Save the Land: Black Farmers Benefit & Rally

The Black Farmers Benefit & Rally is set for Saturday, October 23, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, at Unit #46, the Moore/Grant Homestead, 914 Roanoke Drive, Halifax, NC.

Come early and see the History House. Travel the beautiful countryside and ponder what it looked like during the resettlement years when African American farmers worked then land.

Consider what is happening these days to Black farmers and Black land owners. Land loss is a tragedy for people whose blood is on the land.

Better known as Tillery, NC, farmers are encouraged to come and tell their stories.

Friends and supporters are encouraged to come, enjoy the music, eat some good food, and make a tax deductible contribution to the Black Farmers and Agriculturalist Association.

Farmers, students, and entertainers will have their rooms covered.

Attendees from out of the area can get special discounted rates at Hampton Inn, Quality Inn, and the Hilton Garden Suites, all in Roanoke Rapids, just a few miles up the road. Hit the link Stay! at the top of the page, go to one of those motels, and identify yourself as attending the Save the Land event. Or, ask for the "farmer rate," or tell them that you're attending the BFAA event. Any will get you the special lower rate.

Early arrivers on Friday, October 22 can view the movies "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "Alaska Far Away."

Entertainers include Ermitt "Mr. Blues" Williams, Mighty Men of Valor, Mad Praise Recording Artists Ahnu and Crystal Clear, and Siobhan Quinn and Michael Bowers.

It will be a grand occasion. I hope to see you there.

Tomorrow Another Vote

Senator Reid, D-NV insists that tomorrow will bring a face to face vote on the discrimination case of Pigford v. USDA as well as the Cobell case of American Indians v. the US Department of the Interior. It's called a stand alone vote. I can hear some in America groaning, wondering when all of this pay-out of our tax payers dollars is going to end. We're living in 2010, they will say, not 300 years ago, so just get over it. I didn't do anything to them, and neither did my grandparents, so why are you holding us accountable for history's misdeeds? Check out the article for the facts about the vote and comments about it as well. Interesting. Very interesting.

It's not that simple, is it? History is revisited daily in lives of some people, all based upon bias and skin color and assumptions and "world views," and all of that sort of thing.

Injustice is injustice. Wrongs need to be made right. America needs to address grievances from the USDA upon the lives of Black, Indian, Hispanic, and women farmers. Let's deal with the African American farmer issue. Yes, some received a settlement under Pigford. Those stats are very, very misleading. Only a small number prevailed, and the majority under the least amount of dollars. I can tell you a lot of stories. There are many stories that need to be told, stories that would make us weep if we didn't take it so personally and react defensively.

Tomorrow is a pivotal day. The vote comes. Face to face they will stand, Democrats and Republicans. I hope I'm wrong about the vote. Lord, bring victory to these struggling families who serve you by working the land.

A friend of mine posted me today on Facebook with this link. It summarizes a lot. I don't think it could be said much better. The Sherrod case is indicting more than just one or two people. At the end of it, it pretty much says what I've been thinking and what I wrote on these pages a few days back. I hope you'll read it. It's found in Yes Magazine and talks about the real story of racism at the USDA. It's a long, long, ugly history of injustices to Black farmers of this land.

Small farms, black farms.......

Farmers are farmers. Farm families are farm families. Small family farms are passing away and we must fight to keep them.

There are some significant differences though.

Black farms are going away faster than White family farms.

Let's march arm in arm together.

I'm trying to link up Farm Aid with Black FarmAide Action Gathering.

Any suggestions?

I'm listening.

Shirley Sherrod, Modern Day Hero

I am not a news reporter. Neither am I an unbiased observer of these processes. Here are my stream of consciousness reflections of the past few days.

The news feeds came in rapid-fire. USDA official fired. Racism in the department still. Black woman resigns under pressure from USDA secretary and the White House. The woman is Shirley Sherrod, USDA's Director of the Georgia Office of Rural Development. She had previously worked with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund.

It has happened so fast that there is now a wikipedia page about Ms. Sherrod and the process.

Like you, I read those early accounts with interest. "There's more to this story," I thought. A former student posted me, "What do you think about this?" There's more to the story.

The short, edited speech reveals inner reflections and thoughts of a Black woman in White America helping a White family hold on to their farm when Blacks are losing their farms at an alarming rate. She sends the White family to a white attorney. This was in 1986.

