Jarid was one of 250 farmers and supporters who took part in a May 8 protest here by working farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Farmers from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Jersey, and other states participated in the rally and demonstration initiated by the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA). Participants included members of BFAA, the Family Farm Coalition, Food First, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, among others.

Farmers who are Black have been protesting the aftermath of the government settlement of the Pigford vs. Glickman case. In 1997 more than 1,000 Black farmers initiated the class-action lawsuit, asking for $3 billion in compensation for discriminatory practices by the USDA between 1983 and 1997.

They reached an out-of-court settlement in April 1999 that includes forgiveness of the plaintiffs' debts to the government, a one-time tax-free payment of $50,000, and the option to forfeit the agreement and instead pursue an individual case before an arbitrator.

Some 18,000 farmers filed claims under the consent decree. The USDA has denied the claims of more than 40 percent of the farmers applying for $50,000. Some have faced harassment by banks and the FBI, among other obstacles.

"Now we're being investigated by the FBI for 'false claims,'" said BFAA president Gary Grant, addressing the rally across the street from the USDA building. "We're sick of waiting for our payment. They continue to break promises, first '40 acres and a mule,' all the way up to this."

Anurhdu Mittal of Food First and California Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters also spoke.

Farmers in the audience talked about the experiences they have gone through in this fight. North Carolina farmer Yarborough Williams told the Militant, "We need a million-farmer march. It would be great to have a million farmers in Washington come and shut down the streets."

Dairy farmers from Wisconsin participated in the demonstration, as did women farmers from New Jersey. Randy Jasper of Wisconsin said, "It doesn't matter if you're Black, white, or whatever. We're all farmers fighting together."

Anna Marie Codario, Marie Visconti, Gladys Williams, and Mary Ordille were among the farmers attending the rally. They had been part of a group of 60 farmers, unionists, and supporters at a successful rally in New Jersey to save Codario's farm the day before. William Miller of Georgia commented, " We need to get others involved. Commodity prices are the lowest they've been in years for all farmers." He urged others to build and join upcoming farmers' actions.

With supporters chanting "No justice, no peace, no farmers, no food" and other slogans, 13 farmers were arrested as they tried to enter the USDA building to meet with Agriculture Secretary Daniel Glickman while reporters and others watched the police put plastic handcuffs on their wrists. The 13 were released soon after and all attended a planning meeting at the end of the actions.

The same day, Democratic congress-people, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, ensured the defeat of a resolution in the House of Representatives urging the U.S. government to speed up settlement payments to Black farmers.

Opponents of the nonbinding resolution, mostly allies of the Clinton administration, justified their vote by arguing that the measure's sponsor, Republican Congressman Jay Dickey of Arkansas, was not a real friend of farmers and was only trying to gain political favor among them.

Eddie Slaughter, BFAA's national vice president, condemned the move to defeat the bill. In a phone interview, Slaughter said the measure, which he and other farmers supported, was aimed at encouraging the government "to pay Black farmers in an expeditious manner, and to say that no taxes should be paid on any funds received since it was the government's actions that led to the lawsuit in the first place.

"There is no way you can say that just because the people who sponsored this are Republican, you have to play partisan politics with my best interests," Slaughter said. Rather, they should have done "what is right, just, and fair." The farm leader objected to the Congressional Black Caucus stance that they defeated the measure because the bill's sponsors were using Black farmers. "I would like to speak for myself and represent my own interests. Anyone who who goes against my interests and that of other farmers I consider my enemy," he said.

John Staggs from Philadelphia contributed to this article.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home