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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