Senate passes settlement for racist Agriculture Department practices – only eleven years late
Black farmers remind Congress for the umpteenth time to fund the settlement
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
The U.S. Senate approved a $1.15 billion measure Friday to fund a settlement initially reached between the Agriculture Department and minority farmers more than a decade ago.
The 1997 Pigford v. Glickman case against the U.S. Agriculture Department was settled out of court 11 years ago. Under a federal judge’s terms dating to 1999, qualified farmers could receive $50,000 each to settle claims of racial bias.
“This is much long overdue justice for black farmers,” said John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association…
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called the settlements “a major milestone in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s efforts to turn the page on a sad chapter.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, also said the vote gives “long-suffering Americans … the closure that they deserve. The agreement that we reached shows what can happen when Democrats and Republicans come together to do the right thing,” he said.
Of course, Democrats and Republicans “came together” to support racist practices against non-white farmers for only a bit more than a century.
The measure will now have to be approved by the lame duck House before moving to Obama’s desk to be signed into law.
We hope so, anyway. Certainly there wouldn’t be much hope of achieving justice against bigotry when Republican control of the House arrives in the next Congress.
