Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said a lot of wild things during his Sunday morning media blitz. But one of his comments has received far less attention than the others: Vance described a federal program that has distributed nearly $2 billion to mostly Black farmers who experienced discrimination as “disgraceful,” suggesting that it is racist against white people.
And now, the head of the largest group of Black farmers across the country is condemning Vance’s assertions.
“He owes us an apology,” John Boyd, Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, told me. The remarks, Boyd added, were “disgraceful, deplorable, dumb, degrading, and disrespectful to the nation’s Black farmers, the oldest occupation in history for Black people.”
I don’t know whats more surprising.
The fact that Vance said it.
or the fact that theres still black Americans who support people like him and the republicans, then have the audacity to act shocked when conservatives go full racist against them again
I frankly think that unfortunately, a lot of people on the left have leaned into this by trying to categorize people by skin color and then give special benefits or special amounts of discrimination. The Harris Administration, for example, handed out farm benefits to people based on skin color. I think that’s disgraceful. I don’t think we should say, you get farm benefits if you’re a Black farmer, you don’t get farm benefits if you’re a white farmer. All farmers, we want to thrive, and that’s certainly the President Trump and JD Vance view of the situation.
But Vance’s assertions here are an inaccurate portrayal of the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program, the federal program established through the Inflation Reduction Act. Contrary to Vance’s claim, applicants were not limited to Black farmers; Any farmer who had experienced discrimination by the US Department of Agriculture—including based on sexual orientation or gender identity, religion, age, or disability—was eligible to apply.
You see a feral cat injured in the road so you rush over to see if you can help. Despite your good intentions, it delivers a deluge of deep scratches and medically significant puncture wounds from a few well-placed bites.
Perhaps you feel the cat owes you an apology since your intentions were good and you had hoped to be its friend. I would argue if you expected an apology then you were clearly delusional or willfully ignorant, either way not a good thing.
I suppose what I’m saying is, good luck on getting a sincere apology National Black Farmers Association.
A spokesperson for Vance also did not respond to questions from *Mother Jones *beyond requesting that we include the senator’s full remarks . . .
I frankly think that unfortunately, a lot of people on the left have leaned into this by trying to categorize people by skin color . . . All farmers, we want to thrive, and that’s certainly the President Trump and JD Vance view of the situation.
Ruh roh, Rhaggy! If you’re putting out statements putting yourself on-peer with Donny Two Scoops . . . that’s a paddlin’.
Somebody’s gonna be receiving a burnt ketchup steak frisbee soon.
I understand the black farmers here.
