Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 2 December 1999 — Page 36

The Muncie Times, December 2, 1999, page 36

CIVIL RIGHTS JOURNAL

Black North Carolina farmers face racism, other woes

Black farmers in North Carolina, along with those in other Southern states, have felt under siege for a long time as they have battled to save their family farms while running into institutional racism from banks and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials. The environmental justice movement was launched in North Carolina some 15 years ago when toxic wastes were being dumped in Warren County, a largely poor and African American county in the eastern part of the state. It has more recently focused on the hog farm industry which threatens homes and churches and schools. Hurricane Floyd brought both of these threats together as African Americans found themselves battling once more to survive. Ironically, at the very time that the Agriculture Department announced that some 15,000 black farmers had filed claims in a recently settled class action suit, black farmers in North Carolina now face the prospect of losing not only this year’s crops but also their farms because of the flooding. Farmers who lease land will lose their income and probably not be eligible for loans offered by FEMA. Farmers who own their land wall

Bernice Powell Jackson

be forced to borrow more money to rebuild their homes and their farmland. Loans won’t help many of these already over-extended and poor farmers. Only cash grants would help. Otherwise, many will lose everything in the process. With only 18,000 African American farmers left in this country (less than 1 percent), that will be a loss not only for the farmers but for the entire black community as well. Then there is the environmental disaster caused by the flooding. Estimates are that more than 100,000 hogs, 2 million chickens and a half a million turkeys have died in the flooding. Many of those carcasses are floating through streets and communities and are contaminating the water supply systems for many counties. The huge hog farms throughout eastern North Carolina, many in primarily African American and poor communities,

were already posing threats to. wells and were polluting the air around the farms. In some counties it is believed there were more hogs than people. And while state law' prohibited the placement of such hog industry farms less than 2,000 feet from golf courses, homes and churches could be as close as 1,500 feet from these giant farms. Similarly, the waste of millions of chickens being raised in Virginia and North Carolina was thought to be one possible cause of a viral infection of thousands of fish over the past few years. Now that waste may be running throughout communities hit by the floods together with farm chemicals and manure. Perhaps this natural disaster will force a closer examination of the environmental dangers posed by the huge livestock industry in North Carolina. Finally, there is the story of the oldest town in the country, established by freed slaves which was totally immersed in flood waters. Princeville is a small village of 2,000 near Tarboro. Freedom Hill was where the freed slaves escaped to and where they founded their own town, a legacy that has only recently been reclaimed and publicized.

At the height of the flood the w'ater stopped about 6 inches below the stop lights in Princeville. The entire population w'as evacuated. Several lost their lives, including small children. The still-under-construction Boys and Girls club w T as destroyed, along with almost every other building in this historic place. Will Princeville ever be able to be re-built or will another piece of the history of African Americans be lost for all time? Many people, of all racial/ethnic groups were devastated by the floods of Hurricane Floyd. But African American North Carolinians are finding themselves fighting a new battle—against the elements of nature. They’re fighting for their very survival. And it’s likely to be a long and costly struggle. (Note: For additional information or to offer support to African American farms, contact Black Farmers and . Agriculturalists Association, P.O. Box 61, Tiller)', NC 27887/e-mail, [email protected].) Bernice Powell Jackson is executive director of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice based in Cleveland, Ohio.

GRANTED Lilly Endowment provides $18 million for 129 community projects

The Lilly Endowment board of directors has approved $18.3 million for 129 community project grants in 23 Indiana counties under the GIFT (Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow) initiative. The awards, plus another $13.5 million in community foundation or operating grants, bring to a close the fourth phase of GIFT. The projects include building additions to libraries, preserving historical documents, acquiring new firefighting equipment, establishing computer labs in schools, constructing community centers, expanding youth programs, making improvements to public parks, building Habitat for Humanity homes and renovating historic buildings. “Once again, this state’s flourishing community foundations have sought wide public input into prioritizing the projects they

recommended for endowment support,” said William M. Goodwin, endowment vice president for community development. “Through GIFT Phase IV and the preceding GIFT Phase III, the foundations have spearheaded conversations in their communities over the most important projects for their entire area. Wide local support for these projects was a paramount consideration for granting these awards.” Under Phase IV, which began in September 1998, community foundations were eligible to receive $1,5 million for their counties; $300,000 of that was in matching funds to improve foundation operations. The remaining $1.2 million, or any part of it, could be used for local projects recommended by the foundation for direct endowment funding (community projects option), with

the balance to be received by the foundation itself for any charitable purpose it chose (community foundation option). Each community foundation needed to match, on a $l-for-$l basis, any amount it requested directly under the community foundation option. There were no matching requirements under the community projects option. (Also, several of Indiana’s most populous counties received an additional $1 million for community projects.) From June through September, the board of directors approved 73 community foundation grants for $55.1 million, 72 operating-support grants for $20,5 million and 309 community project grants for $42.2 million. The board’s November approvals bring the totals to $89 million for community foundation and operating support grants and $60.5 million for community project

grants. The GIFT initiative began in 1990, when less than a dozen viable community foundations dotted the Indiana map wflth assets of about $100 million. Indiana boasts more than 90 community foundations, with assets of more than $700 million. Meanwhile, CAPE (Community Alliances to Promote Education) requires foundations to seek broad local support to pinpoint their community’s most compelling educational needs and then propose plans to address them successfully. CAPE planning proposals are due at the endowment by Jan. 15, 2000. A maximum of 15 planning proposals, of up to $50,000 each, will be awarded by March 31. The deadline for implementation proposals is Sept. 15, by Dec. 31, a maximum of seven implementation grants, of up to $5 million each, wall be awarded.