaves:
"Yes, we had to whip y’all a little bit in slavery, but look what we did for you. We brought
you out of the jungles, put sack cloth on your back, taught you how to speak the King’s English
and how to go to ‘heaven’ after we worked you to death."

Listeners called in to rebuff Mr. Ferguson’s praise for the benefits of British colonialism by
pointing out the human and cultural loses caused by the British military’s destruction of ancient
societies. However, Mr. Ferguson would pull up his Gross National Product (GNP) balance sheet to
point out that under colonialism the GNP of these subjugated countries went up in comparison to
their previous levels. Who said so? Who did the counting?

Unfortunately, the listeners who called were not economists, therefore Mr. Ferguson could
"snow" them with "poppycock". I am an economist. Mr. Ferguson acts like he has
never heard of "cost/benefit analysis" which puts a monetary value on life and other
non-GNP related items such as "social costs". Of course I am sure that he knows of these
accounting techniques, but he also knows that most common people or academicians outside of
economists do not know of such techniques or arguments.

Briefly, to do any cross-cultural or time lapse analysis of two economic situations, you must
develop baseline data and comparative economic values. For instance, if you want to compare an
African country before colonization and after, you must be able to convert goods and services of
this society before and after, and put a comparable monetary figure on such goods and services that
may not have gone through a "market economy." For instance, if I am married, the time put
in to my wife fixing my meals is not counted in GNP. However, if we get divorced and I have to go
out and buy my meals, then they are counted. If she now has to get a job to support another
household, because of that divorce and does not have enough time to cook for herself, now her meals
away from home are counted as GNP also. Therefore, divorce is a way to double the portion of GNP
from that one household without an increase in the welfare of the divorcees. This is how the
destruction of a communal system based on barter and collective effort can have a low GNP compared
to a "market economy" where all things must be bought and paid for in cash.

I hope that I have not bored you with this short economic lesson. However, these are the tricks
upon which policies are made and justified. I remember back in the Reagan administration when the
unemployment figures were rising. Reagan’s labor secretary started a new policy of counting the
military personnel as "employed". Well of course this decreased the unemployment figures
immediately without changing the reality of the domestic economic situation for anyone. This is
called "creative accounting", in other words "cooking the books", or as my moma
would call it, "being slick".

In my previous article called "Buying Groceries" I pointed out how the economic
infrastructure of the Black community was destroyed during our quest for "social
integration". It will require that we put a tax on ourselves, if we want to rebuild ourselves.
The Three Year Economic Savings Program is our vehicle for collecting the necessary revenue to jump
start a dead system.

However, magicians like Mr. Ferguson will still conclude that all in all "integration"
has made life better for Black people. We need some of our Black college economists to do a real
"cost/benefit" analysis of "integration" before we can be so sure. However, I
know from once being in such a Black university, that no one will fund such a research project and
any professor who dares try and do this on his own may wind up in the garbage heap looking for
scraps. This is real.

Of course loosing a job is better than the fate of Walter Rodney who lost his life because he
dared do a "cost/benefit analysis" of European colonialism. It would be interesting to
compare Mr. Rodney’s book "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" with Mr. Ferguson’s new
book. Too bad that Mr. Rodney is not here in person to carry on the debate himself. Assassinations
of competing minds is one of those other little colonial side effects that Mr. Ferguson would not
have a way to quantify is his GNP balance sheet.

I am here at Muhammad Farms trying to help re-establish and improve upon an agricultural industry
that Black folks once had. Who will finance such an endeavor, the government? Please, they are the
ones that destroyed it. Plus, they are off to conquer new lands.

Mr. Ferguson’s arrogant defense of British imperialism made me sick to my stomach. Being shot,
hung, taken from my native land, lied upon, impoverished, dehumanized, brainwashed, desensitized to
my own suffering, and turned into an enemy of self and a lap dog for "massa" is bad enough
without somebody writing a book to make the world believe that it was for my own good. It seems like
Mr. Ferguson’s new book signals the official passing of the baton of "Empire" to America
from her mother in arrogance, Britain. Get ready world you are about to be colonized for your own
good, once again. Maybe this time the "sleeping giant" will wake up before he is eaten by
the "beast" of GNP and is "excremented" as "acceptable casualties."

by Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad

Sooner or later the USDA is going to get you, if you are a Black farmer. Dr. Cliff Herron, the
Director of Outreach Programs at the Farm Service Agency (USDA), addressed participants at the
Shadow Land Conference held at Tuskegee University March 25 and 26, 2002. His presentation was
significant because he stated in no uncertain terms that Black farmers would be wise to "stay
clear of the USDA loan programs".

