The New York Times weighed in yesterday on the Pigford Two case, with a stern editorial about the suit brought by black farmers against USDA, which seeks financial compensation for the department's longstanding history of civil rights violations and racially biased lending practices. Despite the appalling-but-true stories of America's black farmers being driven into poverty and bankruptcy by what used to be standard procedure at USDA, the case rarely gets Big Media mentions.The editorial is re-printed below, but these two sentences are key:
Pigford v. Glickman has not resonated across the land like Brown v. Board of Education, but the very same history of crippling injustice is at its heart. The Pigford settlement will remain a misnomer until the nation rights this historic injustice and pays what it owes.
Obviously, the suit pre-dates President Obama's administration, but he has inherited it, and has pledged to end it. Last week, there was word that the White House was getting prepared to settle Pigford, and the USDA has now sent out an advisory that Pearlie Reed, Assistant Secretary for Administration at USDA, will be the keynote speaker on Feb. 13, at a small farming conference in Albany, Georgia, held by the largest black farmers' organization in the US, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund.
According to the USDA, Reed will discuss the "Office of Civil Rights and its program delivery to ensure fair treatment to farmers." The advisory also notes that attorney Rose Sanders will "give an update on the Pigford Two lawsuit," and other USDA staff will be present to discuss issues that specifically impact black farmers. Last year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's first public speech as a member of President Obama's Cabinet was to the same group of farmers, and he referred to USDA as "the last plantation." After so long without a settlement--and with Pigford Two now being pursued by the grandchildren of the original black landholders--
The editorial from New York Times:
Pay Up
Jan. 7, 2009
Claimants are still looking for their money, more than a decade after the federal Department of Agriculture reached a landmark settlement for having cheated generations of black farmers through “indifference and blatant discrimination.” The 1999 agreement on what is known as the Pigford class-action lawsuit was hailed as the biggest civil rights settlement in American history. The judge estimated a swift $2 billion payout — or $60,000 each — for victimized black farmers.
It has not worked out that way, as the White House’s new budget confirms with a request for $1.15 billion to pay still-pending claims from black farmers. The same amount was requested last year but did not survive the self-interested knives and elbows of the Congressional budget scrum.
The class-action suit detailed how eligible black farmers traditionally were denied loans by the agriculture agency while their white peers went to the head of the line for growing-season wherewithal and homestead improvements.
After the settlement, some farmers got their money, but far too many ran into a new buzz saw. They were stalled and rejected through paperwork technicalities, tight deadlines and a lengthy appeals process that officials insisted was necessary. There was early confusion within the Obama administration about whether the settlement process had been capped, but Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack insists no; the aim, he says, is to finally “close this unfortunate chapter.”
Pigford v. Glickman has not resonated across the land like Brown v. Board of Education, but the very same history of crippling injustice is at its heart. The Pigford settlement will remain a misnomer until the nation rights this historic injustice and pays what it owes.
Related: The National Black Farmers Association is in the midst of a week-long series of rallies to draw attention to the lack of settlement, which will culminate with a rally in Washington, DC.Read all about black land loss in the US here, and more about the Pigford case here. "Pigford vs. Glickman" is now called "Pigford Vs. Vilsack," btw. Dan Glickman was Ag Secretary when the original suit was filed, but now it belongs to Sec. Vilsack....
President Obama photo via Getty.
