The USDA has historically had a series of racially biased policies in place, which the President and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have pledged to address. Black farmers in particular have endured decades of economic discrimination from USDA policies, and have entered into a series of lawsuits and class action suits to address financial inequities.
The most high-profile of these, known as the Pigford lawsuit, was settled in 1999, and the government paid out close to $1 billion in damages on 16,000 claims.
But lawyers, activist groups, and farmers have worked for years to reopen the case, because many black and small farmers missed the deadline for filing; the deadline was swift, and many weren't even aware that they could file. Dr. John W. Boyd, Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, has been leading the charge to reopen Pigford. In August of 2007, he scored an important ally: Then-candidate Obama, while still an Illinois Senator, introduced Pigford legislation, which was incorporated into the 2008 Farm Bill. The costs were potentially huge: With an estimated 65,000 further claims pending, ultimate USDA payouts could be as much as $2 or 3 billion. (Photo above: Dr. Boyd meeting with then-candidate Obama, in May of 2008)
But of course, further payouts have been mired in the current budget considerations and, well, politics. Now that Mr. Obama is President, and working hard to re-boot the economy, the landscape for economic reparations has changed. Secretary Vilsack has said he'll work with the Department of Justice to redress the economic issue, and today, White House budget spokesman Kenneth Baer went on the record with the AP to send out reassurances on the issue: "The president has been a leader on this issue since his days as a U.S. senator and is deeply committed to closing this painful chapter in our history."
The National Black Farmers Association isn't waiting any longer, however. On April 28, they're holding a rally at USDA headquarters on the National Mall, to call on President Obama and Secretary Vilsack to help rapidly seed change by paying out USDA funds. Dr. Boyd will speak, and a big turn out is expected.
Discrimination, Ci
vil Rights And USDA: Some BackgroundIt's worth noting that many of the discriminatory issues endured by black farmers go all the way back to the Civil War era. Since then, policies towards black farmers have been all over the map on the federal and state level, and influenced by what political party was in power at a particular time, as well as by who was leading USDA.
During all the advances made in the past forty years in terms of civil rights, black farmers have still been left out of the mix. In an attempt to address race-bias issues, the USDA established the Office of Equal Opportunity in 1971.
But the ensuing years of revolving-door chairmanship and an almost complete lack of monetary and employee resources repeatedly trumped its mission.
In the 1980s, USDA began an unofficial campaign of halting investigations and compliance reviews into exactly where and to whom its funding was allocated, which led to black farmers routinely losing out on even more funding they could have potentially qualified for.
Provisions in the 2002 F
arm Bill attempted to address this through the establishment of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, but during the Bush Era, little progress was made. On April 6, Secretary Vilsack swore in Joe Leonard, Jr. to fill the position, and he's pledged to attempt to immediately address the long-standing problems, too (Photo: the swearing in ceremony). Mr. Leonard will be dealing with far more than black farmers, however, as there are all kinds of other non-white populations that have suffered discrimination. And to date, gender discrimination has not even become a topic of conversation in terms of USDA....
*The NBFA will hold a conference at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel the day after the USDA rally, on April 29, to discuss the discriminatory USDA policies. Conference topics will include "Availability of Federal Funds to Small and Black Farmers" and "The Cost to the Black Farmer of Anti-Competitive Practices in the Bio-Tech Seed and Chemical Industries." Invited speakers at the conference, unconfirmed as of this writing, include Rep. Collin Peterson (MN), Rep. Sanford Bishop (AG Appropriations), Rep. Lincoln Davis (AG Appropriations), Sen. Tom Harkin (Ag Committee Chair), USDA Undersecretary James “Jim” Miller, Farm Service Agency and USDA's Dallas Tonsager.
*Go here for more information on the NBFA rally, or call 866-962-0251.
*Obama/Boyd photo via Reuters; Leonard photo from USDA; Lincoln picture from dbking on Flickr.
