Sojourner Truth Radio

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Over the past century, Black landowners in the U.S. South have lost over 12 million acres of farmland, mostly from the 1950s onward, according to The Atlantic. Joe Brooks, the former president of the Emergency Land Fund, a group founded in 1972 to fight the problem of dispossession, estimated that about 6 million acres was lost by Black farmers between 1950 to 1969 alone. This represents an average of 820 acres a day, an area the size of New Yorks Central Park wiped out every day. Black-owned cotton farms in the U.S. South have almost completely disappeared, withering away from 87,000 to just over 3,000 in the 1960s alone. Furthermore, the racial disparity in farm acreage dramatically increased in Mississippi from 1950 to 1964, when Black farmers lost almost 800,000 acres of land, according to the Census of Agriculture. This land loss is also a financial loss, estimated to be around $3.7 billion to $6.6 billion in todays dollars.

Today, only 1.3 percent of U.S. farmers, or about 45,000, are Black, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Back in 2010, the National Black Farmers Association held a demonstration in Washington D.C., where they drove their tractors around Capitol Hill to demand justice. A similar tractor protest was mobilized by the National Black Farmers Association in 2002. In 2020, under Trumps regime and during the height of the COVID-19 virus, only 0.1 percent of pandemic relief funding to help U.S. farmers during the Trump administration went to Black farmers, according to The Washington Post. Black farmers received only $20.8 million of the nearly $26 billion of payments made in two rounds of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program announced last year.

Fast forward to 2021, under the presidency of President Joe Biden. A coalition of over 25 grassroots organizations have filed an amicus brief asking a federal court in Wisconsin to allow the distribution of $4 billion in loan forgiveness set aside by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, known as the USDA. The amicus brief speaks out against decades of injustice, systemic racism and admitted discriminatory behavior by the federal government. The assistance package was part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (known as ARPA) signed into law by Biden back in March.

However, on June 10, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a temporary restraining order, stopping relief to over 17,000 Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color. Furthermore, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction to further delay the relief to Black and Indigenous farmers provided by Congress in the ARPA. This decision puts them in severe financial peril, taking them off their lands and inhibiting their centuries-long struggle for equity in agriculture. Over 200 groups have signed a statement in support of immediately distributing the relief, pointing out that this landmark piece of legislation is desperately needed.

Joining us to discuss this are Keisha Stokes-Hough, Lorette Picciano and John Zippert.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Over the past century, Black landowners in the U.S. South have lost over 12 million acres of farmland, mostly from the 1950s onward, according to The Atlantic. Joe Brooks, the former president of the Emergency Land Fund, a group founded in 1972 to fight the problem of dispossession, estimated that about 6 million acres was lost by Black farmers between 1950 to 1969 alone. This represents an average of 820 acres a day, an area the size of New Yorks Central Park wiped out every day. Black-owned cotton farms in the U.S. South have almost completely disappeared, withering away from 87,000 to just over 3,000 in the 1960s alone. Furthermore, the racial disparity in farm acreage dramatically increased in Mississippi from 1950 to 1964, when Black farmers lost almost 800,000 acres of land, according to the Census of Agriculture. This land loss is also a financial loss, estimated to be around $3.7 billion to $6.6 billion in todays dollars.

Today, only 1.3 percent of U.S. farmers, or about 45,000, are Black, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Back in 2010, the National Black Farmers Association held a demonstration in Washington D.C., where they drove their tractors around Capitol Hill to demand justice. A similar tractor protest was mobilized by the National Black Farmers Association in 2002. In 2020, under Trumps regime and during the height of the COVID-19 virus, only 0.1 percent of pandemic relief funding to help U.S. farmers during the Trump administration went to Black farmers, according to The Washington Post. Black farmers received only $20.8 million of the nearly $26 billion of payments made in two rounds of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program announced last year.

Fast forward to 2021, under the presidency of President Joe Biden. A coalition of over 25 grassroots organizations have filed an amicus brief asking a federal court in Wisconsin to allow the distribution of $4 billion in loan forgiveness set aside by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, known as the USDA. The amicus brief speaks out against decades of injustice, systemic racism and admitted discriminatory behavior by the federal government. The assistance package was part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (known as ARPA) signed into law by Biden back in March.

