It was the most recent in a series of gatherings to discuss efforts by farmers who are Black to fight for land and against decades-old racist discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In meetings like this across the southeast, farmers have been asked to fill out a questionnaire aimed at establishing the ineffectiveness of a 1999 consent decree that settled a class action suit against the USDA by thousands of farmers.

In 1997 several suits by farmers for racist discrimination by the USDA were consolidated into the Pigford v. Glickman class action suit. Daniel Glickman was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the William Clinton administration. On April 14, 1999, a federal judge issued the consent decree. Farmers agreed to the settlement based on provisions for a tax-exempt $50,000 payment to those who could provide minimal proof of discrimination, and for forgiveness of outstanding debts owed to the USDA. The consent decree also promised priority on future loan requests to farmers who had been discriminated against in the past.

Washington’s failure to live up to the terms of the consent decree led BFAA, Inc., to file a motion with the court May 17 to amend or overturn the settlement. BFAA, Inc., president Thomas Burrell said the government had 30 days to respond, after which the judge could set a hearing date. “The purpose of the questionnaire is to show that, firstly, tens of thousands of people were never informed about the consent decree and therefore denied the possibility of taking advantage of it,” said Burrell. “It is five years since it was signed and only 13,000 farmers have gotten any money.”

Burrell also said that the consent decree left in their positions loan agents responsible for discrimination against farmers. “For that reason,” Burrell said, “we are fighting cases right now where the USDA is trying to foreclose on Black farmers.”

The battle by farmers who are Black that led up to this settlement was a pole of attraction for other exploited farmers fighting to defend their land and livelihoods against the rising cost of farm inputs like fertilizer, equipment, fuel, and seed, on the one hand, and the sinking price they get for their crops, on the other.

Farmers at these meetings have described how the debt slavery facing all working farmers is compounded by the systematic anti-Black discrimination by the USDA, the banks, and other credit agencies.

Robert Garner, 62, of nearby Ellisville, for example, has a 40-acre farm on which he grows corn, cucumbers, okra, collard greens, and turnips. In 1977 he went to the local USDA office to apply for a loan and was denied it. He never received an explanation of why he was turned down, or what he needed to do in order to qualify. “They didn’t feel like they had to give you a reason or take any time with you,” he said. Garner said he heard about the consent decree, “but the same old people were still deciding on the loans and I didn’t see that they would change their minds about me.”

Burrell said more than 60,000 people received letters from the court-appointed arbitrator telling them they had filed too late to receive compensation for discrimination. During the question-and-answer period, Betty Porter said that she had filed on the day of the deadline but the application was denied. “To this day they haven’t given me a reason,” she said.

William Chapman, 66, is a lifelong farmer who has 40 acres near Taylorsville, Mississippi, where he farms row crops including peas, cucumbers, and watermelon on land owned by his father. Chapman said he filed a claim under the consent decree and received the supposedly tax-free $50,000 payment. But he is now paying out to the IRS, which says he owes taxes on the $50,000. This was a common grievance by many farmers who were awarded the settlement.

Chapman farmed with two mules for many years. In 1979, he applied to the farm bureau for a loan for a tractor and got it. “It made a big difference when we’d go to harvest,” he said. “Then I got sick and couldn’t make a payment, and they came and took the tractor away.”

BFAA, Inc. is planning a similar meeting July 24 at the convention center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Susan LaMont from Birmingham, Alabama, contributed to this article.
 
 
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