{"id":9253,"date":"2023-04-19T21:03:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T21:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9253"},"modified":"2023-06-19T20:10:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T20:10:39","slug":"abdullah-mohammed-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/abdullah-mohammed-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Abdullah Mohammed 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

Abdullah Mohammed 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=”1681938044929-6″ tab_id=”1681938044929-8″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1681938044937-7″ tab_id=”1681938044938-2″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1681938052464-3″ tab_id=”1681938052465-6″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1681938053356-4″ tab_id=”1681938053357-10″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1681938054008-9″ tab_id=”1681938054009-6″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1681938054761-4″ tab_id=”1681938054762-9″ 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]Abdullah Mohammed Oral History Interview <\/strong><\/p>\n

July 26, 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transcribed by K. Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewed by Eleanor Green and Emily Weaver<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG: \u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m Eleanor Green.\u00a0 I am sitting here with Abdullah Mohammed in the Alcorn Demonstration Farm outside of Mound Bayou, MS, July 26, 2006, and we are working on the Delta Black Farmers Project.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Can you tell me your full name?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 That\u2019s easy.\u00a0 Abdullah F_________ H___________ Mohammed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Ok.\u00a0 And can you tell me about, uh, when you were born?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Long time ago.\u00a0 Ha ha.\u00a0 Twelve, twenty-three, forty-eight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And, uh, where were you born?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 A little small town in central Florida, just \u2018bout thirty-two miles north of Disney World, called Eustis, Florida.\u00a0 E-U-S-T-I-S.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Eustis, Florida.\u00a0 And, um, tell me about your parents.\u00a0 Were they from Eustis, Florida?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 My mother originally, uh, was born in Greensborough, North Carolina and I think they moved, uh, her and my sister, her older sister, moved to Florida when we were small children from, I guess, Columbia or near…Saluda, South Carolina…near Columbia, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Uh, did your family farm in Florida?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a really….really the history of my grandfather was landscaping.\u00a0 Also, he worked on…in the harvesting citrus…that was the mainstay occupation, uh citrus \u2018cause that was a citrus promoting region.\u00a0 And um, when I look back further than that, uh, I\u2019ve got on my father\u2019s side, I\u2019ve got uncles who farmed, sharecropped briefly, and then worked for maybe two years near Ruskin, Florida and then grow vegetables.\u00a0 And um, he educated all his children.\u00a0 He sharecropped for two years, paid off his, his uh, his loan, which is unusual because sharecroppers don\u2019t…always come up a step short no matter what the crop is.\u00a0 But he paid \u2018em off and began to grow vegetables and educated all his children…college and everything.\u00a0 Lived to be over a hundred years old, you know.\u00a0 So, I think that\u2019s where my… between my grandfather on my mother\u2019s side, my uncles on my father\u2019s side…I think that\u2019s probably where the agriculture interest comes from.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And what is your position here at the Alcorn?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 I\u2019m a research scientist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And um, you have a Ph.D. in horticulture?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Horticulture, um, minors in vegetable crops.\u00a0 I mean minors in plant breeding and international agriculture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um. Do you have a Master\u2019s degree as well or did you just do…?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah, I had a Bachelors degree in agriculture economics, uh, Tuskegee, at the time Tuskegee Institute and a Master\u2019s in what we call plant and soil science with a concentration in horticulture at Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University where I worked on the, uh, a very famous horticulturalist, who is deceased now, but uh, plant breeder and horticulturalist, known for sweet potatoes and muscadine grapes, Dr. ____________ Whatley .\u00a0 And then I went to Cornell uh, because under his tutelage, he pretty much wanted me to go to Cornell.\u00a0 And if Booker Whatley wanted you to go to Cornell, you went to Cornell…you didn\u2019t argue about it…hee hee he.\u00a0 Matter of fact I can remember deciding where I wanted to go to graduate school for a Ph.D.\u00a0 And uh, I got about ten applications to different institutions that I though I could go to…Ohio State, Michigan State, Florida, Cal Davis to name a few…and then uh, he told me point blank, he said, \u201cYou can spend your money and waste your time applying to those other universities\u201d….cause it cost, it was a fee of ten or twenty dollars at the time and money was tight… I was a graduate student who was married, uh with one child at the time… \u201cBut you can go to Cornell. I can get you in there, but you got to keep yourself there after I get you there.\u201d\u00a0 So I just applied only to Cornell and I was able to get in and keep myself there…hee hee he…just like he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And you degree from Cornell is horticulture…and what did you say your minors were?<\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Plant breeding and international agriculture.\u00a0 Actually, the degree is called vegetable crops, but they\u2019ve know changed it to horticulture.\u00a0 Of course, hort is four different areas, but I specialize in the scientific name of vegetable crops…it\u2019s called ________________.\u00a0 So I specialize in vegetable crops with breeding and international agricultural minors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How did you end up in the Mississippi Delta?