However, on June 10, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a temporary restraining order, stopping relief to over 17,000 Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color. Furthermore, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction to further delay the relief to Black and Indigenous farmers provided by Congress in the ARPA. This decision puts them in severe financial peril, taking them off their lands and inhibiting their centuries-long struggle for equity in agriculture. Over 200 groups have signed a statement in support of immediately distributing the relief, pointing out that this landmark piece of legislation is desperately needed.

Joining us to discuss this are Keisha Stokes-Hough, Lorette Picciano and John Zippert.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Over the past century, Black landowners in the U.S. South have lost over 12 million acres of farmland, mostly from the 1950s onward, according to The Atlantic. Joe Brooks, the former president of the Emergency Land Fund, a group founded in 1972 to fight the problem of dispossession, estimated that about 6 million acres was lost by Black farmers between 1950 to 1969 alone. This represents an average of 820 acres a day, an area the size of New Yorks Central Park wiped out every day. Black-owned cotton farms in the U.S. South have almost completely disappeared, withering away from 87,000 to just over 3,000 in the 1960s alone. Furthermore, the racial disparity in farm acreage dramatically increased in Mississippi from 1950 to 1964, when Black farmers lost almost 800,000 acres of land, according to the Census of Agriculture. This land loss is also a financial loss, estimated to be around $3.7 billion to $6.6 billion in todays dollars.

Today, only 1.3 percent of U.S. farmers, or about 45,000, are Black, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Back in 2010, the National Black Farmers Association held a demonstration in Washington D.C., where they drove their tractors around Capitol Hill to demand justice. A similar tractor protest was mobilized by the National Black Farmers Association in 2002. In 2020, under Trumps regime and during the height of the COVID-19 virus, only 0.1 percent of pandemic relief funding to help U.S. farmers during the Trump administration went to Black farmers, according to The Washington Post. Black farmers received only $20.8 million of the nearly $26 billion of payments made in two rounds of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program announced last year.

Fast forward to 2021, under the presidency of President Joe Biden. A coalition of over 25 grassroots organizations have filed an amicus brief asking a federal court in Wisconsin to allow the distribution of $4 billion in loan forgiveness set aside by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, known as the USDA. The amicus brief speaks out against decades of injustice, systemic racism and admitted discriminatory behavior by the federal government. The assistance package was part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (known as ARPA) signed into law by Biden back in March.

However, on June 10, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a temporary restraining order, stopping relief to over 17,000 Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color. Furthermore, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction to further delay the relief to Black and Indigenous farmers provided by Congress in the ARPA. This decision puts them in severe financial peril, taking them off their lands and inhibiting their centuries-long struggle for equity in agriculture. Over 200 groups have signed a statement in support of immediately distributing the relief, pointing out that this landmark piece of legislation is desperately needed.

Joining us to discuss this are Keisha Stokes-Hough, Lorette Picciano and John Zippert.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

Over the past century, Black landowners in the U.S. South have lost over 12 million acres of farmland, mostly from the 1950s onward, according to The Atlantic. Joe Brooks, the former president of the Emergency Land Fund, a group founded in 1972 to fight the problem of dispossession, estimated that about 6 million acres was lost by Black farmers between 1950 to 1969 alone. This represents an average of 820 acres a day, an area the size of New Yorks Central Park wiped out every day. Black-owned cotton farms in the U.S. South have almost completely disappeared, withering away from 87,000 to just over 3,000 in the 1960s alone. Furthermore, the racial disparity in farm acreage dramatically increased in Mississippi from 1950 to 1964, when Black farmers lost almost 800,000 acres of land, according to the Census of Agriculture. This land loss is also a financial loss, estimated to be around $3.7 billion to $6.6 billion in todays dollars.

Today, only 1.3 percent of U.S. farmers, or about 45,000, are Black, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Back in 2010, the National Black Farmers Association held a demonstration in Washington D.C., where they drove their tractors around Capitol Hill to demand justice. A similar tractor protest was mobilized by the National Black Farmers Association in 2002. In 2020, under Trumps regime and during the height of the COVID-19 virus, only 0.1 percent of pandemic relief funding to help U.S. farmers during the Trump administration went to Black farmers, according to The Washington Post. Black farmers received only $20.8 million of the nearly $26 billion of payments made in two rounds of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program announced last year.

Fast forward to 2021, under the presidency of President Joe Biden. A coalition of over 25 grassroots organizations have filed an amicus brief asking a federal court in Wisconsin to allow the distribution of $4 billion in loan forgiveness set aside by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, known as the USDA. The amicus brief speaks out against decades of injustice, systemic racism and admitted discriminatory behavior by the federal government. The assistance package was part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (known as ARPA) signed into law by Biden back in March.