Then, various pieces of the story began to emerge. A longer speech had been edited. Surely there is a political agenda behind that. A major news network picks it up unedited. She's fired. Compelled to pull off to the side of the road and send her resignation via Blackberry. The White House wants you to resign.

The outcry is huge. An acquaintance sends out a lengthy post to a large group of people, including me for some reason. The tenor of the post is "it's time to get over it," "discrimination is over in the USDA," "an appointed official cannot speak her mind so openly," and on and on it went. A friend sends a measured but intense response back with multiple themes of think more critically before you respond, get the facts, read the times, know the history, work for change, and other things. I'm lining up behind the latter.

The White couple attest to her support. They are at the center of the storm, baffled at the speed and pace and spin of the story that involves them. Ms. Sherrod helped them save their land.

The edited version of the speech is there, edited at a curious moment in the context of a larger speech. The larger speech is indeed longer. The cry is for her to be restored to her position.

The truth comes to light. She was reflecting upon her change of mind and heart and attitude, a shift away from a racist perspective. She told her story of triumph over bigotry. She rose to a higher place and space of professionalism and humanity. She joined in the fight to stave off the loss of small family farms.

She has a long history of fighting for justice, even within her own family and among her own friends. Therein lies a story that deserves even more interest. Her friends are sticking up for her. She has a personal story of injustice.

The agenda of the editor is exposed. Fox News scrambles to explain itself. CNN had it but didn't move on it until more information was revealed.

In systems theory terms, this is schismogenesis at its finest. Or at its worse.

The USDA secretary calls and apologizes. The President calls and apologizes. Hasty decisions are undone. Maybe. Ms. Sherrod gets to decide now.

I want to believe their sincerity, but the Pigford II class action suit is still unsettled. Congress has not found its way to fund the $1.15 billion settlement. Republicans are blocking the vote left and right. Farmers are dying. Farms are going on the auction block.

Shirley Sherrod has gone from villain to heroine.

For me there are several subtexts of this story. In the world in which we live, information and disinformation are sent in a heart beat. Pieces of a story are foisted upon us as the whole. Political agendas are racialized.

Inequities still exist. We are not far removed from "The Civil Rights Action Team" and its 1997 report of racism within the USDA. We are not removed from "The Civil Rights Implementation Team" and its 1999 report that the USDA had not moved fast enough. We are not far removed from Congressman Stenholm's comment that if someone is found guilty of discrimination, they should be fired.

He said, "I am confident that most USDA employees are implementing their programs in a fair and consistent manner and would not violate the civil rights of customers that they are charged with serving. However, we cannot deny that there is a problem at USDA. Currently, they are faced with at least four class action lawsuits, and U.S. taxpayers have been exposed to the payment of millions of dollars in settlements. The USDA employees that have brought about these claims should have been by now removed, if not, they should be removed."

I agreed then. At least I agreed to part of what he said, the part about employees should be removed. I agree now. I've yet to see the evidence.

In my relatively meager involvement with Black farmers and families since the mid-1990s, I have heard numerous stories of farmers and their battles against discrimination. Some stories were told on the record and are recorded in BFAA's Historical Archives. Other stories were told off the record, not for public scrutiny. Others have been told in informal conversations at land loss summits. Others wound up in litigation. Some have been told on these pages. The one most compelling was that under oath an official both lied and was guilty of forging documents. He was forced to move over to another county. A year later he was promoted to the state level.

There are multiple subtexts to this story. Here is one that is of deepest interest to me.

I find it inescapable that a Black woman is forced to resign. I find it inescapable that I have not heard of Whites resigning. Maybe I just missed those stories, but probably not.

The whole story is out there. It is out there somewhere. Maybe we will all get it some day.

God forbid that the story remain a secret.

Still waiting longer..............

President Obama's signature bill to fund an extension of unemployment benefits along with other measures took a hit the other day, falling three votes short of passing, 57 to 41. No Republicans voted for the bill. This was a complicated bill and had within it a variety of funding streams. The unemployed and Black farmers got the short end of the congressional stick. Looks like there is definitely a political spin to this as well.

Here is a paragraph from a CBS news article that summarizes the things we discuss on these pages. Read the article in its entirety here.

"The catchall measure also includes farm disaster aid, $1 billion for a youth summer jobs initiative and an extension of a bond program that subsidizes interest costs for state and local infrastructure projects. It would levy a new tax on investment fund managers but extend tax breaks such as lucrative credits that help businesses finance research and develop new products, and a sales tax deduction that mainly helps people in states without income taxes.

