What We Can Learn from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. About Regulators Beating Up on Farmers

by | Jan 18, 2009 | Uncategorized | 5 comments

A little free association here:

Shortly after the Sharon Palmer situation broke, and the snapping about her past began appearing here, a dairy farmer I know wrote me a note, “This shows how those of us producing alternative foods need to be squeaky clean.”

Last evening, I was at Sabbath service in Sarasota, FL, devoted to commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. (I was also at the service to mark the first year since my mother died.) A black pastor from a Sarasota church gave the main talk, in which he remembered growing up in Sarasota, with its “Colored” bathrooms and water fountains, and riding in the back of the bus. He recalled listening to Dr. King’s sermons as a young man in the late 1950s and early 1960s, wondering how any of the change Dr. King predicted could ever come to pass.

As the pastor was speaking, I remembered that growing up in those days, it was frequently said by whites, to the effect, “If they (blacks) ever learn to behave themselves, I would have no trouble with them.” In other words, if they were only more like us, I’d be okay. For most of these whites, the standards would never be quite met, and it was only when laws were changed, and existing laws enforced, in the face of marches and lawsuits, that blacks gained the rights denied them for so long.

I can’t help but think that the unequal enforcement of laws against Sharon Palmer, Manna Storehouse, and farmers in New York and Pennsylvania have more to do with the fact that these people are often different. They produce food that is different than the vast majority of people consume, many of them home-school their children, their religious practices are sometimes different, they may be new to farming. And those differences grate on the authorities.

Just as blacks often received the back of our justice system’s hand in the form harassment and disproportionate jail sentences (and some would argue still do), so are today’s sustainable farmers.

All this isn’t to say owners of sustainable farms don’t make business errors or don’t do right by some of their customers or suppliers–they do. But that doesn’tnecessitate violent police raids way out of proportion to the alleged screwup, and way out of proportion to anything that ever happens to corporate farmers.

As Dr. King said, “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

 

5 Comments

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  2. Sylvia Gibson
    Sylvia Gibson on January 18, 2009 at 6:35 am
    Our nation is still awaiting equality. I have yet to read or hear of the peanut butter farmers/processors being cuffed and herded in a room with guns drawn while thier belongings are ransacked and stolen.

    I still believe that educating the masses of the "unequal enforcement of laws" along with educating on various methods of farming and manufacturing/processing would open many eyes.

    I was fortunate to be an army brat. There were many mixed marriages around as I grew up, that was normal to me. I didn’t realized that many didn’t think as I did until I grew up and moved away. We traveled the US and tasted many different foods within the US. I remember learning of "exotic" foods at a young age prepared by the foreign spouses. We had the "in" foods long before they were popular.

    Reply
  3. Steve Bemis
    Steve Bemis on January 18, 2009 at 10:13 am
    It’s a cruel fact of life in this America that if you’re in the minority, you have to be better than excellent, just to succeed where those in the majority succeed just by being excellent – or less than excellent. This is a reality of being black in this country – as most any successful black person would affirm in candor. These unfair and unequal standards are a fact of their everyday life. It’s obvious that raw milk farmers exist in the same unfair reality of discrimination. Helping in some small way to right these wrongs is a large part of why I’m in this fight. Consumers of raw milk must vigorously defend the slender thread that ties them to this precious food, even as we work to weave threads into ropes. A black would smile knowingly at the complaints we raise for being picked on – for having severe consequences where others get a slap on the wrist (or a pat on the head). She would laugh out loud while wishing dearly that it could be so, that the authorities simply be told, and that they would then "move on." They won’t move on. Unfair as it is, they have to be confronted, on the merits, and the battles must be won in the pastures, in the milking parlors, in the courts of law, and in the courts of public opinion. A key aspect of the civil rights movement was the publicity surrounding the injustices, and the publicity surrounding the protests and the eloquent statement of the case given by heroes such as Dr. King. There is difference in degree, but not in the essence of the attacks of Bull Connor, his german shepherd attack dogs, his fire hoses, and the pointed guns and handcuffs in overreaching raw milk busts. At some point in the struggle, a sea change in public opinion will occur, and people will begin to see things more clearly. What was seen as wrong, evil, illegal, immoral will be seen as common sense, legal, and right. We who believe in the inherent rightness and goodness of this cause will not win the battle of public opinion by striving for less than perfection, as unattainable that is. Of course consuming what we choose is a matter of right. So is the dignity of having equal opportunity regardless of race (or gender, religion, national origin, etc.) It’s so obvious. But through all of this, let’s not forget that significant turning points in the civil rights struggle occurred when an unlikely icon of segregation – LBJ – armtwisted the laws into new shape. Just as with the changes (yet incomplete, to be sure) which began before Lincoln and which continue through next Tuesday and beyond, the changes we wish for will occur on many levels and will take many turns and faces – and we retreat into our shells and cut links to the other side only at the risk of slowing that coming day.
    Reply
  5. hugh betcha
    hugh betcha on January 19, 2009 at 2:27 am
    dr king did one thing right, he never wavered. those like cp and observer (from a series of posts on the last topic posted after this topic was logged seem to be touting the same dogma of kings detractors in his day. what it comes down to is simple. liberty. nothing more nothing less. anyone who feels they have the authority to tell you how to behave or what to believe by spouting dogma, lies, damed lies, fearmongering or partyline propaganda need to be told in no uncertain terms that it is UNEXCEPTABLE.

    period.

    Reply
  6. Don Wittlinger
    Don Wittlinger on January 19, 2009 at 3:13 am
    An almost hysterical antagonism of raw milk is an issue that unites STATISTS, COLLECTIVISTS and all those that would COMPROMISE OUR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS. In America today the difference between freedom and tyranny have become so blurred that Americans willingly give up their freedom for the false promise from TPTB to provide us with peace and safety. We have little peace and no food safety.
    Reply

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