Restore funds for black farmers

[Blue_Tires]

Black farmers appear to have finally tilled the once-fallow political soils of Washington. A week that began with a farmer protest in front of the Department of Agriculture ended last Thursday with the Obama administration announcing a $1.25 billion settlement to redress past discrimination in the way the USDA provided loans to farmers - the lifeblood of many who till crops.

But Congress still must approve the money - and that’s been the rub in the past.

Back in 1999, the federal government thought it had successfully settled a class-action lawsuit for $1 billion with 16,000 African-American farmers who were either wrongly denied loans or suffered delays that caused some to lose their farms.

But after the settlement, 70,000 more farmers came forward who said they were not informed of it. In 2008, the case was reopened in a bipartisan effort that included then-Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator Charles Grassley. But no new claimant has been paid a cent. Last year, Obama asked for $1.25 billion to continue the settlement, yet Congress eliminated the money from the budget.

This time, Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Eric Holder all said it is time to end what Vilsack called a ‘sordid chapter’ in USDA history. With many of the farmers past 60 or now dead, Congress owes America’s black farmers a swift approval.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/02/23/restore_funds_for_black_farmers/