Since our beginnings, Farmer Veteran Coalition has been profoundly committed to being non-partisan and apolitical—out of deep respect for the whole array of viewpoints of the men and women who served our country, once by defending it and now by feeding it.
But some things—like the recent killings of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbrey, and George Floyd—transcend politics. They are just wrong and they break our hearts.
Almost 4,000 of our members are people of color, men and women who volunteered to defend a country that has not always treated them fairly. We owe it to them to not only take a stand against injustice, but also to make sure our own organization is one that practices fairness and equity. We commit to deepening that work.
The US military, like all our institutions, had its own history of racism, but it changed faster than the rest of our society and made a real contribution to ending Jim Crow.
Our agricultural community has not done as well—African American farmers have been losing land for generations and Hispanic Americans, always welcome to work in the fields, have had a hard time starting farms of their own.
We do not have the resources to help buy anyone land, but we can train and educate and assist in many ways to give every aspiring farmer a chance to fulfill that dream.
This does not mean we in any way support violence and looting. That, too, is just wrong, and hurts the very people who are already suffering the most.
But we join with all Americans of goodwill to do our part to make this great country of ours good to all of its citizens.