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Well, I had been in the Delta region, uh, because I had, I\u2019ve been to several institutions…Southern University.\u00a0 I think I first started out at Lincoln University in Missouri…in the boot hill…and then from…and that was my first job as a graduate.\u00a0 And then I was recruited from Southern University to work in a farm program as a horticulturalist, uh, which was exciting cause, you know, Baton Rouge, Southern University, small __________________ resource farms who I wanted to work with anyway and who I always had an affinity for.\u00a0 And then from there, I went to uh…from Southern University, I think I stayed there maybe two and a half years; I went to University Arkansas at Pine Bluff.\u00a0 Uh, I did a short tour there and at the same time the University\u00a0 _______________________________ was recruiting me around the same time that I was interested in going to Arkansas.\u00a0 So, I stayed only there for one semester and then I went to Saudi Arabia to become an associate professor and their cultural research station director.\u00a0 I stayed there from \u201888 to \u201892, I think it was…end of\u00a0 \u201891, close to \u201892, during which UAPB, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff recruited me to come back.\u00a0 From the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, uh, I stayed there until 1997…from \u201892 to \u201897…or from \u201891 to \u201997, I\u2019m not looking at my resume.\u00a0 And then I went to uh, I was recruited to come over here to run this facility as a research station director.\u00a0 And uh, also what we call, what they called at that time a coordinator.\u00a0 Alcorn State Demo and Research of Technology Transfer Center and also as a project leader _______________ horticulture extension, research projects, ________________.\u00a0\u00a0 So I had two hats that I wore.\u00a0 And I ran this facility until…from around June of \u201998 until the end of June of 2001.\u00a0 I began to do extension and research work.\u00a0 And now I\u2019m 100% research.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And what, um, kind of research do ya\u2019ll do here?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 The primary…we function on what we call alterative crops…sweet potatoes is a…a major emphasis on sweet potatoes.\u00a0 My emphasis is on sweet potatoes.\u00a0 I do variety evaluations on sweet potatoes, variety evaluations of greens and southern peas.\u00a0 I do cultural practices that limit the…the insect called wide worm…this is the notorious pest of sweet potatoes.\u00a0 I try to work on that by using cultural practices like crop rotation and companion plants and resistant varieties to control that…eliminate that pest, which causes a lot of losses…millions of dollars of losses in sweet potatoes.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve done some GPS studies with sweet potatoes and that\u2019s essentially what we\u2019ve done over the years.\u00a0 Now, we\u2019re planning on going after the most destructive pest is that sweet potato weevil.\u00a0 We will also include that in our research.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Is it similar to the boll weevil?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 No…well, in damages the boll was destructive in cotton as this thing is like the boll weevil of sweet potatoes.\u00a0 It uh, it limits your ability, if you grow sweet potatoes.\u00a0 For instance, anywhere in Mississippi south of I-20 is considered to be weevil quarantined…it means that you cannot ship your potatoes to markets outside of that area.\u00a0 So it has an effect on you as far as economics is concerned.\u00a0 You have to try to sell everything that you have.\u00a0 Plus, I remember how destructive this pest is.\u00a0 Uh, I knew about it when I was at Macon…I mean Southern…University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.\u00a0 One of the extension persons brought me a potato that happened to have this sweet potato weevil in it and he asked me, he said, \u201cWhat is this?\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cWhere did you get this thing from?\u201d\u00a0 He said, \u201cOff a farmer\u2019s farm here near Pine Bluff.\u00a0 I say, \u201cThat is the notorious sweet potato weevil.\u201d\u00a0 I say, \u201cYou must quarantine that farm. Probably have to…whole county may be quarantined.\u201d\u00a0 And that was the first encounter I had with it, just finding it directly in the field.\u00a0 The other encounter I had with it, my professor Dr. Whatley at Tuskegee, and he had tried to do sweet potato research at Southern University from the \u201850\u2019s up to \u201969, when he moved to Tuskegee because he could not do the research there, because they get 2000 plant species that the sweet potato weevil can survive off of.\u00a0 Uh, so, when I first came to Southern University in 1983…\u201984…beginning of \u201984, I began to do sweet potato research there also…variety trials.\u00a0 It was utterly impossible for me to anything because the sweet potato weevil…I\u2019m trying to see if I can show you some damage…it just completely devastates the sweet potato.\u00a0 So that\u2019s an important thing that we need to work on.\u00a0 What we do in stage is we quarantine and we trap.\u00a0 That\u2019s basically what we do, and we spray.\u00a0 We have no resistance to it.\u00a0 Uh, we\u2019d like to look at some biological control methods and we\u2019ll also have to look using fungal diseases to attack it and maybe predatory ants to attack it.\u00a0 That\u2019s the line that we\u2019re going to look at and go from there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, what is the history of the demonstration farm?\u00a0 How long has it been here?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 The demonstration farm….some farmers came to Dr. Jessie Hunter, particularly Lewis Sanders…I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ll probably get a chance to talk with him.\u00a0 They wanted…this place was an old co-op, North Bolivar Development Co-op…they had this land they had probably 3…maybe 4 or 5 plant acres of land given to them, put in trust to them, which I think may have been as much as 1,000 acres.\u00a0 Uh, so this was to help these limited research farmers.\u00a0 Uh, the co-op had came in disrepair, was dysfunctional and so some of the farmers who were part of that co-op came and met with Dr. Jessie Hunter, who was the extension administrator at that time…associate extension administrator… and asked him why didn\u2019t Alcorn get involved in conducting research and demonstration at this station.