Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money, News
Although a settlement had been reached, the Senate failed to move forward with the authorization to release the funds. That has led to a tremendous amount of frustration on the part of black farmers, who've been patiently waiting for the first black president and his colleagues to make amends for the discrimination they've suffered for decades.
Some senators are finally moving to obtain the funds, but the process is far from done. Senators Kay R. Hagan (D-N.C.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) are behind the legislation. They've introduced a bill to compensate black farmers and have claimed that they are willing to either attach the farmers' payments to other bills or create something that stands alone.
Lincoln, who is the head of the Senate Agriculture Committee, came under fire from black farmers, after she and other senators passed a multibillion-dollar subsidy for white farmers after denying support to African American farmers who'd proven their case in court.
"We want to ensure black farmers in our country finally receive the justice they deserve," said Hagan. "More than 4,000 African American farmers in North Carolina and over 75,000 nationwide have been discriminated against and denied just compensation for decades."
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"We will try to attach this bill to any moving legislative vehicle in the Senate. But if the political environment is such that no bill is moving, Senate leadership will need to call up this stand alone bill and debate it on its merits. I think that Senate leadership is going to need to take a good, long look at that option," Landrieu said.
The settlement is expected to pay roughly $50,000 per farmer if the funds are released. But the money has been held up primarily by Republicans who are working to portray themselves as fiscal conservatives. Republicans typically fight nearly all legislation designed to alleviate poor wealth distribution or social inequality in America.
Black farmers, as victims of massive discrimination on the part of the federal government, were unable to get loans to make land purchases in the 1960s and 1970s from the USDA, unlike white farmers. As a result, many of their farms are mortgaged to the highest levels, and some of them are being forced into bankruptcy. This inability to access necessary capital to grow their businesses has caused financial hardship for many African American farmers.
Even paying the settlement of the Pigford case won't be enough to make things right. Many farmers died or lost their land waiting for the case to be settled. By the time the government pays out the funds, it will be too little too late for thousands of farmers who missed a chance to build their wealth. Researchers have already concluded that black farmers only get between one-third and one-sixth of the subsidies given to white farmers. So, the truth is that the $1.25 billion farmers won in the Pigford case is only a drop in the bucket relative to what they truly deserve.
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's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.