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Vice President Kamala Harris received a big boost with rural voters on Tuesday thanks to an endorsement from the National Black Farmers Association and its president, John Boyd.
In a statement, Boyd said Harris "has the vision to recognize the need to invest in agriculture and land ownership, new loan programs and credits, to make it easier to start and run a farm in the U.S.”
Black farmers, a group historically kneecapped by discriminatory policies, are acutely aware of the setbacks a second Donald Trump term could inflict on Black people, and the obstacles his first term created for Black businesses in particular.
In 2021, as part of a more than trillion-dollar coronavirus relief bill, Congress authorized $5 billion in debt relief and other aid to minority farmers who had faced discrimination. This could have been a partial but important step toward recompense for years of deliberate, government-enabled harm. But that program has been held up in court due to various lawsuits — at least one of which is backed by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who espoused white nationalist ideas in leaked emails — alleging the aid amounts to anti-white racism.
Miller is on a legal crusade to end both private and public programs designed to promote diversity and give aid to women and nonwhite people. And Trump seems to be on the same page, given his vow to crack down on “anti-white feeling” if he’s elected president again.
Congress ultimately altered the law to broaden the group of people who could apply for the aid, and although Boyd has said he’s glad some of the aid has been able to reach Black farmers, he’s been outspoken in fighting for the debt relief originally promised and is actively suing the federal government to receive it. The fact Boyd is backing the Harris-Walz campaign shows he knows MAGA racism has been the biggest impediment to Black farmers like him receiving much-needed — and much-deserved — assistance.
With Election Day approaching, the Harris-Walz campaign has made a point of platforming and mobilizing Black farmers. Aside from moral reasons, there are some clear political ones, too. Census data from 2022 showed there are more than 46,000 Black farmers in the U.S., the majority of whom are concentrated in Southern states Democrats are targeting — such as Texas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
In a race that could come down to a few thousand votes in just a few states, Black farmers such as Boyd and the Black Farmers Association could play a key role. They may prove to be a key voting bloc, and they’re also valuable-yet-informal spokespeople for the campaign. They could help mobilize Team Harris' rural backers. And they can also undercut Trump's claims, made to Black people in particular, that he's a pro-business candidate.