The second installment in the Fresh Tomato Film Series is coming to Farm Fresh RI on Monday, April 17 @ 7PM! “I’m Just A Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight Against the USDA” chronicles the injustices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, also known as the ‘last plantation’, and the lived experiences of farmers who choose to fight against discrimination. Their love for the land and farming as well as their pain and suffering are revealed in voices you will hear. Between 1997 and 1999, fifteen farmers appeared before the USDA and the Department of Justice and won their cases administratively. This film brings the stories of nine of these farmers and their families out in the open.
Others bear witness to the farmers’ stories: the farmers’ legal counsel; a former Secretary of Agriculture; farmer and former Director, Office of Civil Rights; President Emeritus of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees; and the author of the pivotal work, Dispossession: Discrimination Against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights. Together they form a cohesive and compelling story of what it means to farm while Black in America.
We are incredibly lucky to have the film’s director/writer Shoun A. Hill and writer/producer Waymon Hinson attend our event and speak to the process and experience of creating this film. You can register at this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fresh-tomato-film-series-presents-im-just-a-layman-in-pursuit-of-justice-tickets-588299558817 - we hope you'll join us!
More Information: https://blackfarmersinsearchofjusticefilm.com/about-the-film
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=basamDNZ12U
