{"id":9245,"date":"2023-04-19T20:53:03","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T20:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9245"},"modified":"2023-06-19T20:50:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T20:50:30","slug":"edward-jenkins-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/edward-jenkins-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Edward Jenkins Oral History"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]\n

Edward Jenkins Oral History<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][page_submenu alignment=”center” sticky=”true” bg_color=”#008542″ link_color=”#ffffff”][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/manuscripts-and-guides\/” title=”Manuscripts & Subject Guides<\/strong>” id=”1681937435838-1″ tab_id=”1681937435839-2″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1681937435846-0″ tab_id=”1681937435847-10″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1681937445438-2″ tab_id=”1681937445439-3″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1681937446230-7″ tab_id=”1681937446231-10″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1681937446960-3″ tab_id=”1681937446961-3″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1681937448346-10″ tab_id=”1681937448347-6″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/yearbooks-alumni-magazines-delta-state-histories\/”][\/page_link][\/page_submenu][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Edward Jenkins Oral History Interview<\/strong><\/p>\n

September 22, 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transcribed by S. Leonard<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewed by Sarah Leonard<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: All right, if you\u2019d go ahead and fill that out, and that just basically says that you will give the Archives permission to have the copies of the tapes and transcripts and that they\u2019ll be able to use it for this exhibit, and if you have no problem with that you can check the first box on that, I think\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Okay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: You know, and if you have some restrictions on the material, just let me know what those are.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: What\u2019s today\u2019s date?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: 22nd.\u00a0 Do you have any questions before we get started?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: No.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: This is Sarah Leonard, it\u2019s September 22nd, 2006, and I\u2019m interviewing Edward Jenkins in Grace, Mississippi.\u00a0 Could you tell me your full name?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Edward Neil Jenkins.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And could you tell me about when you were born?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I was born three-seventeen-sixty-five in Mound Bayou.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 Can you tell me about your parents?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: My father died when I was six and I farmed, ran the farm for my mother from probably the tenth grade through college.\u00a0 And after college I took over the farm for my mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And where was the farm located?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: It\u2019s located in Grace, Mississippi.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 So did you grow up in Mound Bayou then?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: No, ma\u2019am, I grew up in Grace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 You were just born there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And did your father farm before\u2026?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: My father farmed, I think in the Fifties and Sixties.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay, so it was his farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And you just took over it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: How many siblings do you have?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I have seven.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And can you tell me a little bit about them?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: (laughs) Um, I have four sisters and two brothers.\u00a0 My brother Leo farms with me, and my older brother, he works in a coal mine in Waco, Texas.\u00a0 I have two sisters in Atlanta, one sister in Greenville, and one sister in St. Louis, Missouri.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And what do they all do?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: My sister in St. Louis own a daycare, the one in Atlanta owns a daycare and my sister in Greenville\u2019s retired from Delta Regional Medical Center, she work part-time at a school now.\u00a0 And my oldest sister works for IRS in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Why did you start farming in the tenth grade?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I basically I didn\u2019t have any choice (laughs).\u00a0 The farm had gotten in financial, was having financial problems, and I had to take over the farm to save it.\u00a0 Basically I didn\u2019t plan to start farming that early.\u00a0 I would rather have gotten a career and retired from a job, then come back to farming, that was my plan.\u00a0 But when my mother farmed in the Eighties them were some bad farming years and she got in financial trouble and Farmers Home was threatening to foreclose on her land which was about six hundred acres, and they was threatening to take the land for, I think her debt was approximately three hundred thousand dollars and they was gonna take six hundred acres of land.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I was forced into farming at early age, it was too much land to lose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So did you and your mother farm together for a while?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well basically I managed, me and my brother managed for my mother, and I\u2019ve been farming on my own probably twenty years, but I\u2019ve been handling the whole operation for about fifteen years.\u00a0 But like I said, it wasn\u2019t my first choice to farm, you know, at that young age, but I didn\u2019t want to see the land just go \u2018cause they were sending foreclosure letters.