The death of the measure would mean that more than 200,000 people a week would lose their jobless benefits because they would be unable to reapply for additional tiers of benefits enacted since 2008. People seeking the popular homebuyer tax credit would be denied a paperwork extension approved by the Senate last week. And state and local governments would lose subsidies on bonds they issue to finance infrastructure projects.

It also includes $4.6 billion to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit brought by black farmers against the Agriculture Department for discrimination and another by American Indians involving the government's management and accounting of more than 300,000 trust accounts. By the end of this week, more than 1.2 million people will have lost their jobless benefits since a temporary extension expired at the beginning of the month, according to Labor Department estimates."

Still waiting.................

From what I've read on various blog and news pages of late, Black farmers are dying. At least two funerals have been held over the last two or three weeks. John Boyd, President of the National Black Farmers Association has spoken about these matters on his web page. Gary Grant, President of Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, has spoken personally about being at these funerals. Spencer Woods, activist and advocate for Black farmers posted recently on a Facebook page that it looks like there is an intent to wait Black farmers out until they die. It's hard to receive a payment for years of injustice if the one mistreated is dead.

In the latest issue of Readers Digest, an article discusses the injustices and inequities of the manner in which federal subsidies are handed out. In South Florida, the deceased receive payments. No longer are the last names of farmers in the majority of recipients. Instead, mega-farm operations are receiving supplements. According to this article 75% of the funding goes to 10% of recipients. What is right about that?

If you are interested in what is happening in your area, the Environmental Working Group has a farm subsidy database. My students and I on the social justice team at ACU worked our way through a similar page a couple of years ago. It was more than interesting.

Recently Senator Reid of Nevada asked for a unanimous consent request in the Senate to settle the $1.15 billion commitment that President Obama made to Black farmers. It looks like partisan politics continues to enter the fray. It's time to settle this score, insofar as a modest sum of money can settle any act(s) of racial discrimination from policies and procedures of the USDA.

Here is a string of sources and quotes that summarize this serious matter.

If these do not move you, read this Tampa Bay area story about Mr. Bonner. It should move you. It did me.

Calls to officials at the White House and your senators would be appreciated.

Time is of the essence.

Bitter disappointment

Yes, you've likely heard it by now. Congress recessed without passing the legislation to settle the "Pigford II" case that was hailed by President Obama. Yes, we know that health care reform is important. However, the President and Congress disappointed thousands of Black farmers, their families, and friends like me.

Here are those reports, written far better than I could write them.

Southern Studies

African American Environmentalist Association

Richmond County Daily Journal

Reuters

Washington Post

The Hill

The Indypendent

Federal Times

And many, many others, all reporting the same thing: promises made, people's hope built up, documents signed, inertia settles in, and encouragements offered once more.

Check out these important pieces of information from BFAA.

Become of member of the BFAA Facebook page. Keep up on what is going on.

We remember.................

Blackcommentator: Black Farmers and Justice

The following appeared in a February issue of blackcommentatory.com. It is now laid alongside the fact that Congress is now in recess and did not deal with this issue. Injustice continues to reign.

This article is fairly long, but I hope you'll give it a close read. It provides a good summary of the litigation with Black farmers. It describes some of the outcomes. It was hopeful. That time has passed. I hope it'll come again.

AFTER WAITING AND FIGHTING FOR DECADES, BLACK FARMERS MAY GET A LITTLE JUSTICE

Black farmers of America may finally be compensated for the loss of their farms and their land all across the southern states, with the recent announcement of a $1.25 billion bias settlement between representatives of the farmers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The discrimination occurred over decades and involved county agriculture committees that were charged with providing USDA-connected loans to farmers in their counties. The members of the committees were white and many of the farmers were black and therein was the opportunity for the long-term bias and discrimination. The Obama Administration has congratulated Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the farmers’ representatives in the agreement to settle the class action lawsuit, known as “Pigford II.” Pigford I was named for Timothy Pigford, a black farmer who was a lead plaintiff in the original case that was settled in the mid-1990s.

That first suit against the USDA was brought against President Bill Clinton’s agriculture secretary, Dan Glickman. Many farmers were left out of the suit and the number of farmers who received a part of the settlement was small enough that the legal case was continued. The result was the announced settlement this month. Congress authorized only $100 million to pay those farmers who were left out of the Pigford I settlement, so President Obama proposed in the 2010 federal budget an additional $1.15 billion to fund a complete settlement of all of the Pigford II lawsuits. About 16,000 black farmers were compensated in the first settlement, even though there were possibly 66,000 who might have been eligible. In that 1999 consent agreement, the total paid was about $1 billion. Most of the farmers in that case opted for the expedited $50,000 payment that required a rather low burden of proof of having suffered discrimination.