\u00a0 At the time, this building was sham ____________________________, there was no greenhouse here, the irrigation was in disrepair, there was no cold storage facilities or anything.\u00a0 So all these things were brought here in 19…starting in 19…. We had to clear the land, starting in 1995, 1996, and I think they may have grow the first crop in 1996.\u00a0 I think they cleared in 1995 and first crop in 1996.\u00a0 I came here in, like I said before, June of 1998.\u00a0 The purpose was primarily to assist these limited research farmers in alternative crop production, particularly sweet potatoes…mostly sweet potatoes and vegetables, southern peas, butter beans, okra, squash, crops of that sort that these farmers could grow and make some money on and sell in market.\u00a0 So that was the purpose of that, of this station.\u00a0 We demonstrate to them and we do research on how to do it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How, um, many farmers would you say you work with?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 You asking me a loaded question.\u00a0 Ha ha.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Just a vague….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Me per se or the organization period?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 No, the org, I mean the yeah, the whole….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 We work with farmers, probably over the years, we\u2019ve probably worked as much as a hundred farmers.\u00a0 Uh, because no only did we, were we instrumental in training farmers in the Mississippi Delta, but we also trained a group of farmers in Eastern Arkansas who came to know, want to know how to grow sweet potatoes.\u00a0 They were trained at our facilities and use of our equipment that we got from grants, and uh…harvesting, uh, planters we used to get them established in eastern….in that little co-op was established in eastern Arkansas in the…I guess in the Helena…uh…Helena, Arkansas, Marianna, West Helena…in that area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, do ya\u2019ll have any association with the sweet potato co-op in Mound Bayou?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 The Sweet Potato Growers Association as well as the Sweet Potato CDC.\u00a0 Yeah, we work with those farmers, the Sweet Potato CDC, and we work with those…assist them in getting grants.\u00a0 Uh, Glory Foods, uh, which is an African American company that…that…that proc…can and process vegetables and…and…and…and add their cuisine on the market.\u00a0 Also was supposed to build a sweet potato producing plant here.\u00a0 The sweet potato was sold under the name of Mound Bayou because the Delta…sweet potatoes in the Delta, because of the heavy soil, generally are sweeter to the taste than those grown in the hills and other places.\u00a0 So we have the special _________________ that had their own…purple and white box…Mound Bayou sweet potatoes.\u00a0 And it was really supposed to take off.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the president of the organization, Glory Food, died and the company moved in a different direction.\u00a0 But they are still buying potatoes from farmers…African American farmers in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.\u00a0 And they buy other vegetables also.\u00a0 They buy greens…process greens and other things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 They did put in a sweet potato processing….somewhere in the Delta didn\u2019t they…Marks or…?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 We have a vegetable processing facility in Marks.\u00a0 And that facility, uh, actually that facility was supposed to be here, but that politician over there had a little more punch and got funded from I think U.S…rural development….got some funds from rural development grant and uh, and put the processing facilities in the Marks area…his…in his district.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Umm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Uh, Senator Simmons was interested in pushing to get money from his farmers to buy equipment and to get a proc…They do have a washing processing facility, just for washing and grading, here in Mound Bayou.\u00a0 Used to be an old…used to be an old cotton gin, but that is still functioning with equipment in it to wash sweet potatoes and to pack our sweet potatoes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, how has…have you seen technology change over time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Ha ha.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good question.\u00a0 Well, when I first came here… before we got any type of digger, we used to just have to use a mule buster.\u00a0 So, the technology has changed quite rapidly.\u00a0 We have uh, we had just a two-row transplanter, now people have six- and eight-row transplanters.\u00a0 We have mechanical harvesters for the sweet potatoes.\u00a0 Many of the farmers now who didn\u2019t have irrigation have irrigation systems, wells, and irrigation systems.\u00a0 Uh, some of the farmers are using GPS technology.\u00a0 We have used it on the station.\u00a0 Some of the farmers have that ability to use it on their equipment also.\u00a0 So there have been a lot of ________________ in the last 5-6 years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG: What does GPS do for the farmers?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Most people think that it is too expensive for the farmers and that was the argument, say \u201cOh, small farmers can\u2019t make money.\u201d\u00a0 But it actually enables a farmer to keep up with uh, areas on the farm that may have…be problematic.\u00a0 For instance, if he\u2019s got a low area that may be pulled and drained, or an area that may be too weedy, then you can vary the amount of fertilizer, you can vary the amount of pesticide, you can vary the amount of care that you need to do to that area to get it up to snuff.\u00a0 And they have it such that these things are computerized and uh, that the GPS technology is so advanced that I can come back within three feet of the original point and in case of an animal, a ranch, or cattle farmer, keep up with his animals and know exactly where they are.\u00a0 You can keep all type of detailed records, you know.\u00a0 And actually, some my research showed that GPS technology can and will help even a small farmer increase his income because he will become more efficient at what he is doing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 So, how many farmers in this area would you say are using it…small farmers not the big farmers?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 I know of…I know Roger Morris is using it.