\u00a0 Some of that three hundred thousand dollars was basically fifteen, twenty year notes, and they call it all at once (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Why was it so important for your family to keep the land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well, basically I think land is one of the most important things a person could buy, because I mean, my father bought so much in the Fifties and Sixties and he gained so much respect for owning seven hundred acres of land (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So it\u2019s kind of like a prestige thing?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well, for me it is (laughs).\u00a0 It\u2019s not for the money, it\u2019s just to own property, it\u2019s not a whole lot of blacks that own property around here.\u00a0 And for me to just go off in a career and lose seven hundred acres of land, that wouldn\u2019t make a whole lot of sense (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 Did your family always own the six hundred acres, or was there a different amount at one point?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Um, when my father died it was like seven hundred acres.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know when exactly it was bought, I\u2019m gon\u2019 guess and say in the, starting in the Thirties through the Sixties.\u00a0 I mean, people were leaving the South, going North, and he was buying up the property.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Do you know why he started buying it up?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I ask a lot of people that question.\u00a0 Most of the older people are gone and nobody young can answer that for me.\u00a0 Everybody ask me, how did your father own so much property in the Mississippi Delta around all these rich people?\u00a0 I can\u2019t answer that question (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: But he kinda bought it up a little bit at a time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes, right.\u00a0 But basically now, we farm two thousand acres (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So how did you go from seven hundred to two thousand?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I started buying property and renting property.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay, and do you keep buying it, are you still buying it if it comes available?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I buy every acre that I can get my hands on (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Just around this area or anywhere in the Delta?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well, right now I\u2019m just buying in this area, but I would buy anywhere in the Delta, because like I said, owning property is\u2026I guess I\u2019ve turned it into a hobby (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Is this your full time job now?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes, this my full time job.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So it\u2019s kind of more than a hobby then.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes, it\u2019s a job and a hobby (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Do you enjoy farming?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I do now.\u00a0 When I first started I didn\u2019t, but I enjoy it now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What do you enjoy about it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Basically I enjoy\u2026I guess just doing business, and to prove to the world that I can farm just as good as anybody else (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And how did that transition happen, you said you didn\u2019t really like it at first but now you do.\u00a0 When\u2026when did that come about, and how do you think that\u2026?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I guess that came about when people were doubting if I could handle the farm because of my age.\u00a0 And basically there are no black farmers around here left.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: In Grace?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: It\u2019s a couple small ones, two or three hundred acres, but it\u2019s no black farmers in the area that can compete on the large scale, two thousand and up.\u00a0 And basically I\u2019m just farming to prove that I can do it (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: That\u2019s great.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: A lot of people think it\u2019s for the money, but for me it\u2019s to make a living and like I say, it\u2019s partially a hobby and just to prove that I can hang with the best of them (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So all of your land right now is located in Grace?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Actually we have land in three counties: Washington, Sharkey and Issaquena.\u00a0 We are right in the corner of three counties down here (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So is all the land kinda connected?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes, right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And you said you and your brother farm the land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Anybody else farm it with you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: No, just my brother Leo.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Um, do you know any of the history of the land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Huh, let me see, history, do you mean who it was bought from?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Mmm-hmmm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I think the majority of it was bought from relatives.\u00a0 Or my mother probably could tell you a little more if she hadn\u2019t left so soon.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t know, I think an older German farmer was around here and when he retired he just split it up and just started selling it and he didn\u2019t just sell only to whites, he wanted to give black people the chance to own some property too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And that was when your father started buying?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Was the farm ever used for sharecropping or tenant farming?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: It probably was but I can\u2019t remember.\u00a0 I never heard anybody around here talk about that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What have you produced on the farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: This year I raised um\u2026soybeans, cotton and corn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 What about in the past?