Black farmers who faced discriminatory lending practices for farm loans will finally receive reparations. (Photo Credit: CC BY/Sloan/Wikipedia)

CNN reports that the U.S. Senate has unanimously decided to pay a $1.15 billion settlement for black farmers. The settlement is for the 1997 court case Pigford v. Glickman, in which black farmers sued the U.S. Agriculture Department for racial discrimination in farm loan lending practices.

Black farmers won Pigford v. Glickman in 1999

Since 1999, the reparations funds for black farmers have been held up in Congress. The federal judge’s ruling in 1999 was that qualified black and minority farmers would be eligible to receive $50,000 each as a settlement of any claims of racial bias used against them. Farmers had to be able to prove that they were victims of discrimination.

Many are pleased with the Senate’s decision

John Boyd, the founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, was ecstatic over the Senate’s belated movement, calling it “much long overdue justice.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recognized the long-suffering plight of black American farmers. It was necessary closure, in the senator’s estimation, and the bipartisan agreement showed that despite the changes the recent midterm elections have brought to both houses of Congress, Democrats and Republicans could “come together to do the right thing,” said Reid.

Senate also cleared $3.4 billion for Native American trust fund

In the same legislation that granted reparation to black farmers, the Senate set aside $3.4 billion to make up for the Department of the Interior’s erroneous use of a national trust fund maintained for Native American peoples. The House had agreed to this payment via a war supplemental bill back in July 2010, but the Senate could not agree on the terms at that time, largely because some senators were hesitant to approve the package if it involved more deficit spending than the U.S. economy could adequately handle.

All that remains for the black farmers measure is approval by the House and President Obama’s signature.

Sources

CNN.com

The U.S. Government will pay American Indian farmers who were denied farm loans $680 million. Is this racism reparations? (Photo Credit: CC BY-SA/Neeta Lind/Native American Net Roots)

American Indian farmers who applied for rural farm loans but were passed over because of racial discrimination are now eligible to partake of $680 million in government reparations, reports ABC News. The agreement includes $80 million in farm debt forgiveness and initiatives designed to prevent racism from affecting the way rural farm loan offices deal with Native Americans going forward. Farmers who can prove discrimination can receive up to $250,000.

Native American farmers filed the lawsuit in 1999

Claryca Mandan of North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes was denied loans in the early 1980s, a practice that made Native American farmers like herself unable to work. By 1999, Mandan became the plaintiff in the lawsuit that carried the hopes of many Native American farmers and ranchers who had faced discriminatory practices at the hands of rural farm loan offices. The underlying claim is that hundreds of millions of dollars were lost over the course of several decades of farm loan denials. Had United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans or other forms of short term loans been made available to the American Indian farmers, as they were to their white neighbors, the native farmers (from a wide selection of tribes) would have been able to compete.

According to ABC News, a similar lawsuit was filed by African-American farmers more than 10 years ago. The government settled that suit, although Congress is currently debating how to handle a new wave of black farmers seeking reparations. In the case of Native American farmers, future generations of farmers who face discrimination would be addressed without additional legislative action. Claims made by Hispanic and female farmers are pending.

Attempting to right the wrongs of a dark past

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack exclaimed in a statement that “Today’s settlement can never undo wrongs that Native Americans may have experienced, but combined with the actions we at USDA are taking to address such wrongs, the settlement will provide some measure of relief.”

While the resolution of the 1999 lawsuit cannot erase history, Claryca Mandan told ABC News that she is satisfied.

“This is a culmination of 30 years of struggle,” she said.

Sources

ABC News

“While you were sleeping, they took the words from your mouth”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WADDk471O8