\u00a0 Ha ha ha…I wouldn\u2019t call his name, but I think he\u2019s using it on his tractors.\u00a0 We have used it on one farmer\u2019s, Wardell Sanders, fields.\u00a0 So, that\u2019s there\u2019s two that I can think of off the top of my head.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that there will be others using it, because the other disadvantages said it was too costly, but now we have companies right…local companies.\u00a0 The first time I…we redid the uh, the engines…UV engines from a small aircraft…could be a drone type aircraft…pilot-less aircraft…or it could be just a Cessna.\u00a0 When I first started this, it would cost us like…cost me…the first flight cost me…in 2001, cost me about $2000 dollars.\u00a0 Now, I can get the same thing done for about $500.\u00a0 Uh, the computers…the handheld rubberized computer…the small one cost me about $500.\u00a0 Now, you can go in Wal-Mart and buy one for $79 or $80.\u00a0 And uh, the regulizer was costing like $3000.\u00a0 You probably could buy one now for less than $1000.\u00a0 So, we…plus you can fit this on…equipment on the back of your tractors.\u00a0 You can…you can…get the boundaries to keep up with acreages…keep up with what fields and what fields are productive, what\u2019s not productive.\u00a0 So you can…you can make all types of decisions by using GPS technology.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 So, you don\u2019t have to buy a new tractor, you just have to buy the new GPS to attach?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Naw, you attach it to your system and you can attach it to your equipment.\u00a0 One nozzle may spray at one _______________ on the tractor and another spray on another _________________.\u00a0 One put…one area will put down so much fertilizer based on you know, the comparative rates with this technology.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, what was the most memorable moment growing up when you figured out you wanted to, uh, work with plants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Ha hum.\u00a0 That\u2019s a tough question.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been working with plants for quite a while because we had…I came up under two systems.\u00a0 I came up under desegregation…so I saw, uh…We used to have the…at the time, the segregated system, the Caucasians, had the, what they called the future farmers of America…had a blue and gold jacket.\u00a0 We had what we called new farmers of America.\u00a0 We had our black and gold jackets.\u00a0 And we would have to compete, uh, at the state fairs for judging animals, judging land and things of this sort.\u00a0 Uh, I can remember, uh, the first time we combined…after…so I started out in ninth and tenth grade doing this.\u00a0 By 19…after \u201965, everything integrated, so now we merged into the future farmers of America.\u00a0 And so now, I\u2019m able to compete.\u00a0 And the first time I was able…our club was able to compete, um, I think we judged land…we also in forest…forest land and things of that sort.\u00a0 I think among all of those groups, and I think we were the only African American group, and I think we might have placed…and it might have been twenty or thirty schools…we might have placed in the top ten.\u00a0 That was memorable.\u00a0 \u2018Cause that told me then that we could compete and this is the first time we had, many of us had any direct competition.\u00a0 The other memorable thing I think was, uh, I knew that…after going to Tuskegee, I had always been in segregated school systems and uh, didn\u2019t really have any contact until I decided to proceed to test myself to see how much, huh…what my education at Tuskegee meant.\u00a0 And so I, I took as a…as a…what we call a…a special student _______________.\u00a0 I took the courses, granted courses at Auburn University…which was 20 miles from Tuskegee.\u00a0 So, I\u2019m going to Tuskegee and Auburn at the same time while working on a Master\u2019s.\u00a0 Then I realized that, uh…there\u2019s another point that I realized that I could compete with anybody else.\u00a0 By being in those classes, I knew that, um, I could compete with anybody else.\u00a0 So that was memorable.\u00a0 But probably the most memorable thing that I could say is that, when I received a….when I received a graduate assistantship to study at Cornell…that\u2019s probably the most memorable thing.\u00a0 And there\u2019s other too, but… and in passing your admission to candidacy exam…and the finally earning the degree.\u00a0 You know but…\u00a0 Admission to candidacy is, once you\u2019re admitted to candidacy, it\u2019s an oral exam and they can eliminate you or they can continue to give you a terminal Master\u2019s at that point.\u00a0 And they do wash some people up at that point.\u00a0 But if you, if you…and some people have to take it many times.\u00a0 I took it one time…I was able to pass it…and then I was able to…\u00a0 You have doubters…you have people…you have well wishers…\u00a0 I had my share of uh, of uh, I guess I had my share of both.\u00a0 But I had some people who had fallen out with my…and I\u2019m not gonna call their name, who had fallen out with my major professor, uh, who wanted to see my demise, who wanted to see me fail.\u00a0 And I, I\u2019m the type of person, uh, if you tell me what I can\u2019t do and I\u2019ll show you what I can do.\u00a0 And I usually take the negative energy that a person puts on me, I usually re-channel it and make it positive energy.\u00a0 So, when they, they…when I was first went to graduate school at Cornell, some of the doubting Thomases, as I like to call them, were saying, \u201cI give him six months…he won\u2019t make it…he won\u2019t make.\u00a0 He\u2019ll be back.\u00a0 He\u2019ll flunk out.\u201d\u00a0 So, after six months, I was still there.\u00a0 And so, I could remember after passing that candidacy, I called my old major professor, Dr. Whatley, and told him that I had passed the…that I was admitted to candidacy and passed the, we called that the exam.\u00a0 And he…I told him to say hello to my doubting Thomas…I won\u2019t call his name.\u00a0 And uh, he responded by saying to me, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to tell me how to rub his nose in it.\u00a0 I know how to rub his nose in it.\u00a0 And I will rub his nose in it.\u201d\u00a0 Hee he.\u00a0 Cause he was for me…he was always for me.\u00a0 And he, he uh, uh, we lost him in February of last year, but he was a champion for small limited resource farmers and he is the reason why many of us who are African Americans, we have Ph.D.\u2019s in Horticulture or _________________.\u00a0 He is the reason why many of us have those Ph.D.\u2019s.