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Basically that\u2019s been, well in the past we raised wheat, but basically now it\u2019s soybeans, cotton and corn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And when your father was farming and your mother was farming?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: My father raised cattle (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Really?\u00a0 Only cattle?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well he raised cattle and a little cotton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: And basically I think my father bought the land for investing, because he didn\u2019t, he never farmed all of it, he never farmed all of it at once.\u00a0 He would rent part of it out and farm cattle and a little cotton.\u00a0 So basically I think my father was using the land just for investment purposes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: All right.\u00a0 So it was cattle and then it switched over to wheat and cotton, soybeans and corn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And that\u2019s what you do now except for wheat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes.\u00a0 I even tried vegetables one time, that\u2019s how I met Ben Burkett (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: How did the vegetables work out?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: It\u2019s money in vegetables, but it\u2019s a lot of work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Row crops?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yeah, it\u2019s a row crop but it\u2019s a lot of hand labor, manual labor, and we\u2019re really not used to that around here.\u00a0 We\u2019re used to doing everything mechanical.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And that leads into my next question.\u00a0 How has technology changed over time on your farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Technology, it\u2019s changing every year.\u00a0 I can remember when my mother started, I think my mother was farming it when I was a little boy, and I remember picking cotton by hand one day \u2013 only one day.\u00a0 She made me a little sack out of a pillow case and I never filled it up (laughs).\u00a0 But today we harvest like two hundred bales per day, and twenty years ago my mother had a two row cotton picker and we probably harvested thirty bales per day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: How big is a bale?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: It\u2019s five hundred pounds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And you do how many of those a day?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well yesterday I think we did about two hundred.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Are those those big ones that are out in the field?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: No, those are modules.\u00a0 They have approximately fifteen bales per module, and we do about fifteen of those a day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So it\u2019s one module a day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes, one module is fifteen bales and we do fifteen modules.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: You do fifteen modules a day?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Compared to the first dad I picked cotton I couldn\u2019t fill up a pillow case (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So technology has enabled you to do a lot more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.\u00a0 Well my farm is not as modern as six thousand, ten thousand acre farms.\u00a0 They probably pick ten times as much as I do (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What kind of equipment do you use?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I use mainly John Deere equipment, I\u2019ve got two four-row cotton pickers, but your bigger corporate farmers got six-row cotton pickers, and a new one costs three hundred and ten thousand.\u00a0 I think I paid thirty thousand for mine (laughs), which, I think it\u2019s time for me to move up.\u00a0 I learned how to work on the equipment when I didn\u2019t have the money, I couldn\u2019t afford to buy the modern stuff, and we learned a lot of mechanical skills so we can use the older machines and make them last a little bit longer than your bigger farmer that just hire labor.\u00a0 We do mainly most our work ourselves so our equipment lasts a little bit longer, although our cotton pickers, we need updating but we know how to make them keep going (laughs) and that saves a little money.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: To make the farm work, what changes have you had to make over time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Changes?\u00a0 Uh, we had to mainly do a little bit more research like pulling soil samples and keeping up with the new technology like the new chemicals and the new seeds.\u00a0 My mother, when she was running the farm she was stuck with whatever she did in the past, whatever my father did, and whatever my grandfather did.\u00a0 She was kinda like, well we used to do this.\u00a0 But farming, it\u2019s not only changing year to year, it\u2019s changing day to day so you gotta keep up with the latest trend and the latest seeds and technology.\u00a0 \u2018Cause when my mother was farming, two bales per acre was a good crop.\u00a0 And this year we picked some cotton that was three bales, some close to four bales.\u00a0 And technology, you know, the technology in the seed, you got the BT cotton and the Round Up Ready.\u00a0 When my mother was farming, Round Up killed any crop you would spray it on, but now this year we planted everything Round Up Ready, you know, you just spray Round Up across the top of it and it kills all the weeds, which in the past you had to go out there and scout your fields.\u00a0 Well you still have to scout them, but you had to scout more to find out exactly what you had out there so you\u2019d know exactly what chemicals to spray.\u00a0 So that technology has brought us a long way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Now how do you keep up with all this technology and find out about the new things that are out there, are you like a member of groups that provide trainings and tell you about this stuff, or do you read magazines\u2026?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well I read farming magazines and farm newspapers and I hire entomologists to check my cotton and I rely on my chemical man a little more.