Because of the large number of farmers in Pigford I who didn’t know about the class action lawsuit or were not aware of the deadlines for joining the suit, black farmers’ organizations kept pushing to continue the suit. Included were John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, and Gary Grant, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association. Boyd expressed his satisfaction that the case finally seems to be settled, saying that the farmers and the government have “buried the hatchet.” But Grant, a veteran of the war with the USDA since his father, Matthew, was notified that his farm in Tillery, N.C., was to be foreclosed back in the 1970s, was not so quick to celebrate. He pointed out that farmers may receive the $50,000 and debt relief or debt forgiveness, but that farmers will have to pay taxes on the debt relief as “income.” There is a longer process, as well, he noted, in which black farmers might get as much as $250,000 in compensation, but it’s a longer process and the farmers in the class are not young and most of them might not be willing to go through such a drawn-out procedure.

Also, he did not want to jump the gun and say it was settled, because Congress next month has to approve the budget with the $1.25 billion for the agreement. The loss of black-owned land over the generations has been steady and it’s important to have a historical perspective on the problem: In 1920, one in every seven farmers in America was black, but, by the early 1980s, only one in every 67 farmers was black. Put another way, in 1910, black farmers owned 15.6 million acres and, by the early 1980s, they owned only 3.1 million acres. There were an estimated 926,000 black-run farms in the U.S. in 1920. By the early 1980s, there were said to be only 33,000 and, by the 1990s, even that low number had dwindled by a third. Black farmers lost so many millions of acres of land through a long process of political, social, and economic abuse, including lack of access to capital from both public and private institutions, lack of knowledge of their legal rights, lack of access to land (for expansion of existing farms), and loss of heired property.

The latter was used by unscrupulous land speculators and frequently by other farmers in the county or neighborhood. When a farmer died without a will, the family inherited the farm and, if one member of the family wanted his or her piece of the farm, the entire farm had to be sold, so that the selling member could get his or her share. Often, this happened after family members left the home farm for industrial work in the north---say in Chicago, New York, Detroit, Cleveland, or Philadelphia---and the old place had little or no meaning any more. They could be easily convinced to sell a portion for $10,000 or less and, thereby, the farm was lost.

In Gary Grant’s view, that was the beginning of the end of any possibility of African-Americans taking their rightful place in American society. “A landless people is a powerless people,” he said. Since many of the farmers in the Pigford I class had been young under Jim Crow in the South, they knew how little power they had in their local communities, but what they did have, their farms, gave them a measure of freedom and independence, even under those conditions. Loss of that land base for black Americans was a trial for Grant and others across the South, who knew what was being lost.

Discrimination works in many ways and part of the suit included charges that the foot-dragging and delays of the county committees in providing timely loans in the spring made the difference between having a crop to pay the bills and having no crop and losing everything. Routinely, if a white farmer and a black farmer came to the county committee on the same day to have their loans approved for seed and fertilizer, the white farmer would have the loan approved and have money in hand in short order. The black farmer, on the other hand, would wait---it could be a paper wasn’t filled out right---and wait and wait. By the time the loan was approved, the white farmer’s crop would be six inches out of the ground before the black farmer bought seed. That’s just one of the ways farms and millions of acres were lost.

And that’s why the USDA settled first one lawsuit, then another when it was clear that those who had been left out were not going to go away. For those farmers who were in accumulated debt to the tune of $200,000 or $300,000, a settlement of $50,000 is not going to make much difference, either in Pigford I or Pigford II. For most who will accept the agreement, though, it’s the principle of the thing and an acknowledgement that there is a little justice. It would appear that this was one of the most vital civil rights cases to occupy an entire people for the last half of the 20th Century, since it stems from post-Reconstruction and continued in one way or another for more than a century.

Yet, the issue did not raise a stir among any of the mainline U.S. civil rights organizations. African-American organizations might have made note of it at a convention or regional get-together, but it was not an issue of great concern, nor did the trade unions approach black land loss as a great civil rights issue, as they did in the larger civil rights movement of the 1960s. Nearing settlement, the USDA discrimination suit is likely to bring a sigh of relief from black farmers, but the land that is gone will not return to black families and they will not be raising families on their own land, with the dignity and self-respect that comes with being a tiller of your own soil. Had this been a bigger issue for more than just a few tens of thousands of black farmers and landowners, there might have been a different outcome.