\u00a0 Cause he was an advocate for getting us in Minnesota, North Carolina State, Michigan State, Illinois, Cornell, Rutgers.\u00a0 He had the…he would call and then speak to the department heads or the Dean and say I got this such and such a person.\u00a0 I remember when he called and told, at the time, Dr. Sweet, \u201cHe ain\u2019t no foreigner, he\u2019s an African American…he\u2019s American.\u00a0 He did good on his GRE.\u00a0 He can make it.\u00a0 I want you to give him an assistantship.\u201d\u00a0 And he called and did the same thing for a couple of my colleagues at Minnesota and uh, and uh other places like that.\u00a0 And uh, and it\u2019s, it\u2019s amazing what he did do and how he encouraged us, you know.\u00a0 But I think about it all the time.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have that kind of advocacy anymore and it\u2019s affecting a new group of people.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think we\u2019re getting, as a whole, uh, Americans in general, not just African Americans, Americans in general are not going into the sciences, in particular Ag sciences and not getting Ph.D.\u2019s anymore.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been talking to people and they say they can\u2019t find the students anymore.\u00a0 So, if you look at the amount of Ph.D.\u2019s that are coming out now or most of the, uh, students that get Ph.D.\u2019s, they coming from other countries….they not coming from this country.\u00a0 So we got, we got a problem….you know.\u00a0 Especially in, I know in the Ag sciences…and it\u2019s probably that way in some of the other sciences too…in chemistry and probably…in physics, I know it is…chemistry and physics, you just don\u2019t find…and in engineers also…they just don\u2019t find.\u00a0 What\u2019s happened out there, they\u2019re making so much money in starting salaries with their Bachelor probably…a cat get to making that money, it\u2019s hard to leave it and go back and be a _______________ in be in poverty like we had to do as a graduate student, being married, and having children, and having assistantship of $5000 a year and….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And like you said, I mean, school\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 The programs were hard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Some people wanted to get to a level that they know ____________________________.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 It is hard…it\u2019s not easy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, how would you say that…or would you say that race has had an effect on family farming in the Delta?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Um, hee.\u00a0 Just look at your…look at the Black Farmers lawsuit.\u00a0 Hee hee.\u00a0 And it…I think race has a tremendous effect.\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, look, let\u2019s face it…here in the South, people were brought here in the bottom of their ships to do this back-breaking work…in particular the Delta.\u00a0 The Delta got a hell of a history.\u00a0 I mean, not even allowing you to grow trees.\u00a0 That still exists now.\u00a0 You know, we can\u2019t plant pine trees here.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because if I plant pine trees, I can, I don\u2019t have to go work that plantation, chop that cotton, pick that cotton.\u00a0 I can hunt.\u00a0 I can cut wood… I can sell wood… I can survive.\u00a0 Hee hee.\u00a0 They made sure that you were attached to that land, made sure that you were a sharecropper, and then made sure that you never, no matter what your crop was, you were always a little short and never got out of debt.\u00a0 My uncle was one of the few people that I know that got out of it…you know.\u00a0\u00a0 There are people that\u2019s still on some of these plantations that\u2019s locked in.\u00a0 Uh, so it was not just racism against African Americans and other minorities.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually sexism too, even now.\u00a0 And the USDA guys, I\u2019ll tell them to their face, they’re the most racist, sexist organization you can imagine.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got colleagues who are women, who are Caucasian women, who they openly discriminated.\u00a0 Each time they win their case, they appeal it.\u00a0 And they haven\u2019t had a raise in ten years or more…fifteen years…and they\u2019re good scientists…and good people.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen farmers, uh, denied, uh, loans…I have went to appeals and helped farmers who had a disaster…that disaster in Arkansas and here.\u00a0 Uh, I, it just…I deal with it every day.\u00a0 I had to deal with a case, and I can\u2019t call the names of the people because…and sometimes I do it so… This person was supposed to get a well and irrigation and what they were doing, they were getting the people at the farm service agency, they were getting people\u2019s…they wanted the drilling rights to go to larger companies, who were Caucasian owned.\u00a0 But the Caucasian owned company was sub-letted to African American companies who actually did the physical work, but got a fraction of the money.\u00a0 So, some of our farmers, African Americans, went directly to the African Americans to drill the well and uh, put the well down.\u00a0 And so, the people in the offices…local office…did not want to pay… they stalled for two or three months….they did not want to pay…hee hee, you know.\u00a0 So, I had some of the state people from the state office were here on the station, reviewing our station, and a farmer had told me this was happening.\u00a0 And I said, \u201ccome on over\u201d.\u00a0 And so both of these ___________________ were there at the state office…and the state office became the boss of the local people.\u00a0 So, I called in the state office and it was an African American\u00a0 _____________________.\u00a0 I called the farmer and said, \u201ccome on over\u201d and then asked in front of this guy….just asked \u201cwhy your farmers…why your contractor haven\u2019t been paid after two or three months?\u201d\u00a0 Hee hee ha.\u00a0 That way, I just stood on the side and let them talk.\u00a0 That way I got it done, you know.\u00a0 And this is…this is how you have to do things, you know.\u00a0 Just find a little grease so it will slide and then stay back.\u00a0 Because I\u2019m not in extension, I\u2019m in research, so I can do that.\u00a0 Extension, you can\u2019t get into politics, but research….\u00a0 I do extension work anyway because if a farmer comes to me and asked me, \u201cI got a problem with such and such a thing…can you come to my field?\u201d… I go up to his field and I give him advice, you know.