\u00a0 Basically, they go to school for it and they keep up with all the new technology.\u00a0 So I handle the work and I let them handle all the technical parts of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 Has your land been divided over time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: What do you mean?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Has it been divided into small portions or has it just been increasing?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: It\u2019s basically been increasing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve lost any land or sold any in the past ten to fifteen years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And you anticipate increasing it even more?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: If I can (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Um, can you tell me about the buildings that are on your farm land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: The buildings?\u00a0 We built a new shop in 2000.\u00a0 Our previous shop, I think I got some pictures of it somewhere, it was the shop that my father built, probably in the Fifties, and we worked out of that shop.\u00a0 It was no heat, well actually it was just a shed, and we built the shop that\u2019s out here I think in 2000.\u00a0 And I would say my father\u2019s shop was built in the Fifties and we just built my mother this house, and that house, it probably was moved down here in the Fifties.\u00a0 And actually that\u2019s where I grew up.\u00a0 My family, my brothers and sisters got together and built this house for my mother.\u00a0 She\u2019s seventy-three years old (laughs).\u00a0 But she lived over there in that house for fifty years, so I think it was time for her to get a new house (laughs).\u00a0 I know it was time for us to get a shop where we could have somewhere to work and take care of our equipment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So did you tear the old shop down?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes, we tore it down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And you built this new one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 Did your family build this house out here, your mother\u2019s original house?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: No, she moved, I think my father bought some property that the house was on, then he moved it down here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 But he built the shed?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes, I think he built the shed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: All right, and then y\u2019all built the new shed too?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Okay.\u00a0 Um, can you kinda describe, like map it out, where everything is located on your farm?\u00a0 The different buildings?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Basically the only buildings on the farm is these houses and the shop.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Can you describe how they\u2019re laid out?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I guess you could say they\u2019re basically in the center of the farming operation.\u00a0 And we had one tenant house over on the other side of the shop and we tore it down, I guess about three years ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Was anybody occupying the tenant house?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: No.\u00a0 Nobody.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Was that just kinda here when you got the farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What would you tell a young person in your family who\u2019s interested in agriculture today?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: (laughs) I get asked that question every day.\u00a0 I got two sons, and everybody says since I\u2019m so successful at farming, do I think my sons are going to want to farm.\u00a0 I would advise my sons not to farm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Really?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Why?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Because it\u2019s a easy job, but it\u2019s a hard job because there\u2019s not any land available any more, and if it is you can\u2019t afford to buy it.\u00a0 And everything is not exactly fair when it comes to farming, you know.\u00a0 Farmers Home came up with a program called Socially Disadvantaged, which they was making loans and I had the guy at Farmers Home told me he can\u2019t see where a black person got a disadvantage than a white person, okay.\u00a0 Most of the white farmers around here got ten thousand acres, and if I was a young white farmer I got people that I can go to and depend on, okay?\u00a0 But a young black farmer, who does he have to go to?\u00a0 And if he gets some information, is it good information, you know?\u00a0 Or is it something to put you out of business?\u00a0 So I explained that information to the man at Farmers Home, that\u2019s how I\u2019m socially disadvantaged than a white farmer.\u00a0 So basically with the stuff that I\u2019ve been through, I don\u2019t think I would want to put my kids through it.\u00a0 You know, if they wanted to farm and the land was available and they was farming in the area where they could get their advice from me, it would be fine.\u00a0 But if they had to come up from the bottom (laughs)\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Like start from scratch?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually impossible, you know.\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible to do.\u00a0 \u2018Cause I\u2019ve farmed a lot of years, basically everything I made went back into the farm (laughs).\u00a0 So I wouldn\u2019t advise my kids to go into farming unless they\u2019ve got me to back them up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Who did you get your advice from?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well actually, I got my advice from everywhere I could.\u00a0 Ben Burkett, one of my neighbors up here, Mr. Woodruff, and because, like I said, when you own six or seven hundred acres of land, that gets people\u2019s attention (laughs).\u00a0 You know, my chemical man, Mr. Frank Stone, he works with me just like he would work with a farmer that was a millionaire.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t just start doing this when I got two thousand acres, he worked with me when I was small.\u00a0 So I\u2019ve been fortunate that people work with me and try to help me.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t happen all over the world.