Nothing Grows From The Top Down - January 3, 2012

January 4, 2012

We bring belated greetings from Oklahoma, after an uplifting visit late last year with our members in the Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project.   The focus of our gathering was disasters! Oklahoma experienced the hottest summer on record for any state ever with over 100 days when the thermostat rose above 100 degrees.  A few weeks before, the communities also had an earthquake, a tornado and a flash flood in a single day.

How was the weather different than a decade ago, or when those gathered were growing up?  What effect were weather changes having?  And what were communities going to do to respond? 

Yes, the weather seemed different, each of the small groups felt.  There were more disasters.  Small producers had suffered very serious losses to their herds, herds with genetic stock carefully tended over many years to adapt to the local conditions.  There was no hay, and the local economies were vastly affected.  If the ranchers were forced to sell off whole herds at loss, the whole community was affected now and far into the future.

The producers felt that none of the federal crop insurance or disaster programs had helped them.  The hay lifts coordinated by our Board member, Willard Tillman, with the Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project members and the tribal communities was the only relief in many places.  But it remained a huge challenge just to transport the hay generously donated by the farmers of Family Farm Defenders, our member in Wisconsin.  Efforts to find federal or corporate support just to move a few more tractor-trailer loads of hay were failing.

There were also other kinds of emergencies – during one flash flood in a rural area, there was no fire and rescue, no FEMA, no boats.  It was the Indian Tribes who came to rescue, saving people and pulling vehicles and cattle from flooded areas.  They helped everyone and anyone, and it was important to this group that their efforts be recognized and gratitude expressed for help that was otherwise unseen and unrecognized. 

The group also listened to an appeal written by our friend, Marta Benavides of El Salvador, one of the 250 people who traveled to Oklahoma in June to participate in our National Rural Gathering.  Marta’s words about recent disastrous floods in her home country of El Salvador had a special impact here.  The group noted as Marta had, that disasters were happening everywhere.  And as she suggested, communities needed to have discussions just like the one we were having then, and to share what they are experiencing and learning, so no one feels alone in the time of need and together we can better understand what is happening and what we can do. 

The oil and natural gas drilling and other economic activities could be contributing to the climate disasters, some felt, and also were not contributing to the sustainability of the local economies.   The historic American Indian and African America towns built by the survivors pushed out in the last century from the southern US in the Trail of Tears, are facing a new challenge for survival. 

At one table, a tribal member shared his understanding that we are entering a time when the world is making a fundamental change, and one that will be hard.  We will see these disasters and in them, there is a message for us.  That message is that our creator wants us to work together in cooperation among all peoples and all nations who are all members of our same human family.

In times of need, the group concluded, what we have is each other.  Working together, we will encourage each other and help each other.  We then listened to Kathy Ware Perosi share a presentation on tribal lands in state, their history and how they were being used.  A long discussion between the African American, the Black Seminole and the many tribal communities ensued about working together to revive agriculture and explore cleaner energy in order to heal the land and rebuild the communities. 

The state leaders of all the U.S Department of Agriculture agencies listened, and the Rural Development Director shared a note of success: a new center would be built in one small community to share the rich history of the area with those who travel through in the present day.  Working together, there are also more High Tunnels, and more irrigation through NRCS, and more than a few causes for hope.  Bravo, Oklahoma.  Courage to you, El Salvador, and to all the communities who are teaching us that by working together, in communities and across boundaries, solutions can be found even to the largest challenges facing our human family.

Now reader, it is your turn: How is the weather different than a decade ago, or when you were growing up?  What impact are weather changes having in your community?  And what will your community do to respond?  Think about it and share your thoughts on our new Facebook Page:  Disaster Dialogue.  Oklahoma, El Salvador and many other communities will appreciate your thoughts.

A Happy New Year from our grassiest of the grassroots Coalition! 

Lorette Picciano, Executive Director

“Nothing Grows from the Top Down” is the occasional column published by the Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural reflecting on the work of our grassiest of the grassroots members across the continent. Join us, support us, and learn more about our work at http://ruralco.org/. All rights reserved.

The Rural Coalition/ Coalición Rural is an alliance of farmers, farmworkers, indigenous, migrant and working people from the United States, Mexico, Canada and beyond working together toward a new society that values unity, hope, people and the land.