Black farmers running out of options
/According to the U.S. Bureau of the
Census, there were 922,914 black farmers in the United States in 1920.
By 1969, there were only 90,141, and by 1992 the number had been
reduced to 18,816. What happened? In part, it’s the result of
discrimination. In 1999, a federal judge approved a settlement on a
discrimination lawsuit between black farmers and the U.S. government.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture finally acknowledged that it had
stacked the deck against the farmers, denying loans that could have
kept them in business. It still isn’t over. Rep. Steve Chabot, who has
been holding hearings to investigate allegations of mismanagement in
the handling of the landmark settlement, has expressed concern about
the number of claims from black farmers that arrived late and were
rejected because they had improper notification, reported WCPO, an ABC
affiliate in Cincinnati. “The lawsuit was flawed from the start,” said
farmer George Hildebrandt. “The black farmers had to waive all their
rights to be a part, and that’s wrong. The nearly 9,000 black farmers
that were denied this lawsuit should be paid immediately.” The last
hope for the many black farmers left out of the settlement is Congress,
which could provide compensation for the years blacks were unjustly
denied loans by the government. “This is not discrimination that took
place in the 1950s,” noted John Boyd, a Virginia farmer and president
of the National Black Farmers Association. “That discrimination is
taking place right now, and it took place a few years ago for me, in
1996. Congress needs to help us fix this.” [more]
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