\u00a0 It happened right here in my little area, I just happened to be around some pretty good people that actually took the time to help me get started.\u00a0 I majored in agriculture, I went to Hines Community College in Raymond, but my plans were a year at Alcorn and a year at Mississippi State, \u2018cause those were the only two land grant universities around, but like I was telling you, I had to put my plans on hold to try to save the land (laughs).\u00a0 I\u2019m forty-one now, I should be just starting into farming (laughs).\u00a0 That was my original plan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: How much longer do you think you\u2019ll farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I probably will farm for the rest of my life (laughs).\u00a0 You know, for me, the hardest part \u2013 I hope the hardest part is over.\u00a0 Now basically I just manage the farm.\u00a0 Back in the day I was the mechanic, I drove the tractor, I had to do the paperwork, run the errands, but now I\u2019m big enough that I can hire somebody to do that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Who do you hire for that?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: My brother, my brother been helping me from day one, and we hire just one other guy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: So just the three of you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Yes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What do you think is going to happen to your farm after you retire if you don\u2019t encourage your sons to go into farming?\u00a0 Do you think it\u2019ll still be farmed, do you think you\u2019ll sell the land, do you think you\u2019ll just hold onto it and not farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I advise them now \u2013 my youngest son is nine, my oldest is thirteen \u2013 and at least once a week I tell them, never sell your land.\u00a0 You rent it, lease it out, then after you retire from your job, you come back and farm for a hobby (laughs).\u00a0 \u2018Cause that was my plan and I would advise them to do the same thing, \u2018cause like I said, it\u2019s not easy for a young person, and especially for a young black person, it\u2019s not easy.\u00a0 And then again it would\u2019ve been easier for me if my father was living.\u00a0 Now like I said, if I get sixty years old and my kids want to farm, if they have problems they can automatically come to me.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a whole lot of people to turn to (laughs) when I started, other than my brothers and sisters, which, they didn\u2019t have a whole lot of experience in farming either, but they\u2019re part owner in the land and they help me in that way, they doesn\u2019t charge me the market value for rent, and if I had a bad crop I\u2019m pretty sure when I was starting out I wouldn\u2019t even have to pay any rent.\u00a0 So a lot of little things like that gave me the encouragement to keep going, but if I had to do it just go out there and pay market value with no help, it would be impossible for me to farm.\u00a0 I see it every day, a lot of young guys come ask me about farming and I tell them, \u201cGet you some education and get a job,\u201d (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And then come back to farming?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.\u00a0 And if you want to do it, do it as a hobby, not as a career, \u2018cause all the land has been taken.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What is the value of the land to you and your family?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: The value of\u2026you not talking about market value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Whatever you see as the value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I had a guy stop by, he bought some land in this area at a foreclosure auction from some of my relatives, and he bought it so cheap, he stopped by and asked me did we want to sell our farm (laughs).\u00a0 And I told him it wasn\u2019t for sale.\u00a0 And he said, \u201cWell everything got a price.\u201d\u00a0 I told him to give me like ten million dollars and he can have it (laughs).\u00a0 He thought that was ridiculous.\u00a0 Well he said, \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cNo, that\u2019s not ridiculous, you asking me to sell you my property, now that\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d\u00a0 Because this land is the only memories that I have of my father and the majority of black people in this area doesn\u2019t own any land.\u00a0 You can search whole Mississippi and you not gon\u2019 find but about five more people farms that\u2019s black owned that\u2019s farming two thousand acres, which I guess you probably already did that research.\u00a0 And for me, the value of the land, I couldn\u2019t put a dollar figure on mine.\u00a0 Actually I told that guy, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t sell you the dirt off these boots,\u201d after he kept pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing.\u00a0 I mean, if I tell you two or three times it\u2019s not for sale, it\u2019s not for sale.\u00a0 And you know, I couldn\u2019t put a money value on my property, because if I could I\u2019d keep this property for eternity and I advise my kids to do the same thing.\u00a0 So like I said, I couldn\u2019t put a money value on my property, I wouldn\u2019t even do it.\u00a0 If the guy had came out his pocket with ten million dollars, I wouldn\u2019t have sold it to him at that (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Do you see a time when the land will not be in your family any longer?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: (laughs) Hopefully my kids will, like I said, will keep it forever, but if it was some way I could write it up in deed that this land is never to be sold, I would.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think you can control anything after your death for but ten years and then they can do whatever they wanted to do with it.\u00a0 I know the land was important to my father because he bought it, you know, and I guess he bought it to leave it to us.\u00a0 So basically I\u2019m trying to follow my father\u2019s footsteps (laughs), which, like I said, he died when I was six.\u00a0 And I used to sit with the older people and just to give me stories, and I would ask them \u201cWhy did my dad do this?\u00a0 Why did he do that?\u201d and ask my mother about it.\u00a0 I think the land was valuable to him and it\u2019s valuable to me and hopefully it will be just as valuable to my kids and my brothers\u2019 and sisters\u2019 kids, which they will inherit some of it.