By Mike Miller
Among its many misguided earmarks, the Democrat “COVID relief” bill signed by Biden on Thursday allocates billions of dollars in debt relief and other assistance to farmers of color. Now that the “Pelosi Payoff” is a done deal, Kelly Griggs, who runs her 1,800-acre farm with her husband in Humboldt, Tennessee, has a few questions about the provision.
“Just because you’re a certain color you don’t have to pay back money? I don’t care if you’re purple, black, yellow, white, gray, if you borrow money you have to pay it back.”
Yeah no, Kelly. Even worse, Griggs suggested, America’s white farmers find themselves in a “like it or lump” predicament, which “really sucks.”
“My reaction is, Where did common sense go? We can’t strike. We can’t stop. That’s the part that really sucks. “These people in Washington who make decisions for us and our livelihood have probably never stepped foot on a real farm.”
“Where did common sense go, Kelly?” In a word, away.
Common sense is gone. Along with facts, data, history, and perhaps worst of all, logic. These are not among the qualities of the left, Kelly. On the contrary, Democrat lawmakers run from them as fast as their hypocritical legs can carry them.
As reported by Fox News, the “American Rescue Plan of 2021” includes an estimated $22.7 billion in combined nutrition and agricultural provisions, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. Of the $22.7 billion, $4 billion is allocated to paying off up to 120% of Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American farmers’ outstanding debt as of Jan. 1.
Additionally, $1 billion is designated for “equity commissions,” agricultural training, improved land access, and other assistance to advance racial justice in farming.
John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, told Fox News in a statement before the House passed the relief package on Wednesday: “This is not in dispute.” And then the trusty “systemic racism” card:
“By denying or delaying Black farmers the same loans, subsidies and other payments made to white farmers, USDA engaged in systematic racism that led to a dramatic decline in the number of Black farmers.”
Even worse? As noted by Fox News, while black farmers accounted for roughly one-sixth of America’s farmers in 1920, by 2017 less than two percent of America’s farms were run by black farmers. The progressive left would have you believe the dramatic decline in black farms was due to discrimination and systemic racism, but as I suggested earlier the left’s relationship with facts and history is arms-length at best.
Missouri Republican Sen. Sam Graves was livid about the “racial justice in agriculture provisions” in the bill prior to its passage. In a Facebook post on Mar 5, Graves wrote:
“What happened to equal protection under the law? This is wrong and un-American. I’m sure there are a lot of Americans out there that would love to have our tax dollars pay off all their debts. This is targeted to a very select few.”
Georgia Farmer Benji Anderson agrees, said Fox News.
“I think it should be distributed to everyone. Because one thing we all have in common, it doesn’t matter about color or race or whatever, we’re all farmers, all working together to feed the United States. “I see the inputs going up, and the end result is it’s going to cost more to make a crop, so you really have got to make a yield to make any money.”
As does another Georgia farmer,
“I’m not saying they don’t need it — don’t get me wrong, they probably do — but I don’t know what the circumstances are… that they’re giving them all that other money.”
And Kelly Griggs? “I’m going to have to pay for that,” she told Fox News.
So who spearheaded the “racial justice in farming provisions” in the $1.9 billion “Biden-Pelosi Payoff” legislation? Why none other than Sen. Raphael Warnock, (D-GA), who ousted Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler in one of two Georgia run-off elections on Jan. 5, in the “Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act.”
Did you really have to ask?
One of my Facebook followers this morning called this travesty “reverse racism.” As I told the follower, there is no such thing. Racism is racism. Decisions made based solely on skin color are racist. Period. “Reverse,” upside down, inside out, white, black, purple, or glow-in-the-dark, racism is racism. And in the case of the Democrat Party, it has become paramount in every action they take.
As I neared the end of this article I began to think about George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” In the dystopian look at the future, the pigs paint “All animals are equal” on the barn — only to later add: “But some animals are more equal than others.”
Orwell was right:
“All farmers are equal. But some farmers are more equal than others.”
The hollow call for “a time to heal our nation” from President “Unity” has proven in stark reality to be a sad joke. And it will continue to do so. Words are cheap, Joe. Actions matter.
Author: Mike Miller