Vol. 73/No. 18      May 11, 2009

“Equal justice doesn’t exist in America for the Blacks and for the poor,” said Eddie Slaughter, a former vegetable farmer from Buena Vista, Georgia, speaking outside the USDA building, as the department is known. “We have been denied the justice promised us” in the 1999 settlement of the Pigford v. Glickman class-action lawsuit, which successfully challenged the USDA’s long-standing discriminatory practices against Black farmers. Despite winning the case, Slaughter explained, Black farmers “have had 10 more years of persecution and farmers are still losing their land.” Slaughter himself faces foreclosure and his disability check is being garnished for debts the government claims he owes.

In the Pigford settlement Black farmers who could offer minimal proof of discrimination were eligible for a $50,000 tax-exempt payment, debt forgiveness, and preferential access to future loans.

“We are here to demand what we were promised in the 2008 farm bill,” said John Boyd, president of NBFA, who chaired the rally. He was referring to farm legislation passed by Congress last year that allows thousands of farmers who were excluded from the original Pigford settlement because they missed deadlines or failed to meet other requirements, to now file claims. However, the funds allotted for additional compensation—a mere $100 million—fall far short of what is needed to meet new claims. Boyd and other speakers called on President Barack Obama, who as a senator sponsored the legislation added to the farm bill, to make good on promises he made to farmers while running for president. “Congress can dole out billions when it comes to [insurance company] AIG, to the banks, to the car companies,” Boyd said. “We’re simply saying, ‘Pay the Black farmers what they’re owed.’”

“This rally is important to bring attention to the situation of all minority farmers, including Hispanic farmers, women farmers, and Native American farmers,” Lawrence Lucas, president of the Coalition of Minority Employees at the department, told the crowd.

“We say that the USDA is an ‘equal opportunity’ discriminator, because if you come to them for help, they do not respond,” said Lucas, adding that “there is a plantation culture at the USDA that remains unchanged and this is not going to change just because we have a Black president.”

“I’ve been a farmer all my life, and my father before me,” said R.L. Underwood, 59, from Centreville, Alabama. He and his wife Faustine own 15 acres and raise beans, corn, and hogs. “My father tried to get a loan from the USDA and they denied him. We tried to file a claim [under the Pigford settlement] and were told it was too late,” explaining why they made the long bus ride from central Alabama to attend today’s rally.

“I’m here on behalf of all the latecomers who couldn’t be here themselves,” explained Rudy Doss, from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Doss, 75, raises peanuts and cotton.

The USDA building is on the national mall, a popular travel destination. Many tourists, including groups of students, stopped for a while to listen to the rally speakers and spoke with farmers about the issues in their fight.

After the rally, participants marched up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol building to meet with congressional representatives from their home states. Many also planned to attend a one-day conference organized by the NBFA the next day.

Chris Hoeppner contributed to this article.  
 
 
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