\u00a0 But I own the majority of it now.\u00a0 Like I said, mine is not for sale and I\u2019m gon\u2019 try to teach my kids never sell your property.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What do your boys think about the farm right now?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: They love it.\u00a0 Actually we live in Greenville now and every weekend they\u2019re down here helping my mother in the garden and sometimes I take them riding on the tractors and everything.\u00a0 They love the farm, but if they can get into it, into some other aspect of agriculture like one of my dreams was to be Secretary of Agriculture, but Mike Espy beat me to that (laughs).\u00a0 But if they could get into agriculture in that way it\u2019d be fine, and they could build some information to help them on the farm in the future.\u00a0 But like I said, they love farming, they have mentioned, \u201cI want to farm with you when I grow up,\u201d but I told them they can help me as teenagers and they can take over after they retire from their jobs (laughs).\u00a0 I\u2019m gon\u2019 stick by that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Has the family utilized any assistance to continue farming, like co-ops or FSA or USDA programs?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: The FSA office, but co-ops, there\u2019s no co-ops around here, farm co-ops, other than chemical companies and cotton gins.\u00a0 But my mother, she farmed through Farmers Home when it was Farmers Home.\u00a0 I made one loan through Farmers Home which took me two years to make one loan to buy some property that was already in our family and it took two years and a stack of paperwork that thick to buy forty acres of land.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m saying back in the day if I didn\u2019t have help from my family and some of my neighboring farmers, it would be impossible.\u00a0 If it takes two years to buy forty acres of land, what are you supposed to do, you know, while you buying the property or making the loan?\u00a0 But right now we go through the government program that the FSA offers, just basic, but other than that I make all my loans through banks.\u00a0 If I had to go through the old Farmers Home to do anything, I think I\u2019d rather starve to death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: How come?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: It takes me two years and a stack of paperwork that thick.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: And the bank is a lot easier?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well some banks are (laughs).\u00a0 Some banks use that same policy that Farmers Home did.\u00a0 Make them late, they have to sell the property to one of our rich buddies, I\u2019m just speculating on that, because why would it take me two years to buy some property and I wasn\u2019t trying to get a write-off, I was buying the property at fair market value (laughs).\u00a0 But actually, the guy told me, \u201cYour brother couldn\u2019t farm it, what makes you think you can farm it?\u201d\u00a0 See stuff like that what really put the fuel up under me to farm and to prove it to them (laughs).\u00a0 I farm non-irrigated and my crops make just as good as the richer white farmers with the irrigation and all the expensive equipment.\u00a0 But everywhere I went, they told me you can\u2019t do it (laughs), especially Farmers Home.\u00a0 I know this piece ain\u2019t on Farmers Home so I\u2019ll get off that, \u2018cause I could talk about Farmers Home all day and half the night (laughs).\u00a0 But I had one bank to treat me like Farmers Home, but I guess it\u2019s not about banks either.\u00a0 But I moved on, because I got the land.\u00a0 I mean, how can you turn me down for a loan and I own all this property and I got records to show that my crop is making just as good as Mr. Whoever.\u00a0 And I got good credit, so why can he make a loan and I can\u2019t make a loan?\u00a0 So basically if they don\u2019t want to do it now, I just go to the next bank, which I was with my first bank for seven years, and I\u2019ve been with the bank that I\u2019m with now for about ten years and I don\u2019t have any problems with borrowing money any more, because I had threatened a couple lawsuits (laughs). \u00a0Every bank I went into to do business, I got to threaten to sue, you know, just to make a loan, you know (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: You\u2019ve obviously been really successful in your farming efforts despite some challenges.\u00a0 How do you think\u2026or what do you think could be done for other black farmers so they could overcome these challenges and also be successful?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: (laughs) I probably have to sleep on that one and get back with you, because like I said, for a black farmer it is 90% impossible, because farmland is owned what, 99% by whites, so who gon\u2019, where would a young black farmer get the property to farm?\u00a0 Where would he get it, I mean, they don\u2019t make any more land (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Do the white farmers tend to keep it in the family also?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well basically anybody, black or white, would keep it in the family.\u00a0 But I bought land from white farmers, I rented land from white farmers, but a lot of people want to compare everything to my situation.\u00a0 I think my situation is just a special situation.\u00a0 Every young black farmer that tried to farm when I started didn\u2019t get good treatment from their neighbors and help from their neighbors.\u00a0 I would encourage black people to buy as much land as they can and farm if you can afford to farm, but you couldn\u2019t just start like a young white guy, wake up one day say, \u201cWell I want to farm,\u201d go to the bank and borrow some money and go rent some land and buy some equipment.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t work like that for us, you gotta have a relative that\u2019s willing to help you or to rent you the land and to risk losing money, because if you doesn\u2019t make a crop you can\u2019t pay the rent.\u00a0 And a lot of people, back in the day they wouldn\u2019t rent to you if you was a Farmers Home farmer, because they know Farmers Home gonna take a year or two to do one sheet of paperwork, so actually the landlord would be waiting on the farmer to get the money to pay the rent.