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s what we do… we don\u2019t…. Because we are, we\u2019re so small and that\u2019s….\u00a0 My major professor, Dr. Whatley, did it that way.\u00a0 He never had an extension appointment, but anytime a farmer needed anything or needed some assistance, he would give them the assistance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Where, where is the area that you serve? …. If I mean, like, the demonstration farmers outside of Mound Bayou, but I mean…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Well, we serve…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How far….I know<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Let me tell you this much…I\u2019ll tell you this much.\u00a0 You see, we have helped…African Americans are like this, you got to understand, African Americans will help other race people, in particular Caucasians, before they help themselves.\u00a0 And see, see the sweet potato growers, hee hee, was supposed…we\u2019re supposed to have some millionaires among African Americans and this was geared toward building them up because they were, you know, they were at the bottom of the totem pole.\u00a0 And if we could get anybody else up, we would build them up later on.\u00a0 But our farmers, one of our farmers in particular, he took…he went down to Belzoni. There were some farmers down there getting ready, some Caucasian farmers, getting ready to go bus some cotton.\u00a0 Took our information to them, you know.\u00a0 Course now…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Now they\u2019re growing sweet potatoes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah, now they\u2019re growing sweet potatoes and they\u2019re growing more sweet potatoes and more successful than we are, simply because they could get credit.\u00a0 Uh, they can go to the, uh, the commissioner of agriculture or somebody and get something…a grant that maybe perhaps that we couldn\u2019t get.\u00a0 So, they got maybe two thousand, two hundred acres of sweet potatoes when we was really supposed to gear to four or five thousand in this area.\u00a0 But it\u2019s in the Delta.\u00a0 I, I really don\u2019t, don\u2019t mind it, but I would\u2019ve rather hoped that we would…charity starts at home and then spreads abroad, you understand.\u00a0 I would hope that we would, that we would build our farmers up to a certain level, then we could spread our _____________________.\u00a0 Cause we\u2019ve helped people, like I said before, in Arkansas and those farmers are doing good in Arkansas…they were more organized.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 You do have a lot of sweet potatoes that come out of Mound Bayou though, right?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 We have some.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have nearly the acres that we used to have.\u00a0 We had, uh, at one time, we had almost fifteen hundred acres of sweet potatoes between the Sunflower and Bolivar county area. Uh, this year, I\u2019m pushing it…this year, we\u2019re lucky if we get a hundred acres because, what happened to our farmers is that the farmers were looking at a gnat payment and that payment was a non-insured loan payment for a disaster and uh, gives the farmer…it was based on your ability to cash flow… so our farmers… I had a farmer, for instance, to show you this…\u00a0 Some of the farmers was interested not in producing sweet potatoes, but getting that loan… I mean getting that payment, which that payment for some farmers might have been forty or fifty thousand dollars at one whop.\u00a0 But I had one farmer in particular, I ain\u2019t gone call his name cause I may ____________________ to this day.\u00a0 He had…we estimated that we had, he had a minimum of $250,000 of sweet potatoes on his forty acre spot….that\u2019s the minimum he had.\u00a0 He came to me in September, came to me and another colleague, and he asked, and he showed us his potatoes.\u00a0 And I told him this, \u201cI recommend to you that you begin to harvest your potatoes within the next seven to ten days.\u00a0 He was told that by other extension administrators, he was told that by other extension agents, he was told that by other farmers.\u00a0 He told\u00a0 me, I don\u2019t mind these US number one\u2019s…a grade…becoming US number two\u2019s…US number one is the highest paid grade….I want the small ones to become number ones.\u00a0 I said, you\u2019re not guaranteed that…you need to harvest and harvest within the next seven to ten days.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t do it…the rain came, and he lost that $250,000 minimum and collected the forty or fifty thousand dollars.\u00a0 You see what I\u2019m saying?\u00a0 So, after you build this up over history, case history, three or four years in between having a drought and having excessive rain, then the county averages drop down…which they usually determine whether or not they gone make\u00a0 you a loan…drop down to maybe sixty-six bushels and acre, which it did.\u00a0 So, you cannot cash flow, so they will not loan you, make you a loan over what you can\u2019t cash flow on.\u00a0 And the state average is like three hundred and fifty bushels, so you way below the state average.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 So, instead of harvesting, he did the payment for having them flooded out?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 He began to get them harvested, but it was too wet.\u00a0 He had no desire to harvest, because he had his eyes…and several other people did that…unfortunately followed his suit.\u00a0 This is why some of them are not in business.\u00a0 The ones who did harvest, they are still in business.\u00a0 Because one the farmers told me,\u00a0 he said, one good crop of potatoes will last you four or five years, because you got income now.<\/p>\n

