BY KEN MORGAN
ENFIELD, North Carolina - "We need everyone in Washington D.C. at the court house on March 5," stated Gary Grant, organizer of the Second National Black Land Loss Summit held here February 19 - 22.

Some 100 people attended the summit. Most attendees were supporters of Black farmers' fight to stay on the land, among them advocates for the environment, and representatives of organizations and colleges concerned with alternative agriculture and family farms. The majority of the workshops centered on these matters. About a dozen Black farmers also participated.

Black farmers first called national attention to their plight on Dec. 12, 1996, when a determined group of 50 protested in front of the White House gates against discrimination by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

At least two times in the last year they returned with up to 200 people. On Aug. 28, 1997, Black farmers filed a $2 billion discrimination law suit, Pigford, et al v. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. Tim Pigford is the lead plaintiff in the suit by some 1,500 Black farmers.

Their suit contends that Black farmers have and continue to face racially discriminatory treatment by the department in terms of loans and other management and technical services. It asserts that the USDA from 1983 - 97, failed to investigate hundreds of discrimination complaints filed by Black farmers. These practices led to Black farmers being hit especially hard by foreclosures and bankruptcies. A February 1997 in-house report by the department's Civil Rights Action Team confirmed what the farmers were saying all along. The report labeled the department the nation's last plantation.

Last December 19 United States district court judge Paul Friedman gave the government 30 days to develop a speedy plan to resolve the complaints. Pigford explained that in January the government and the farmers agreed to attempt to mediate 12 test cases. The cases would form the bases for facilitating the resolution of hundreds of remaining complaints.

The March 5 court date will assess progress on those cases. Pigford added, "We are zero for nine." Nine of the twelve cases discussed so far have resulted in deadlock. Black farmers and their supporters, from as far away as Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana, have filled the courtroom at previous hearings showing their will and solidarity to fight for justice.  
 
 
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