\u00a0 And if anybody just started from scratch farming, they would have to go to Farmers Home or some lending institution like that and nobody wants to wait for their money when you got people out here with the money that can afford to pay you on the spot.\u00a0 So if a young black wanted to farm, if you doesn\u2019t have the land (laughs) it\u2019ll never happen.\u00a0 One of my college instructors always said, \u201cFarming is three things: land, labor and capital,\u201d okay?\u00a0 All I had when I started was the labor.\u00a0 Okay, I got to have capital.\u00a0 Banks, they\u2019re not gonna loan a new farmer any money.\u00a0 Farmers Home had the program for the farmers, they wouldn\u2019t loan it.\u00a0 Okay, you need the land is one of the most important things.\u00a0 I\u2019m not gonna turn any of mine, I don\u2019t have enough to share with the next young farmer coming up until I get retirement age, and then like you said with keeping it in the family it\u2019s gon\u2019 be my kids.\u00a0 So farming is, if you\u2019re not already in it or your family is not in it, I just can\u2019t see you doing it unless you a millionaire.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: I know you\u2019ve talked about this a lot already, but how has race affected your farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Well, in one way, well I guess the major part of it is borrowing money and renting land and buying property.\u00a0 I mean, I can\u2019t fault a person for selling property or renting property to somebody in his family, and the majority of the land is owned by whites.\u00a0 So if this person rents to his brother, his uncle or something, I can\u2019t say race was a problem.\u00a0 But when you walk into Farmers Home and tell them you want to make a loan to buy forty acres of property and they tell you that you in the wrong place, we don\u2019t make farm loans, I think that\u2019s \u2013 I know that\u2019s racism.\u00a0 And then when I have to come in there with a newspaper article to prove it to this man that I know I\u2019m in the right place and you have funds available for socially disadvantaged and minority people, you know, if I was a young white farmer I wouldn\u2019t have to do that (laughs).\u00a0 And basically, wherever you go, I\u2019m a minority, I can\u2019t change that.\u00a0 If I go to a chemical company or somewhere and try to get credit and they know that I\u2019m a minority, most likely if you a minority you don\u2019t have as much money as the next person, and they look at everybody, if you young and black you not gon\u2019 pay them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard that a couple of times.\u00a0 But basically, after twenty years of paying my bills and making crops, now they treat me, as far as I can see, as equal.\u00a0 But when I first started, nobody was gonna rent any property to me.\u00a0 And like I said, Farmers Home didn\u2019t want to loan me any money, the banks didn\u2019t want to loan me any money, and I had to get them on a conference call and threaten to sue both of them at the same time to make my first loan.\u00a0 \u2018Cause Farmers Home said, \u201cWell you got good credit, you qualify for a bank loan.\u201d\u00a0 The bank said, \u201cWell you don\u2019t have enough credit or collateral, you qualify for a Farmers Home loan.\u201d\u00a0 So that went back and forth.\u00a0 So I got both of them on the phone and said, \u201cWell if I can\u2019t find out where I fit I\u2019ll just sue both of you and I won\u2019t have to farm anymore,\u201d (laughs) and I started making loans.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Do you kinda feel like you had to prove yourself and pay your dues before they would give you that respect?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.\u00a0 And even after proving myself, I mean, my banker, the bank that I deal with now, they changed loan officers three times in the last ten years, and every new loan officer, it takes me an hour to explain to him that I am a farmer.\u00a0 He never heard of a black farmer (laughs).\u00a0 It take me another hour to explain to him that I\u2019m making just as good a crops as the bigger farmers (laughs) so basically that\u2019s another thing that race has to do with it.\u00a0 I mean, being black definitely\u2026I ain\u2019t gon\u2019 say I would be a bigger farmer, \u2018cause I might\u2019ve got too big and went bankrupt (laughs) but it\u2019s a lot of things that I wanted to do or wanted to buy and I couldn\u2019t do it because everybody, you know, the banks doubted me, Farmers Home, I couldn\u2019t do anything with them because it take forever to do anything with Farmers Home.\u00a0 I feel like if I was a young white farmer I\u2019d be farming ten thousand acres by now (laughs) \u2018cause I\u2019ve tried to buy property which I couldn\u2019t make loans to get I guess because I was a beginning farmer.\u00a0 If I had bought the property I could\u2019ve been buying a thousand acres every other (change tape).\u00a0 It was like he didn\u2019t want to deal with me.\u00a0 Why would you work in a place that make farm loans if you don\u2019t want to loan money, you know?\u00a0 But basically he didn\u2019t want to loan me any money.\u00a0 It was like, \u201cWell your mother filed bankruptcy,\u201d or \u201cYour brother borrowed some money and bought this property and he couldn\u2019t do anything with it so what makes you think you can farm?\u201d (laughs) I kinda feel like that would be considered discrimination (laughs) but I was fortunate, my father\u2019s attorney, after my father died my mother used the same attorney, which he was old, and after my attorney died his son was an attorney and I used him, which he was Hayman Miller, and he actually was a senator.\u00a0 Like I said, to make those loans I\u2019d have to threaten to call my attorney which was a powerful attorney and people didn\u2019t know that this attorney, he was almost like family, his father worked for my father and he worked for my mother, you know, and Nathan Brown saying, \u201cWell, Hayman is in Jackson, he don\u2019t have time to deal with little stuff like this,\u201d and I would call him in Jackson, call the office, and basically that\u2019s how I made that loan to buy that forty acres of property.\u00a0 Other than having a good lawyer that been with my family I guess a hundred years (laughs), I would\u2019ve quit right there.\u00a0 And any other young black person doesn\u2019t have that type of connection gon\u2019 get stopped from day one (laughs).\u00a0 So that\u2019s why I say it\u2019s almost impossible.\u00a0 And now I just feel lucky or blessed to have people like Hayman Miller and my neighbors that knew my father, you know, to help me.