African-American Farmers Settle Discrimination Suit with USDA
African-American farmers who experienced discrimination by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) may finally receive compensation.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced last week that the Obama administration has resolved the long entrenched “Pigford II” case. The Obama administration will set aside $1.25 billion in a settlement with litigants in the 10-year-old class action suit.
The original Pigford case was settled in 1999, after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that there had been widespread discrimination in the lending practices of the USDA. As a result of that lawsuit, the USDA paid $50,000 each to nearly 16,000 African-American farmers, many of whom had lost their farms due to their inability to secure USDA loans.
After years of being unable to get crops in the ground while watching their White neighbors obtain loans, Pigford I litigants finally received an apology and a promise that the USDA was turning a new page. However, the case was not well-publicized and many of the applicants were denied their payments because they missed the filing date.
The Pigford II settlement will give those who missed the filing date on the first settlement a second chance to get their payment. Estimates show that as many as 70,000 to 80,000 Black farmers will be eligible to receive payments from this new settlement.
“The NAACP applauds the USDA for taking this crucial step today to finally close what is a painful, but sadly all too pervasive, chapter in our nation’s history. We would like to commend President Obama, Secretary Vilsack, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Dr. Joe Leonard and others for their commitment to seeing that the U.S. Department of Agriculture fully address this significant injustice and allow all who were affected to seek remedy,” NAACP Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy Hilary O. Shelton said.
Vilsack is celebrating the case as a new chapter in the department’s history, saying that “We have worked hard to address USDA’s checkered past so we can get to the business of helping farmers succeed.”