Page 83 - 1619 Project Curriculum

August 18, 2019

landowners. He claims they ‘‘unilater ­

ally, arbitrarily and without just cause

terminated’’ a seven-year-old agree­

ment to operate his sugar-cane farm
on their land, causing him to lose the

value of the crop still growing there.
Lewis is seeking damages of more
than $200,000, based on an indepen­

dent appraisal he obtained, court

records show. The landowners did
not respond to requests for comment.

But the new lessee, Ryan Doré,

a white farmer, did confirm with

me that he is now leasing the land

and has off ered to pay Lewis what a

county agent assessed as the crop’s
worth, about $50,000. Doré does
not dispute the amount of Lew ­

is’s sugar cane on the 86.16 acres.
What he disputes is Lewis’s ability

to make the same crop as profitable

as he would. Doré, who credits M.A.

Patout and Son for getting him start­
ed in sugar-cane farming, also told

me he is farming some of the land
June Provost had farmed.

Lewis and the Provosts say they

believe Doré is using his position
as an elected F.S.A. committee
member to gain an unfair advan­

tage over black farmers with white

land owners. ‘‘He’s privileged with a
lot of information,’’ Lewis said.
Doré denied he is abusing his

F.S.A. position and countered that

‘‘the Lewis boy’’ is trying to ‘‘make

this a black-white deal.’’ Doré
insisted that ‘‘both those guys

simply lost their acreage for one
reason and one reason only: They
are horrible farmers.’’
It’s impossible to listen to the
stories that Lewis and the Pro­

vosts tell and not hear echoes of

the policies and practices that have
V. Sass, via the Museum of The City of New York The Rhinelander Sugar House, a sugar refinery and warehouse on the site of what is now The crop, land and farm theft that

been used since Reconstruction to

maintain the racial caste system
that sugar slavery helped create.

they claim harks back to the New
Deal era,
when Southern F.S.A.
committees denied black farmers

government funding.

York Police Department, in the late 1800s. When it was built in 1763,

the headquarters of the New
the building was one of the largest in the colony.

‘‘June and I hope to create a
dent in these oppressive tactics for

Guaranty Bank and the senior

vice

this spring

nation, as
well as for mail and wire

told me on the same day
against by First Guaranty Bank,’’ the
Photograph by Hugo claims related to lending discrimi ­ ­ been systematically discriminated for comment. In court filings, First future generations,’’ Angie Provost

that a congressional subcommittee
fraud in reporting false information
president also denied Provost’s
lawsuit reads.
The suit

A. Patout and
held hearings on reparations. ‘‘To
(In court filings, M.
to federal loan officials.

claims. Their representatives did not
respond to requests for comment.)

names a
this day
whistle-blower, a feder

we are harassed, retaliated
Son denied that it breached the con­

Lewis is himself a litigant in a
the com­
against and denied the true DNA

tract. Representatives for

who, in April 2015,

al loan officer,

pany did not respond to requests

‘‘informed Mr. Provost that he had

77 separate petition against white of our past.’’•