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Vol. 74/No. 23      June 14, 2010

 
Bill to compensate Black farmers
for discrimination goes to Senate
 
BY SUSAN LAMONT  
WASHINGTON—The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $79 billion tax and spending bill May 28 that includes $1.15 billion to compensate Black farmers for long-standing claims of discrimination by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In order to become law, the bill must still be approved by the Senate.

Organizations representing Black farmers have been calling on Congress to act on the commitment made earlier this year by the administration of President Barack Obama to provide funds to settle farmers’ claims of discrimination by the USDA. In addition to the $1.15 billion in the House bill, the 2008 farm bill allocated $100 million for payments to Black farmers.

“Every delay means the likelihood of more farm foreclosures and more black farmers who will not live to see the day they receive the payments they have waited for and deserve,” said John Boyd, Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association, in a May 28 press statement.

As many as 80,000 Black farmers could receive funds.

“We’re talking about much more than the money,” Ralph Paige, executive director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, told a Washington press conference in April. “We are talking about remedying past discrimination.” On May 25 the Obama administration offered $1.3 billion to settle similar class-action suits brought against the USDA by female and Latino farmers.
 
 
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