The protest was called by the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA), whose members are among thousands of farmers who were all but promised a $50,000 cash payment, credit, and other relief measures as an out-of-court settlement to their class-action suit, Pigford v. Glickman.

While the cash award was a paltry sum compared to what many farmers had lost, the ruling clearly upheld the farmers' claims of discriminatory acts by USDA officials, including delays and denials of loans.

These practices, as well as the normal workings of the capitalist economy, have resulted in thousands of family farmers being pushed off the land in recent decades.

Although the farmers won the class-action lawsuit, some 40 percent of the individual plaintiffs have subsequently been denied compensation on grounds that their individual claims were inadequate.

In a further assault, the FBI has sent agents to harass farmers under the pretext of investigating "fraudulent claims" that have supposedly been filed.

Charmin Lewis, 24, a cattle farmer from Oklahoma, said, "Both sides of my family farmed, but my mother's side could not continue farming. I'm here because I don't want to see that happen to me. I want something to be done so I can continue to farm. Some people in my family have received notice of settlement awards. The same exact reasons given for approving them are given as reasons to deny others' claims."

The farmers held signs that declared, "Give us our money," "KKK took their hoods off and joined the USDA!" "Vote bipartisan for justice," and "Congressman Watts, thank you!" The last two signs referred to the search by some of the farmers for support among Democratic and Republican politicians.

On May 8 Democratic members of Congress, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, voted down a resolution calling for expediting settlement for those farmers covered by the April 1999 consent decree. At the rally, Republican Congressman J.C. Watts from Oklahoma told the farmers he would reintroduce the bill and call for a bipartisan effort to pass it.

A busload of farmers from Oklahoma were present to join the protest as well as show support to Watts. Some indicated they supported him in his bid for reelection. Republican Congressman Jay Dickey of Arkansas, who had introduced the original resolution, also addressed the rally.

The protests in the U.S. capital that the BFAA has organized several times this year since the consent decree was signed have attracted other family farmers who have been hit by the double whammy of higher prices for fuel, feed, and fertilizer, and lower prices for farm products. Among the demonstrators were two dairy farmers from Wisconsin, who have been affected by the drop in milk prices.

This rally joined forces for a while with those rallying at a Juneteenth celebration on the Capitol steps. June 19, known as Juneteenth, is a commemoration of the date in 1865 at the end of the Civil War when Blacks in Texas learned of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the abolition of slavery. Organizers of the Juneteenth rally in Washington, a group called the Self-Determination Committee, called on the U.S. government to pay reparations to the descendants of African slaves in the United States.

BFAA president Gary Grant announced that farmers will return to Washington in July to continue their protests.  
 
 
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