Ebony men on the move

Ebony, Feb, 1998

He advises struggling artists to believe in themselves.

There's a degree in life that you can't get from a formal education," White explains. It's important for us to get beyond the credentials that others give us. I'm only interested in God's approval."

In 1991, White was diagnosed with a rare muscular dystrophy-related disease. But he has not let the disease affect his work and spends his days working with disabled people. He lives in Oakland, Calif., with his two sons.

John W. Boyd Jr.

Armed with a pitchfork in one hand and a picket sign in the other, John W. Boyd Jr. fights on the frontlines for the survival of a dying species -- the African-American farmer. Although the 32-year-old is a native of Queens, N.Y., his heart belongs to the country. A third-generation farmer in Baskerville, Va., Boyd studied agriculture at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., and now tills his own 200-acre plot. For Boyd and other Black farmers, farming is a way of life -- a way of life now threatened. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Blacks currently comprise less than 1 percent of America's nearly 2 million farmers, compared with 14 percent almost 80 years ago.

So why is the Black farmer facing extinction? Some cite dwindling interest of Black youths in farming and the confinement of Blacks to smaller, less efficient farms. But Boyd, the president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association, gives a different reason for the disappearance of the Black farmer -- discrimination. He says that Black and minority farmers nationwide face the loss of their land and livelihood because the Agriculture Department systematically delays and denies them financial aid to keep their farms running, aid that is easily available to Whites. in fact, an investigation commissioned last year by Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman discovered that on average, it takes the government over seven months to process loans for Blacks, compared with 60 short days for Whites. Also, Black farmers have lodged hundreds of unresolved discrimination complaints against the Agriculture Department.

Boyd himself says he faced discrimination from the Agricultural Department in 1989 when an official refused to submit his loan application. "The county supervisor threw my loan application in the garbage while I was sitting there in his office," Boyd recalls. Denied the loan, be was threatened with foreclosure.

Boyd's struggle to keep his land and the land of other Blacks led to the incorporation of the National Black Farmers Association in 1996. With the motto We have our mule, now we're looking for our 40 acres!" the Richmond, Va.-based association has waged a broad-based struggle to focus national attention to the plight of Black, minority and disadvantaged farmers.

Although the Department of Agriculture finally settled Boyd's case last year and returned his farmland, along with financial compensation, Boyd shows no signs of backing down until justice is done for all. "Blacks were brought to this country to work the land," Boyd says. "We are going to increase the number of Black farmers, not sit by while they are wiped out."