However, on June 10, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin issued a temporary restraining order, stopping relief to over 17,000 Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color. Furthermore, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction to further delay the relief to Black and Indigenous farmers provided by Congress in the ARPA. This decision puts them in severe financial peril, taking them off their lands and inhibiting their centuries-long struggle for equity in agriculture. Over 200 groups have signed a statement in support of immediately distributing the relief, pointing out that this landmark piece of legislation is desperately needed.

Joining us to discuss this are Keisha Stokes-Hough, Lorette Picciano and John Zippert.

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The infrastructure compromise. On Thursday, June 24, U.S. President Joe Biden reached an infrastructure deal with a bipartisan group of senators. The deal allocates roughly $579 billion in new investments in roads, broadband internet, electric utilities and other projects. However, the plan only incorporates part of the total $4 trillion economic proposal Biden has put forth and is seen as a compromise with the GOP.

The fight for voting rights. On Tuesday, June 22, the Republican Party blocked the opening debate on the For the People Act, a key voting rights bill put forward by the Democrats. All members of the Republican Party in the Senate voted against opening debate on the bill, thus killing the legislation. With a 50-50 vote, the push to defend voter rights fell far short of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. All GOP members opposed the voting rights bill and voted against taking up the legislation.

Criminalizing the teaching of U.S. history. Across the United States, crackdowns are increasing on the teaching of Black and Brown history in schools. The main school of thought that is under attack, critical race theory, is being slandered by the right as being racist and segregationist. In reality, however, critical race theory is a progressive theoretical framework by which structural and institutional racism can be examined. In fact, it developed as an academic movement of Black and Brown civil-rights scholars and activists in the U.S. who aimed to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream liberal approaches to racial justice.

Also, elections in New York and Indigenous graves at a Canadian school. Do we know anything about a similar history in the United States?

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The infrastructure compromise. On Thursday, June 24, U.S. President Joe Biden reached an infrastructure deal with a bipartisan group of senators. The deal allocates roughly $579 billion in new investments in roads, broadband internet, electric utilities and other projects. However, the plan only incorporates part of the total $4 trillion economic proposal Biden has put forth and is seen as a compromise with the GOP.

The fight for voting rights. On Tuesday, June 22, the Republican Party blocked the opening debate on the For the People Act, a key voting rights bill put forward by the Democrats. All members of the Republican Party in the Senate voted against opening debate on the bill, thus killing the legislation. With a 50-50 vote, the push to defend voter rights fell far short of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. All GOP members opposed the voting rights bill and voted against taking up the legislation.

Criminalizing the teaching of U.S. history. Across the United States, crackdowns are increasing on the teaching of Black and Brown history in schools. The main school of thought that is under attack, critical race theory, is being slandered by the right as being racist and segregationist. In reality, however, critical race theory is a progressive theoretical framework by which structural and institutional racism can be examined. In fact, it developed as an academic movement of Black and Brown civil-rights scholars and activists in the U.S. who aimed to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream liberal approaches to racial justice.

Also, elections in New York and Indigenous graves at a Canadian school. Do we know anything about a similar history in the United States?

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The infrastructure compromise. On Thursday, June 24, U.S. President Joe Biden reached an infrastructure deal with a bipartisan group of senators. The deal allocates roughly $579 billion in new investments in roads, broadband internet, electric utilities and other projects. However, the plan only incorporates part of the total $4 trillion economic proposal Biden has put forth and is seen as a compromise with the GOP.

The fight for voting rights. On Tuesday, June 22, the Republican Party blocked the opening debate on the For the People Act, a key voting rights bill put forward by the Democrats. All members of the Republican Party in the Senate voted against opening debate on the bill, thus killing the legislation. With a 50-50 vote, the push to defend voter rights fell far short of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. All GOP members opposed the voting rights bill and voted against taking up the legislation.

Criminalizing the teaching of U.S. history. Across the United States, crackdowns are increasing on the teaching of Black and Brown history in schools. The main school of thought that is under attack, critical race theory, is being slandered by the right as being racist and segregationist. In reality, however, critical race theory is a progressive theoretical framework by which structural and institutional racism can be examined. In fact, it developed as an academic movement of Black and Brown civil-rights scholars and activists in the U.S. who aimed to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream liberal approaches to racial justice.

