As this blog has reported, and as the Huffington Post is reporting from February 5, 2010, “The Justice Department has notified the White House that a settlement is near for black farmers discriminated against by the United States Department of Agriculture. The plaintiffs in this case 80 to 90 thousand black farmers. The issue dates back to the late 1990's and the Clinton administration.”
This is where the latest budget fits in. The budget from the administration would include $1.2 billion dollars in settlement funds for black farmers. The Huffington Post reports that this would be the second time federal funds were proposed by an administration for black farmers. Previously the George W. Bush administration proposed the funding only to have it cut by Congress.
This is why the National Black Farmers Association’s John Boyd is urging members to take to the Hill by contacting their members of congress and ask that the monies be included in the federal budget this time.
To provide a little history on the issue, the Huffington Post writes,
In 1999, 14 thousand black farmers were awarded a settlement from the original lawsuit. Boyd reminds that those farmers received "62,500 a piece totaling over a billion dollars." Farmers who did not know about that initial suit were able to file claims against the United States Department of Agriculture. Now, tens of thousands of black farmers are possibly in line for the federal monies to correct the wrongs by the Agriculture Department. . . Boyd says, the issues originated from a "lawsuit in 97 [1997] for discrimination in farm lending
programs and subsidies (farm service agency USDA). The National Black Farmers Association allowed for late file lawsuits in 2008." He also believes the only way farmers will get their overdue settlement monies is if President Obama and the Democrats in Congress fight for the budget item approval.
We shall see, as the budget process unfolds, whether or not closure will be found in this lawsuit.
To read the Huffington Post piece click here.
To read the AP piece click here.
To see previous US Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog posts on similar stories, use the search engine function and search under the term "discrimination".
Posted: 02/08/10