\u00a0 And plus a lot of this I did on my own (laughs) \u2018cause I\u2019ve worked fifteen to sixteen hours a day (laughs) and when I made money I didn\u2019t spend a lot of it on fun or whatever, recreation.\u00a0 I tried to put 90% of what I made back into the farm so I could have some retirement (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Did the Civil Rights movement and the following years affect anything on your family\u2019s farm?\u00a0 Did you ever have Civil Rights workers staying on your farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: No, not that I know of.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: What was your most memorable moment in farming?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Most memorable moment?\u00a0 Hmmm.\u00a0 You mean good memories or bad memories? (laughs)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Whatever is memorable to you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: I guess one of my most memorable moments was when we signed up for the black farmers lawsuit and they denied me (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Really?\u00a0 Why did they deny you?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Because the letter read something like, \u201cJudging from your past, you started with forty acres and now you farm a thousand acres, that\u2019s proof that Farmers Home helped you,\u201d (laughs).\u00a0 That\u2019s what my denial letter read.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Even though they put you through all of that and telling you you weren\u2019t socially disadvantaged?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Right.\u00a0 And they denied me.\u00a0 I was denied because I was a good farmer (laughs).\u00a0 I mean, they didn\u2019t help me.\u00a0 I spent a lot of nights probably not sleeping.\u00a0 If I came out of the Farmers Home office that day I wasn\u2019t gonna sleep at night.\u00a0 If I had to go in the next day I wasn\u2019t gonna sleep \u2018cause I know I gotta go ahead and deal with all this red tape.\u00a0 But after I couldn\u2019t get help from them, I got help from my family and farmers in the area.\u00a0 But when they sent me the denial letter, you know, they denied me because from me going from zero to where I am now that\u2019s proof that they helped me, but they really didn\u2019t help me (laughs).\u00a0 If they helped me, I would say they helped me in this way: they made me mad enough to want to prove them wrong.\u00a0 But financially or whatever, they didn\u2019t help me.\u00a0 But like I say, that\u2019s what my denial letter read (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: If you could change anything about your farming experience, what would it be?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: (laughs) Oh.\u00a0 Basically, I don\u2019t think people should treat one farmer different from another, but I would like to have a chance for me and the next farmer, which are white or black, to start and just work off a level playing field, no favoritism, just to see what would happen, you know.\u00a0 \u2018Cause I know farmers that\u2019s a little younger than me that are white and they\u2019re farming say, four thousand acres, and they didn\u2019t have to go through what I went through.\u00a0 But in their mind, they had to work just as hard as me.\u00a0 Some of them you can\u2019t convince that I had to work ten times as hard as you to get where I am.\u00a0 So if I could change anything, I would like for all of us to have to, not even have it easy like they had it, I would like for all of us to have it hard and do it like I did and to see where they\u2019d be.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have nothin\u2019 against them, but I just would like for them to have to walk a mile in my shoes (laughs) just to see could they make it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Is there anything that I have not asked you that you\u2019d like to tell me?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: Uh, basically I think you asked all the questions.\u00a0 The biggest thing is that Farmers Home deal (laughs) and the banking and borrowing and the discrimination.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t for family, I wouldn\u2019t have\u2026I couldn\u2019t farm at all, because it just so happened our family owns enough land where I could make a living and like you was asking a minute ago, the most memorable moment is the discrimination through Farmers Home and the banks, which the bank doesn\u2019t do it as openly as Farmers Home did it.\u00a0 I can\u2019t see how a government organization, you know, could sit back and discriminate against people, I guess from the day that Farmers Home was put in place there\u2019s been discrimination in there, and that\u2019s a government office, I don\u2019t understand how can the United States of America could let a government office discriminate against human beings for the past fifty or sixty years, you know.\u00a0 They\u2019re supposed to be one of the greatest countries in the world, but you know, I just don\u2019t see how Farmers Home could stay in place for all those years, and I don\u2019t see how some of the banks can stay in place because the FDIC or the bank examiners should come into some of these banks and look at the interest rate that they\u2019re charging the white person compared to what they\u2019re charging the black and could automatically shed a doubt or make them, you know, do a fair dealings instead of charging this man 24% and this man 8%, you know.\u00a0 Which, I\u2019ve had, you know, banks and businesses come at me with everything they can (laughs) because I\u2019m a young black farmer just like the rest of them.\u00a0 When I walk in there, they don\u2019t know my history, they just automatically know he\u2019s a young black farmer, we gon\u2019 deny him (laughs).\u00a0 But if they look at the paperwork, I told my banker in Greenville, if you want to look at black and white, look at it on paper.\u00a0 Don\u2019t look at my skin color compared to the next man\u2019s skin color, look at my numbers compared to his numbers, and basically that\u2019s the way they deal with me now, but when I started it was totally opposite (laughs).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: All right, well thank you so much, I really appreciate your participation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EJ: All right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SL: Thank you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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