Vol. 74/No. 33      August 30, 2010

Keepseagle v. Vilsack charges the USDA denied loans, or imposed more stringent credit terms, to thousands of Native American farmers and ranchers, compared to farmers who were white with similar financial standing. Native American farmers say they were called “injuns” and subjected to other racial slurs from USDA employees. When they complained, nothing was done.

The class-action lawsuit includes all Native Americans who farmed or ranched between 1981 and 1999 and applied to the USDA for a loan or subsidy during that time or filed a discrimination complaint. Indian farmers say the USDA has continued to discriminate against them since the lawsuit was filed in November 1999.

George and Marilyn Keepseagle, who have spent the last half century ranching on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, are the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They, like other Native American farmers, sought a loan from the USDA when they couldn’t get one anywhere else. Because of its onerous conditions, the Keepseagles fear garnishment of Social Security payments and possible foreclosure if they can’t pay it back.

In 1999 Black farmers won a large settlement in the Pigford v. Glickman class-action lawsuit against the USDA, but most of them have still not been paid. Latino and female farmers also have lawsuits alleging USDA discrimination that are tied up in the courts.

Keith and Claryca Mandan, who have a ranch on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota, were repeatedly denied USDA loans and subsidies they needed to build a barn and machine shed on their ranch. Until 2006 they had to haul water 15 miles for their livestock. They joined the suit in 1999 when the government tried to foreclose on them.

“Had we been given credit, and the opportunities and the programs that all of our non-Indian neighbors had gotten, we would be on par with them today,” said Claryca Mandan in a radio interview. “All we were asking for was equal treatment, and we never got it.”  
 
 
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