Centering Black Farmers in the Search for Racial Justice
This article is from the Summer 2022 Agraria Journal.
By Terence Courtney
We’re currently living through truly compelling times. Across the nation, discourses focusing on racial inequities, climate change, economic disparities, and lack of access to adequate health care (to name a few) have gained enormous traction as tools for analyzing prevailing conditions and as lenses through which to find new solutions.
Non-profit organizations, for-profit businesses, and public institutions are — at least for now — asking themselves what they can do to address these manifestations of oppression. Grassroots organizers, southern courtrooms, and elected officials are also grappling with this change, as they seek out ways to navigate the new terrain. It feels as though meaningful progress is within reach, yet we’re also witnessing a surge in reactionary white supremacist authoritarian forces that use everything in their power to resist it.
With so many factors in play, it can be difficult to follow the myriad ways that people are affected and what’s at stake. For Black communities involved in agriculture and residing in rural communities, these issues can feel especially dire, in no small part because the lives of Black farmers converge at the intersection of climate change, Covid-19 and other health disparities, economic exploitation and racial exclusion. Nonetheless, Black farmers are also first responders. For despite the oppressive conditions they are subjected to, Black farmers continue to produce food needed by so many communities during these uncertain times.
Powerful demands are rightfully being put forward in the areas of economics, the legal system, and political life itself to create a more level playing field. And despite all this, there seems to be something missing from the conversation. Too often when we explore ways to dismantle oppressive institutions or reverse backward policies, we forget to recognize that the context for our demands matters. Particularity matters. And if we attempt to address problems as deeply rooted in the fabric of American society as white supremacy (and its complex interplay with economic exploitation and patriarchy) without considering the specific conditions of a specific place, we run the risk of making grave errors by applying a cookie-cutter approach to social transformation. Rather, we should shape our solutions to fit the particular environment in which the problems are occurring.
For example, the policies that are implemented to combat disparities in an urban context are different from those utilized in a rural situation. Black families residing in rural areas, where agriculture is often the key driving force, deal with issues that are somewhat similar to those faced by their urban counterparts; however, it is in the intensity of the impact where we observe the biggest differences.
THE CHALLENGES FACING RURAL BLACK FARMERS
In fact, the USDA’s Economic Research Service found that as of 2019 the rural poverty rate was approximately 15%, as compared to metro areas with an 11.9% poverty rate. When we focus on rural areas in the South in particular, the numbers become more extreme. Rural communities hover at a 19.7% poverty rate, which is 6 points higher than urban areas. Moreover, Black rural poverty rates trend towards 30.7% as compared to a 20% poverty rate in metropolitan areas. Clearly, both rural and urban Black families are grappling with unjust levels of economic deprivation, but one can’t help but note the greater concentration of poverty in non-metro areas.
Additionally, the U.S. Census tells us that the vast majority of Black farmers are small-scale producers, earning less than $50,000 per year from farming. This means that most Black farmers have to find employment outside of the farm to make ends meet. And it should be noted that making ends meet in the South, a region dominated by low wages, is a herculean undertaking.
Layered on top of economic trauma is the lack of equitable access to health care found in Black communities in general, and in rural Black neighborhoods especially. The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the broader need for affordable comprehensive healthcare access. Disparities in testing and available hospital beds made it clear that equitable access to health care was a matter affecting mortality and life expectancy. Black farmers are also on the front lines when it comes to exposure to the ravages of climate-driven disasters. Floods, hurricanes, droughts, and freezes hit small family farms hard, killing crops and livestock. When all this is put together, we quickly get a picture of a community in crisis.
THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES
Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, a 54-year-old regional cooperative institution operating throughout the South, was born from conditions very much like the ones we find today. The Federation emerged out of the 1960s struggle for racial and economic justice. Civil rights workers went into rural areas and were themselves transformed by the people they encountered. They worked with rural communities who had already begun to organize themselves not only to withstand the cruel injustices of Jim Crow and capitalism, but also to develop, at a very basic level, the future model for the organization: cooperatives.
The cooperative model provides marginalized and excluded groups with a form of organization that is proven, democratic, and self-sustaining. It is a tremendously effective tool for dismantling the oppressive dynamics that led to many of the problems mentioned here. Perhaps better yet, cooperatives create spaces where everyday people may begin to live out the better world they envision
Terence Courtney is Director of Cooperative Development and Strategic Initiatives for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. He is also cofounder of Cooperative Atlanta, a committee concerned with developing cooperative enterprises in Atlanta, Georgia.
Click here read the full Summer 2022 issue of the Agraria Journal.