This type of warning comes much too late for the 3,000 or more farmers that are back in the
position of being foreclosed on by the USDA. The Black farmers had hoped that the Pigford v.
Glickman class action lawsuit would protect them against the USDA. However, it only stayed the day
of execution. Now many of the Black farmers who were protected by the moratorium on foreclosures,
while they sought relief in the Consent Decree, are now facing the USDA land grabbers again. They
were denied relief in the Consent Decree and Alexander Pires has refused to appeal their cases.

This past Sunday, April 7th, we took a film crew to visit one such farmer and his family near
Hawkinsville, Ga. Mr. Oscar Bembry is a 83 year old farmer who has farmed independently for 42 years
and farmed with his father when his father purchased their 300 acre farm in 1942. The farm was paid
for in 1965. However, to make farm improvements, buy new equipment and have the operating capital
necessary to run a modern farm, Mr. Bembry started dealing with the USDA in the 70’s.

At first Mr. Bembry was doing fine, borrowing up to $118,000 per year in operating capital and
paying it all back at the end of the growing season. Not many Black people borrow over $100,000 at a
time, turn over that money and pay it back each year. Well Mr. Bembry like other Black farmers were
doing this on a constant basis.

However, things began to change in the early 1980’s. The Civil Rights Division of the USDA was
dismantled by President Reagan in 1983 and there was no place for the farmers to complain to as the
"later" part of "Sooner or Later" kicked in. Mr. Bembry was getting his
operating capital in February from 1977-78, March in 1979, April in 1980, May in 1981, July in 1982
and October in 1983. The optimal time to plant is either late March or early April for south-central
Georgia. So having operating capital to put out fertilizer, buy seeds and chemicals by the beginning
of March would put Mr. Bembry in a good position to make optimal yields which would allow him to pay
his loans back.

As you see he started receiving his operating loans later and later. In 1983, not only did he
receive his loan extremely late, October, but he received only $45,000 whereas he needed $120,000.
One might say, "Well, he should only spend $45,000". Well, in farming if you half do
things, you might not get anything. Mother Nature can be very strict.

So Mr. Bembry began to fall behind on his repayments to the USDA and they kept adding on
interest, denied him disaster payments and now says he owes $165,000. Mr. Bembry entered the Pigford
v. Glickman lawsuit with the hope that he could get this debt removed, because it was actions of the
USDA personnel in his county that help put him in this predicament.

Mr. Bembry filed a claimant’s package in 1999 and claimed that he was financially injured
because he received his loans late and starting in 1983 he received less than half of what he
needed. Mr. Bembry received a denial letter from the Adjudicator that he had been denied
"relief" under the Consent Decree. Among the reasons given for denial were:

1. The USDA records do not indicate claimant’s 1981 operating loan file.

2. There is a record that claimant received two emergency loans in 1981 totaling $117,000.

3. The records supplied for the white farmers do not specifically reflect disaster aid, though at
least two of the farmers received loans…

The result: "Claim denied. Claimant’s contentions are not borne out by the records
supplied by the USDA." The lawyer that helped Mr. Bembry fill out his original claim form
turned over the appeal process to Mr. Pires, the lead attorney for the case. Mr. Pires refused to
appeal Mr. Bembry’s case to the Monitor for review.

I am not a lawyer, however from a layman’s perspective the reasons for denial by the
Adjudicator were completely out of line with the claimant’s allegations of discrimination:

1. I have seen Mr. Bembry’s "1981 operating loan application". So I don’t know why
the USDA would claim not to have it. Plus, this information is irrelevant to his claim of receiving
loans late and less than needed.

2. Mr. Bembry did not receive an "emergency loan" but an "operating loan" in
1981 and this issue was not even a part of his complaint.

3. The white farmers’ records show that they did receive "loans" and
this was what Mr. Bembry needed to prove discrimination in the issuance of loans. The issue of the
white farmers’ "disaster aid" has nothing to do with Mr. Bembry’s complaint of being
discriminated against in the issuance of operating loans.

Now Mr. Bembry and his 79 year old wife are subject to being thrown out on the streets because of
this government and its lawyers’ callous and malevolent practices. Lawyers seldom sue lawyers, so
it seems that Mr. Pires has gotten away with a $38 million pay check with a lot of broken lives in
his wake. Maybe the 40 million Black people will wake up before Mr. Pires wets his appetite for more
Black victims.

OOPS!!! I heard he plans to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of former slaves in September
of 2002. Can you spell, SNAKE. Please read "Snake in the Reparations Grass" on www.MuhammadFarms.com.

Peace, Doc