Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News
The USDA came under increased scrutiny recently in the unjust firing of Shirley Sherrod. I am hopeful that the sloppy handling of the Sherrod incident is not indicative of the way the USDA does business. In fact, groups have been calling for the firing of the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. At the very least, the way Ms. Sherrod has been treated should be a lightning rod to bring the plight of black farmers to the surface of our collective conscience.
Settlement issues began in a 1997 court case, Pigford v. Glickman. In the case, farmers were to be awarded $50,000 each to settle claims of racial discrimination. As a senator, Barack Obama sponsored "Pigford II," which re-opened the case and led to the $1.25 billion settlement. The House has already approved the settlement and the Senate is holding it up, primarily the Republicans. While Republicans say they would like to see the claims money approved, we all know that the Republican Party could care less about black farmers.
Cases like this one are part of the reason I can't stand politics. Elected officials sit comfortably in their offices playing games with one another, while there are real people engaged in real suffering as a result of their decisions. Farmers are on the verge of bankruptcy waiting for these economic injustices to be corrected, and there is no sense of urgency in Washington. I argue that for every day the approval is delayed, substantial penalties should be applied to the amount of the settlement.
Saddest in all of this is that the discrimination took place over decades, meaning that there are many farmers who died broke waiting for us to do the right thing. It's time for black farmers to be compensated, and the political games must come to an end.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.