Despite being one of the youngest members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Justin Jones has a track record that reads like that of a civil rights leader from the 1960s. Before he was elected in 2022 to represent Nashville and its surrounding areas, which he calls “one of the most diverse districts in Tennessee,” Jones was known for for his activism such as organizing a 62-day, sit-in for racial justice outside the state Capitol after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. During that action, Jones was slapped with several charges, including reckless endangerment, which mostly were later dropped.
After the March 2023 mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, where three children and three adults were killed, Jones joined a protest alongside his House colleagues Gloria Johnson and current congressional candidate Justin J. Pearson for gun control reform that disrupted House proceedings at the Capitol.
The next month, he was expelled for violating House rules by leading a gun control protest on the House floor. But in a trifecta of restitution, the Nashville Metro Council voted unanimously to reinstate him as an interim representative; he won an August 2023 special election to continue serving as a full member of the House; and in November 2024, he was re-elected to serve his second term.
Despite being stripped of his committee assignments, Jones quickly made his mark on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, the only committee he was allowed to join. He introduced a resolution honoring the legacy of Black agriculture in the South, including Tennessee’s 15 Century Farms that have been Black owned for 100 years or more. The resolution passed unanimously and recognized the family farms “for their many contributions to this State’s history, culture and economy.”
In June, the U.S. Justice Department concluded that the USDA’s waiving of certain user fees for “disadvantaged farmers” based on race and sex was unconstitutional. These very conservation-planning programs were designed to remove the barriers that routinely have blocked Black farmers’ access to land, capital and resources that enable farms to survive and grow.
Jones has been increasing awareness of how the federal government’s action affects Black farmers, especially those operating small farms. “The message that I’ve been lifting across the country is that farming — in particular Black farming — is the future because, if we want to free ourselves, we have to be able to feed ourselves,” Jones told Word In Black.
The following conversation with Jones has been edited for clarity and length.
WIB: How should Americans, particularly Black farmers, push back on the DOJ’s decision about denying the USDA waivers? And why did you introduce the resolution honoring Black-owned Century Farms?
Rep. Jones: Until recently, I served as the ranking member of our agriculture subcommittee. I was put on that committee as a punishment, but I’ve used it to organize and uplift our Black farmers, our young farmers and more diverse voices in agriculture.
We’re facing a crisis where every hour we lose nearly 10 acres of farmland in our state, and we’re losing our Black Century Farms — farms owned by Black families for over 100 years — after they’ve survived Jim Crow and the terror of a state that is the birthplace of the KKK. They survived not only the traditional challenges of farming, but the attacks on Black land ownership, and that needs to be specifically recognized.
WIB: What are you hearing from Black farmers in Tennessee who are managing to hang on?
Rep. Jones: There’s a generational concern. A lot of these farmers are in their 70s, and they’re looking at who’s going to continue this legacy. But for young people, there’s a lot of trauma around agriculture. They say, “I don’t want to be out picking cotton” because farming is seen as something we were forced to do. As Leah Penniman, one of our great Black agricultural voices, says, the land was the site of the crime, but it wasn’t what victimized us. How do we get young people to understand that the land is connected to our liberation and our healing?
WIB: What are farmers doing to increase their numbers and encourage the next generation of Black farmers?
Rep. Jones: We’re seeing more urban and regenerative agriculture. A lot of our Black Century Farms are talking about agritourism— sites where people come to learn history, and also how we sustain ourselves and have food sovereignty as a people. But we’re still seeing the same systemic barriers to capital and resources. And there’s isolation. Black farmers don’t want to be the only Black farmers in their area. People are closing their farms because of it.
WIB: There’s an extensive network supporting farmers through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, farmers’ markets and agritourism. Do you see a lot of that in your area?
Rep. Jones: Definitely. CSAs have been a lifeline for a lot of our small family farms because they’re direct to consumers. But we’re seeing consolidation and monopolization of our food system. The more we build localized food systems, the more people can ask, “Where’s my food coming from?” There’s empowerment in that.
WIB: Word In Black recently held a roundtable with Black farmers who talked about getting the public to eat locally grown food. Do you see ways to increase that, maybe by getting local food into schools?
Rep. Jones: I’m a big advocate of farm-to-school, and I think every state should have a program. It helps farmers and gets fresh produce to students. In Black communities like my district, we don’t just have food deserts but food swamps, where the only options are fast food. Why are we not planting fruit trees around schools and teaching kids how to grow things?
Fannie Lou Hamer, a champion for voting rights, also taught food sovereignty so that white folks couldn’t control you by putting you off their land when you registered to vote. Our movements for food justice and racial justice are inseparable.
WIB: You mentioned you were put on the House agriculture committee as a punishment. How did that come about, and how was your first day?
Rep. Jones: I was expelled three months into my term for protesting on the House floor, then reinstated. I was stripped of my seats on the Education and Government Operations committees, and the only committee I serve on now is Agriculture and Natural Resources. The speaker thought that as an urban representative, I’d be at a disadvantage. The chairman, state Rep. Chris Todd, refuses to let me speak. He even took my nameplate at one point and said I’m “not a real representative.”
I had a learning curve. I didn’t know about healthy soil policy, vaccinating cattle and other matters. But I went to places like Maury County, and farmers taught me how to ride a horse and what different hays are. Now I own a horse, by the way. We are seeing this consolidation and monopolization of our agricultural food system nationwide and so I’ve been taking on some of these corporate ag monopolies. You know, I took on John Deere and filed a bill so that farmers have the right to repair their own farm equipment. [Such repair restrictions are said to cost American farmers an estimated $4.2 billion annually.] I’m filing bills that aren’t left versus right, but right versus wrong, and Republicans are supporting them.
WIB: Many people were probably surprised when the Black Century Farm resolution passed unanimously. How did that come about?
Rep. Jones: The chairman tried to block my amendment in committee. But I got Republicans to sign on and told them some of these Black Century Farms are in their districts. They didn’t even know. None are in my district; most are in Republican-controlled districts. This resolution was a way to educate my colleagues that these farms are priceless treasures — places of history and deep agricultural richness that make Tennessee special.
WIB: The data center issue is exploding across the country and definitely in Tennessee. Are farmers dealing with it?
Rep. Jones: I’m getting ready to draft legislation preventing AI data companies from purchasing farmland, and Republican farmers support it. These data centers are proliferating in the South because they see our communities as communities of least resistance. In Nashville, they’re trying to build one at my alma mater, Fisk University, in the heart of a Black community. They’re also trying to build one by the zoo. If there’s that much concern about the zoo, why are we OK with building one by an HBCU? We’ve lived without AI data centers before. You can’t live without food and water.
WIB: Is there any effort to get other localities or states to pass similar resolutions? How can people get involved?
Rep. Jones: Every state should pass similar resolutions and legislation, and I’ve reached out to colleagues across the country about banning AI data centers on agricultural land. We have money to give companies like Amazon and OpenAI, but not to bail out the American farmer when we’re facing the largest farm crisis since the 1980s. We need a farm bill written by farmers — one that addresses the history of failing to give Black farmers equal access and investment, not one that serves three corporations.
Most Black folks in America come from folks who were connected to agriculture one way or another, through forced labor or through coming from rural areas. The reason America is even here, 250 years later, is because of our labor and our ingenuity and our brilliance. Now’s the time to support our family farms, particularly our Black farmers, and to uplift that rich legacy of liberation.
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