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EG:\u00a0 Right, right.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s all the…no, wait, I have another question.\u00a0 Um, you mentioned some Mound Bayou boxes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah, they had their own…Glory Food…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Do you know if there are any of those around?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 There may be still some around.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 That would be great for our display in the museum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 There may be some around.\u00a0 I\u2019ll have to check with uh, check with Roger Morris or Zulu Sanders…Louis Sanders…and they may have some around.\u00a0 Uh, no problem, I\u2019m sure that they have some around.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to contact that Louis Sanders and uh, Roger Morris to interview them and I have just acquired the cell phone number.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Oh, I\u2019ve got the cell phone numbers.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got Rogers and I got Zulu\u2019s….Louis was one of the farmers that I helped out.\u00a0 I helped most of \u2018em out.\u00a0 Uh….Louis Sanders is 719-9605.\u00a0 One of our farmers have died.\u00a0 Roger is 902-0634.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 0634.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 902-0634.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Um hmm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Did you…is there anyone else you\u2019d recommend that we interview?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Cornelius Toole.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 We did him and it was wonderful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Uh…who else can you talk to?\u00a0 I guess you could talk to Mr. Toliver…I don\u2019t have Toliver\u2019s number…it\u2019s in the phone book.\u00a0 Toliver is still growing sweet potatoes.\u00a0 Uh…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 That would be good to talk to some of the farmers that you assist.\u00a0 Is there anything you\u2019d like to add that we haven\u2019t asked?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah, uh… If the small farmer, and the small farmer family has been the background, the backbone…of this nation…and as the small farm goes, so does the nation.\u00a0 What is taking place now is that insurance companies, large corporations, ____________________ corporations are buying up and forcing small farmers out of business.\u00a0 In particular, if you notice in the last five years, a lot of small farmers used to farm hogs, now their not a fan of hogs.\u00a0 That\u2019s all done by large farmers…Tyson Foods… large corporations like that.\u00a0 Uh… Dr. Whatley used to say, if you think negative…they say, a small, a farmer feed, clothe, and shelter you three times a day.\u00a0 You complain about farmers.\u00a0 He used to have on the back on his bumper sticker, if you complain about farmers, don\u2019t complain about farmers with your mouth full of food.\u201d\u00a0 Hee hee he.\u00a0 Uh, I watch with the energy crisis and all these things happening, I think we have to really pay attention to that small farmer and that medium size farmer….which your small farmer may be as much as three hundred acres now.\u00a0 We\u2019re gonna have to…this country is going the wrong direction.\u00a0 Uh, we put too much emphasis on what\u2019s happening in other nations and not looking at what the founding fathers founded the country for…that is look out for the citizens of America.\u00a0 We are doing more for other countries and letting our country go to, go to pot.\u00a0 I mean, we should not have the energy crisis, because we are capable.\u00a0 If Brazil, in ten or twenty years can turn it\u2019s country around from an oil and gas dependent to a gasohol and alcohol dependent continent…they turned it completely around.\u00a0 You know, we got farmers who go to Brazil, and Argentina, and different places, and even China and teach them how to do things.\u00a0 Certainly, we can turn around the technology that we have and know how that we have…experience that we have…that we can turn this thing around and not depend on anybody for no energy.\u00a0 I, myself, bought me an old Mercedes.\u00a0 I\u2019m gone equip this thing to run off…it\u2019s gonna run off of cooking oil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Bio-diesel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Bio-diesel.\u00a0 The other thing that we have to look at and pay a lot of attention to, we\u2019ve got the people here know how to make white lightning all over the place.\u00a0 That same technology for making, for making gasohol is there, huh….and all we do is add a dye or poison so that nobody won\u2019t go get drunk and kill themselves.\u00a0 But the technology is there.\u00a0 Uh, I don\u2019t plan to be held hostage by these oil companies.\u00a0 And they\u2019re blaming OPEC, they\u2019re blaming everybody else, but they haven\u2019t built a refinery in thirty years.\u00a0 So the process… the problem is the ability to refine.\u00a0 If they dumped all the oil in here, we couldn\u2019t refine no more than we did thirty years ago because our capacity…we haven\u2019t built a refinery in thirty years.\u00a0 So, somebody should be saying…some politicians or somebody should be saying, \u201cExxon Mobile, build some refineries. We\u2019ll give you a tax break, build the refineries\u201d, cause that\u2019s where the key is.\u00a0 And if I was in the oil industry and I was OPEC, hey I\u2019d tell…I told OPEC, told some people that I know…I would be on the other end…I would be building a refine…I\u2019d begin to build refineries in America and begin to have my own service stations here and be on the ________________ and cut all the middle men out.\u00a0 Small farmers have to do the same thing.\u00a0 If the small farmers are gonna survive, cannot act like a big farmer.\u00a0 You can\u2019t… like Dr. Whatley say, you can\u2019t grow __________ row crops…you can\u2019t have cotton on the _____________….you got to be multifaceted…he must be able to grow anything from cut flowers, to strawberries, to sweet potatoes, to….he must look into organics and sustainable agriculture…he just gotta look at the whole ________________.\u00a0 He got to have honeybees, gotta have a pond with catfish in it…you gotta pick your own, you pick, clientele, membership, ________________…you gotta have a combination of these things if you gone survive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And bring it to the local farmers market.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 That\u2019s right….and bring it to the local farmers market.\u00a0 This, this, we, this is how we\u2019re gonna make it.\u00a0 This is how we always did, you know.\u00a0 Uh, I think hard times is gonna come to this country.\u00a0 Uh, in fact, it\u2019s already coming, you know.\u00a0 They think gas is $3.00, very soon it will be $5.00 and there will be nobody, no advocate for the consumer, no advocate for the common laborer, the common people.\u00a0 There\u2019s not advocate…look there\u2019s nobody saying anything, huh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Is there…..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 You know, so… I remember how my main professor, Dr. Whatley, Booker T. Whatley, he single-handedly advocate…made an advocacy for muscadine grape wine…in Alabama.