Patterico's Pontifications

4/12/2011

How “Dr.” John Boyd Spins Pigford To The Press

Filed under: General — Stranahan @ 12:09 am



[Guest post by Lee Stranahan]

I’m back in Pigford mode, kids…

First, here’s a rough cut of a sequence from my documentary Pigford Blues. I’ve put up clips – but look! – this seems like a real movie.

 

And Boyd continues to manipulate the press. Like, today.

Here’s a story from today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch called For black farmers, the struggle continues that is a case study in how “Dr.” John Boyd twists the truth about the Pigford settlement. Read the whole article but I want to highlight a few of Boyd’s tricks.

The article starts with a few paragraphs about the history of Pigford and then…

Last year, the USDA reached a new settlement called Pigford II to resolve claims by late filers who said they were not notified and were unfairly left out of the earlier settlement.

But since Obama signed the appropriation bill, no money has been paid for Pigford II claims. Meanwhile, conservative bloggers, lawmakers and media personalities are alleging fraud by black farmers.

No. Wrong. Nobody is alleging fraud by black farmers. This is a crucial error that the article makes over and over again. They want to make it seem like critics of Pigford are beating up on farmers. Nothing could be further from the truth and Boyd knows it.

The fraud is by people who claim to have “attempted to farm”, a claim that required almost no proof. If you want some more information on the attempted to farmers, watch this video clip.

Then the article beats up on Andrew Breitbart and the GOP congressmen who are trying to help  the real farmers. Again – not how the article twists reality to make it appear that farmers are being attacked.

Breitbart is a guy who should have zero credibility, but he’s not alone. Reps. Bob Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia’s 6th District, Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and Steve King, R-Iowa, have also accused the black farmers of fraud.

The next quotes are from Boyd himself – doubling down on the lie about the farmers being attacked when he knows full well it’s  frauds not farmers who are being attacked. It’s the people who never farmed a day in their life but collected $50,000 who are being questioned.

Boyd knows.

And he knows that the real criminals aren’t the people who lied to get a $50,000 check – but the real bad guys are people like Boyd and Al Pises who made that fraud possible and got rich while the real farmers suffered. That’s who Breitbart and I are going after.

 Listen to what Boyd says…

"To call black farmers frauds who have not had the chance to have their cases heard and arbitrated … here again, has some racial undertones to it," said Boyd, a Mecklenburg County farmer.

"They’re wasting time beating up on poor black farmers," he said. "We don’t have anything anyway. Why waste your time beating up on black farmers proven to have been discriminated against by the government.

You know who is beating up on real farmers? John Wesley Boyd, Jr., that’s who.

I confronted Boyd at a press conference earlier this year. Watch how pissed off he is to be questioned. Is it just me or does it look like he wants to punch me? And watch how the press buys into his B.S.

I just want to remind you of the truth about Pigford, from one of the real black farmers who was one of the original claimants: Lucious Abrams of Georgia, who tells you adamantly that Rep. King and Bachmann are the ones telling the truth.

– Lee Stranahan

5 Responses to “How “Dr.” John Boyd Spins Pigford To The Press”

  1. This has nothing to do with farming, or pigford, or the law. This is stealth reparations for slavery combined with some good old-fashioned spreading of the wealth.

    The bigger fraud is that perpetuated by the enablers in the free press. There must be more to their collusion than ideology. How can this be discovered and exposed?

    Amphipolis (b120ce)

  2. The liberturds that have no problem with this thinks giving tax breaks to the rich right wingers hurt the economy.

    DohBiden (984d23)

  3. Lee – is there any connection between the availability of the Pigford settlement and the rise of “urban farmers” in Detroit? The recently touted conversion of vacant lots into “farms” seemed to be tailor made for fraudulant applications for inclusion in the settlement.

    in_awe (44fed5)

  4. Surely there are also many actual black farmers who did not suffer from the documented discrimination, and who therefore had no right to take money for it. Those who never applied for a loan, and those whose application was properly denied, are owed nothing and should be exposed as frauds. And there are probably one or two people who genuinely did make a serious attempt at farming, and who deserved to get a USDA loan to help them, but were unfairly denied; they do deserve compensation.

    Milhouse (ea66e3)

  5. Dr. Boyd, where did you receive your Doctorate and in what field?

    I’m here to talk about the struggles of the black farmer and discrimination in this country, not myself, cracka!

    Dr. Boyd, how many members are there of NBFA and how many staff do you employ?

    That’s it, security, throw this sucka outa here!

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)


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