Matthew Grant, Gary’s father, who built up his 40 acres in the Tillery resettlement community in the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, to a farm of some 300 acres on the Roanoke River, said it all in a one-page letter to Secretary Glickman in May, 1996. He explained that, since 1976, he had been in a “continued struggle” with Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), the year the USDA agency initiated foreclosure proceedings. He told Glickman in the letter, “…the blatant racial inequities practiced by the FmHA officers, which got Black farmers into trouble initially, have continued to be practiced. I was able to work with my other lenders and am now current with them. The only answer I have ever gotten from the FmHA agency is, ‘we are going to (sell) you out. It doesn’t matter who you bring.’ or ‘only the full amount due will stop the foreclosure.’”

Matthew also described a civil rights complaint he filed in December, 1995, over what he termed an act of “brazen discrimination”, when a USDA county soils director in Halifax, N.C., appeared wearing a necktie “depicting clearly a confederate troop of soldiers and a confederate flag waving in victory.” “It is difficult enough to make a living as a farmer,” he wrote. “I have farmed all my life and I love it. My wife and I have raised and educated 6 children of our own and 4 foster children without benefit of aid from any government agency. Now, in our golden years, we find that at a time we should be at peace, we are still struggling to get this matter settled. I have no other choice but to appeal to you.”

As did many farmers during the long wait for justice, Matthew Grant died before his farm’s future was settled. His family carries on that struggle. The settlement announced this month is welcome to most for many reasons, but money won’t make up for the families who suffered the generations-old injustices, for those who lost their land and farms, and for those who were sent looking for work in unfamiliar places.

Black Soil: African American Farmers' Struggle.....

This volume has been on my shelf following a trip out to Tillery, NC several months ago. It has intrigued me for a while, demanded my attention, but only on this cold, wintry day have I felt compelled to pull it off the shelf and read through it.

Glad I did.

Louis Andreas Michaelsen, a journalist from Denmark, raised on a small family farm, received a degree in American Studies from the Center for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark, in 2008.

His masters thesis is an interesting read: "Black Soil: African American Farmers' Struggle from Emancipation into the 21st Century."

It covers the current landscape of the challenges for Black farmers. It also covers the landscape for African Americans from plantation to Pigford and beyond. He addresses both sides of institutional racism. He interviews four important figures in the Black farmer struggle, two I've met, one I know well, one I'd like to know better, and two I'd like to meet some day. My path with Lloyd Wright, Former Director, USDA Office of Civil Rights, crossed in August, 2007 at a DOJ/USDA mediation hearing in Washington, DC. My life has been intertwined with Gary Grant, BFAA President, since early 2005.

Among things that make Mr. Michaelsen's thesis an interesting document is his liberal use of photos throughout. While a thesis done in American universities would not allow this sort of personalization, his work permits photos of those interviewed to be placed in key places of text. I think that is a great juxtaposition of narrative and persons.

Beyond this, his appendices are both personal and historical. Newspaper articles about Blacks moving from the farm to the city, census documents, and correspondence between Wilkins of the NAACP and Freeman, Secretary of Agriculture, and other historical pieces, are fascinating.

Both personal and moving are other documents. Documents between the Grant family and the USDA, one in particular that was the "Final Resolution Agreement - Matthew Grant," signed by Lloyd Wright on March 2, 1998 and by Matthew Grant on 3-4-98, and witnessed by Barbara Demery and Timothy Burke, was especially interesting and historical. It should have settled the Matthew and Florenza Grant case v. USDA. Documents that follow from the hand of their son, Gary Grant, show that matters were not settled. To this day they remain unsettled.

Finally, Appendix M contains printed materials from the funeral of Florenza Moore Grant, wife of Matthew Grant, and mother of Gary Grant. She passed in 2001, four years before Charla and I met her family. One line reads, "In her own right, for almost 80 years, Florenza was the sunshine of our world, the courage of our strife, and the dazzling superior mother in the Grant 'House By the Side of the Road.'" We have stood on several occasions at their burial site on the Grant family farm.

We were moved the first time and we were moved the last time. We will stand there again, if the Lord permits.

So, thanks, Louis Andreas Michaelsen for this important work. It deserves to be read and reviewed often.