\u00a0 He went from almost no acreages to getting legislation passed, to getting farmers to grow, to getting wineries in Alabama…single-handedly, you know…one man pushing it, greasing and saying it to the right person.\u00a0 In Alabama ________________.\u00a0 Now they have, you have, you have wineries…you have __________________________\u00a0 that they normally they didn\u2019t have.\u00a0 We would do the same thing,\u00a0 Eventually, we\u2019ll have to do the same thing.\u00a0 We have to advocate for our own energy.\u00a0 We cannot be held hostage any longer… I will not be a hostage.\u00a0 If I take my little…I\u2019m gonna take my little old Mercedes diesel…I\u2019ve got a couple other little old cars that I think I\u2019ma convert to maybe, to gasohol or some other fuel.\u00a0 And they\u2019ll tell you that, uh, we have this research about ethanol won\u2019t give you as much gas mileage and all this stuff.\u00a0 I put… I was in Ohio with my little Nissan \u201996 and uh, it\u2019s one called I think Oasis or something, that sells gasohol.\u00a0 So, I say \u201cOkay, let me see if this stuff really work.\u201d\u00a0 I ad tried it before and I got significant improvement.\u00a0 And I normally get 32 to 34 miles a gallon in this car and I usually keep that up.\u00a0 This time, I\u2019m coming through the hills, I\u2019m loaded down, I got all my children in the car… I put this stuff in coming through those mountains and hills…I got 36.7, almost 37, miles to the gallon, just to that one tank.\u00a0 So, that tells me the stuff…and I\u2019ve done similar things to that in a car years ago and I got maybe four or five miles per gallon.\u00a0 So that tells me that somebody is not telling us the truth about this stuff and the reason why is cause they want to keep you dependent on buying this\u2026oil.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 So this is some of the things that\u2026I\u2019ve probably said more than I need to say and I\u2019m probably gonna step on some toes.\u00a0 But if would channel our energy towards helping like we\u2019re supposed to \u2026.like Johnson had\u2026President Johnson\u2026the late President Johnson had a war on poverty.\u00a0 We need to revisit some of these things.\u00a0 We need to look out for social purposes.\u00a0 If Cuba can have healthcare for all their citizens, huh\u2026Cuba\u2026.huh\u2026.and we cannot\u2026we\u2019re boycotting them sooner trying to learn from them, you know, we\u2019re boycotting.\u00a0 Cuba can control the sweet potato weevil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 They can?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Why can\u2019t we do it here?\u00a0 You know.\u00a0 We gotta stop being so arrogant.\u00a0 If you want to be\u2026you not supposed to be the polices, police of the world, you \u2018posed to be the leaders of the world because of your moral behavior not because I got more weapons and I can go \u2018round bullying and invading somebody\u2019s country\u2026take over their country and cause chaos and confusion, you know.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what the founding fathers\u2026go back\u2026and actually they said this country was supposed to be, uh, the actually type of government we have built\u2026they say we have built not a democracy\u2026we have built\u2026we have given you a republic.\u00a0 Democracy don\u2019t work no where and it certainly can\u2019t work in this country.\u00a0 A democracy means that every person vote for every action that\u2019s taken by the government.\u00a0 It cannot work in the United States\u2026it\u2019s not working here\u2026it will not work in Iraq\u2026it will not work anywhere else.\u00a0 One guy says \u201ca demonstration of craziness\u201d\u2026.he he he.\u00a0 So, this do not\u2026so you do not have to edit that out at all\u2026hee hee\u2026let that stay in here.\u00a0 That\u2019s for these politicians that might come after me\u2026I don\u2019t care…hee hee.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Well thank you very much for your time today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Alright.\u00a0 I gave you a good earful, so\u2026.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 I\u2019m just impressed.\u00a0 You seem very educated and very in tuned to being education\u2026and education being an important part.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Oh yeah\u2026absolutely.\u00a0 If we had more educated….we have a saying in this ____________ that one educated man is much harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant believers.\u00a0 So the same thing\u2026you got\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 One educated man is harder\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant believers you don\u2019t know their _________________.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the saying of the _________________.\u00a0 Say you have to be\u2026we have to be educating our people.\u00a0 We got to educate these farmers.\u00a0 We got to bring them up.\u00a0 I mean, we got a lot\u2026.There\u2019s a guy that showed up to a meeting\u2026uh, this meeting was in Kansas City, MO\u2026.driving a truck\u2026and he\u2019s just a old, old farm bum, you know, he wasn\u2019t no educated man.\u00a0 He runs his off wood chips and anything\u2026scrap paper\u2026anything\u2026he driving it.\u00a0 He gets\u2026I think he put two pounds of that stuff in for every gallon, equivalent to a gallon of fuel.\u00a0 So he is able to do that.\u00a0 I think Auburn University is now going to equip him with a new truck and all the technology so they can turn around and show people.\u00a0 This is how this country can work.\u00a0 It\u2019s gonna take people like that, not nobody sitting in General Motors or sitting in Exxon Mobile or one of these corporations.\u00a0 They have no desire to do but what they do and make all the profits they can make.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 My favorite band, their tour bus is diesel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 Hee hee. Oh good.\u00a0 We have a truck running by biodiesel.\u00a0 There\u2019s some people\u2026there\u2019s a couple of plants that\u2019s gone be built\u2026I think one in Clarksdale and one in Greenville.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, uh, yeah.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AM:\u00a0 And we\u2019re trying to get some other things\u2026switch grass\u2026we\u2019re trying to do something with switch grass\u2026I\u2019m hoping.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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