Also, elections in New York and Indigenous graves at a Canadian school. Do we know anything about a similar history in the United States?

Today on Sojourner Truth, our weekly roundtable. Our panelists are Laura Carlsen, Jackie Goldberg and Dr. Gerald Horne.

The infrastructure compromise. On Thursday, June 24, U.S. President Joe Biden reached an infrastructure deal with a bipartisan group of senators. The deal allocates roughly $579 billion in new investments in roads, broadband internet, electric utilities and other projects. However, the plan only incorporates part of the total $4 trillion economic proposal Biden has put forth and is seen as a compromise with the GOP.

The fight for voting rights. On Tuesday, June 22, the Republican Party blocked the opening debate on the For the People Act, a key voting rights bill put forward by the Democrats. All members of the Republican Party in the Senate voted against opening debate on the bill, thus killing the legislation. With a 50-50 vote, the push to defend voter rights fell far short of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. All GOP members opposed the voting rights bill and voted against taking up the legislation.

Criminalizing the teaching of U.S. history. Across the United States, crackdowns are increasing on the teaching of Black and Brown history in schools. The main school of thought that is under attack, critical race theory, is being slandered by the right as being racist and segregationist. In reality, however, critical race theory is a progressive theoretical framework by which structural and institutional racism can be examined. In fact, it developed as an academic movement of Black and Brown civil-rights scholars and activists in the U.S. who aimed to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream liberal approaches to racial justice.

Also, elections in New York and Indigenous graves at a Canadian school. Do we know anything about a similar history in the United States?

Today on Sojourner Truth:

New freedom riders are descending on Washington DC, even as the Rev. William Barber, joint coordinator of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other religious leaders, were arrested during civil disobedience. Their cause? The right to vote. On Tuesday, June 22, the Republican Party blocked opening debate on the For the People Act, a key voting rights bill put forward by the Democrats. All members of the Republican Party in the Senate voted against opening debate on the bill, thus killing the legislation. Is there a way forward for those who defend protecting voter rights? What next steps will the movement for the right to vote take next? Our guest is Barbara Arnwine, a veteran civil rights and human rights leader and advocate. She is currently the President & Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition.

Excitement across the country builds as millions of families across the United States will begin receiving monthly child tax credit payments for as high as $300 per child, if they are under 6 years old, $250 per child if they are between 6 and 17 years old. Payments are also available for those whose income is generally too low to pay taxes. Many are hailing this as breakthrough legislation, attacking child poverty on a level not seen since the New Deal. But it is not yet permanent and members of Congress are working on legislation to make sure that Child Tax Credit continues after its one-year mandate as part of the Biden-Harris American Rescue Plan. Today, we hear a presentation delivered by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat of Connecticut, to an audience of income rights campaigners.

For our weekly Earth Watch, we speak with Jason Davidson, a Senior Food and Agriculture Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, supporting the Bee Action Campaign. Prior to joining Friends of the Earth, he interned at Climate Reality Project and served as a research assistant in the Geography Department at George Washington University.

Today on Sojourner Truth:

New freedom riders are descending on Washington DC, even as the Rev. William Barber, joint coordinator of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other religious leaders, were arrested during civil disobedience. Their cause? The right to vote. On Tuesday, June 22, the Republican Party blocked opening debate on the For the People Act, a key voting rights bill put forward by the Democrats. All members of the Republican Party in the Senate voted against opening debate on the bill, thus killing the legislation. Is there a way forward for those who defend protecting voter rights? What next steps will the movement for the right to vote take next? Our guest is Barbara Arnwine, a veteran civil rights and human rights leader and advocate. She is currently the President & Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition.

Excitement across the country builds as millions of families across the United States will begin receiving monthly child tax credit payments for as high as $300 per child, if they are under 6 years old, $250 per child if they are between 6 and 17 years old. Payments are also available for those whose income is generally too low to pay taxes. Many are hailing this as breakthrough legislation, attacking child poverty on a level not seen since the New Deal. But it is not yet permanent and members of Congress are working on legislation to make sure that Child Tax Credit continues after its one-year mandate as part of the Biden-Harris American Rescue Plan. Today, we hear a presentation delivered by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat of Connecticut, to an audience of income rights campaigners.

For our weekly Earth Watch, we speak with Jason Davidson, a Senior Food and Agriculture Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, supporting the Bee Action Campaign. Prior to joining Friends of the Earth, he interned at Climate Reality Project and served as a research assistant in the Geography Department at George Washington University.