A Great Day in Tillery

The drive out to Tillery is always interesting. The terrain changes. There are fewer houses and larger fields. The morning sun glistens off the dew. The fields are in preparation for planting.

And on this day, we pulled into the parking lot at the Tillery Community Center and breakfast was on the stove and on the counter. The gracious women of the Concerned Citizens of Tillery had prepared a most amazing breakfast for those of us who had gathered there for the board meeting of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association. Warm greetings and warmer hugs were just the start of the day. Thanks to those wonderful women who spread breakfast in a wonderful way for us to begin the day.

Grant Grant, President of BFAA, led us thoughout this moving day. The morning session was spent re-envisioning BFAA. We heard an incredible history lesson as to how we got here, told by one who was there from the beginning. We discussed a number of things in terms of where we are. We explored options of moving into the immediate future in matters of social justice that impact all of us. The conversation was lively, at times intense, and always with an eye to what is best for the movement of which we are a part. We articulated a vision that continues to set BFAA apart as a radical organization, one committed to social justice, to righting the wrongs perpetrated upon Black farmers. Among other things, our task is to inform in a clear and concise manner those specifics related to what is being called "Pigford II," or the reopening of possibilities via the President and Congress' actions for those who are labeled "late filers," or those who did not get admitted into the Pigford Class Action Suit based on technicalities.

We took a break mid-day and had lunch at the Tillery Resettlement Cafe. Evangeline Redding is always a gracious host and a wonderful cook. It's always a pleasure to sit around her tables, eat her wonderful food, and engage in meaningful and often humorous conversations about life, events, and people in Tillery.

In the afternoon we returned to the Center and continued our deliberations, this time in an effort to wrap our minds around what we are calling for the moment the "October Event." More information will follow as to what will make in my opinion an amazing event on the Grant Family Farm in Tillery, an event that will stir our souls and give us more information about the plight of Black farmers and the challenges of holding on to the land. As the sun set, we wrapped up our conversations and took a trip down to the Roanoke River.

As the sun set of the river, which was higher than I'd ever seen it before, I thought to myself, "Lord, I wonder if the sun is setting over more black land loss, or is it simply setting on a day in which we've deliberated about our role in the effort to stem the tide of land loss?"

More information will be posted on this page over the next few weeks about the "October Event." For you who are praying people, please pray for this event and its impact.

Obama's Leadership

Yes, there are some interesting signs of movement in the White House related to settling the Pigford Case for those 70,000 farmers who are called "late filers," or those who did not get in under the wire for the original Pigford Class Action Suit. Here are the words printed in various newspapers around the country.

Associated Press

Reuters

Los Angeles Times

Wall Street Journal

CNN

The Hill

That's all the good news. The challenges that lie ahead include: Congress appropriating the funding, protocol to be put in place for hearing the cases, farmers finding out that they are not eligible since they have no tracking number, and no funding until '11 at the earliest.

In the meantime, farmers are dying. Some are losing their land. Some are walking away. Some can't walk away because they are too ill.

The Time for Action is Now: LA Times Editorial, February 8, 2010

What does it take for a farmer to get the federal government to make good on a promise – particularly if it’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture and it involves restitution for years of racial discrimination in rural America?

Patience. A lot of patience. And when that runs out, rallying for some help from Congress and the White House.

The current brouhaha dates to 1999, when the USDA reached a settlement with black farmers in a discrimination case that alleged that the agency had denied federal loans, disaster assistance and other aid to certain farmers because of the color of their skin. (The agency is still fighting similar class-action suits filed by Latino and Native American farmers.)

The USDA approved about 15,000 claims and paid out about $1 billion, but has refused more than 70,000 claims that were filed after the October 1999 deadline. Farmers said they were given no notice of the deadline.

The two sides have been fighting ever since. And despite a fairly scathing slap by the Government Accountability Office a few years ago, and President Obama more recently pledging to add an additional $1 billion-plus to the settlement fund as part of other Congressional bills, the cash still isn’t getting out to these farmers.
So the farmers are shutting off their tractors and taking their frustrations to the streets. This week, the National Black Farmers Assn. has been staging rallies across the South, trying to bolster support. It might be a tough sell, given the current state of the economy. They’re planning to wrap up their campaign with a national rally on Feb. 15 in front of USDA's main offices in Washington.

-- P.J. Huffstutter

On this day and all days

Here's one of my favorite clips of Dr. King. May it resonate with us all.