Posted on 02/15/2010 7:22:07 AM PST by Rebelbase
After rallying across the South last week, black farmers plan to be in Washington, D.C., on Monday to call on the government to “pay up” on its more than 10-year-old promise to compensate for discrimination.
Despite the conditions of the 1999 civil rights settlement, more than 70,000 black farmers have yet to see a penny.
‘A Dying Breed’
Vern Switzer is 63 years old, but he still single-handedly farms 19 acres of land along a busy country road just outside Winston Salem, N.C.
He is one of only about 30,000 black farmers in America today. These farmers are mostly in the South and represent just 1.5 percent of total farm operators in America, compared to 14 percent back in 1920.
Switzer says he is part of a dying breed.
“This is why you cannot get any more young black farmers in it, because they see the struggle that the older black farmers got — being discriminated and mistreated,” he says. “Why would you want to get into something like that?”
After 30 years of farming, Switzer hoped he'd own 100 acres and spend most of his time teaching kids to farm. Instead, he owns just a fraction of that, and he blames the Agriculture Department.
Time and again, Switzer says, USDA officials gave him the runaround, delaying and denying his loan requests. They said he didn't meet the standard for a government loan.
According to Switzer, the Agriculture Department says it uses the same standard for everyone.
“But that's a lie, too,” he says. “I know farmers, white farmers, that can get a loan quick, fast and in a hurry.”
Still No Money
In 1999, the USDA settled a class-action lawsuit in which they admitted to decades of discrimination against black farmers. Some 15,000 of those farmers managed to navigate the legal paperwork for an average settlement of $50,000. Many others, like Switzer, were rejected because they didn't have the right documentation or didn't hear about the settlement and applied late. They're still waiting to be paid.
“There was a real wrong that was done here by the government,” says John Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmers Association. Boyd started the association to fight for that money.
“There's been admission of guilt,” he says. “There's been study after study. Secretary after secretary has come and gone, and the black farmers still ain't got their money.”
In 2008, Boyd helped convince Congress to give those 70,000 late filing farmers a chance at the settlement. President Obama put more than a billion dollars in his budget last year to help pay them. Congress cut it. This year, Obama has included it again.
“Ensuring that justice is done is important in this situation,” says White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
“The primary issue now, I think, is that there's not money appropriated to pay the successful claimants,” says Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC).
Watt is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is also lobbying for the settlement funding. But there's talk of a spending freeze, and the farmers may have to wait for the economy to improve to get their money.
Boyd says they don't have time. “The average age of a black farmer is 60,” he says. “And many have died ... waiting and thought they would get justice from the government and all of the promises that were made for decades.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said it is finally time to “close this unfortunate chapter.” The black farmers who rally in Washington on Monday are taking him at his word.
Another similar article. It’s a Free For All!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2445687/posts
Whats he using, a hoe and rake.
I wonder if this farmer missed out or got a piece of the Tobacco settlement?
guy’s got all of 19 acres, eh? he’s a farmer all right...
My thoughts exactly. Other than tobacco or veggies for a country stand how could this be viable as a farm that would support anyone?
5 acres, with a barn and a couple of small buildings, and an old farm house. His land was surrounded by a neighbors corn field.
I guess you could call it a farm. He did have 2 dozen chickens and a garden....
a 50 foot by 6 foot garden.
I asked why it was only 6 foot wide? He said that way he and his family could just stand on the grass and grab what they wanted.
When he bought the place, he went out and bought a 1950's tractor...
I guess to plow and cultivate his "garden"
And then go see this: Link to Zo
I know a guy who has 2 acres and raises $50K+ of tobacco every year on leased land.
Of course he as a side biz but calls himself a farmer.
Waiting for some “Obama Money”.
No wonder there is small patch of tobacco growing on everyones property in rural N.C.
That's a good idea...I may try that.
Wrong - but typical for a race-reliant leech. The total number of farmers, period, is declining. Farmers in general are calling it quits. Their land is getting snapped up by bigger farms. Here in Arkansas - there essentially is no such thing as a 19 acre farm any more. That is not much more than a garden. More typical is the 1000-4000 acre farm. Corporate farms. I remember when that decision was handed down - and in reading all that I could find, I just couldn't wrap my mind around the charge of discrimination. Many of the accusations of unfair treatment were also experienced by white farmers as well. At the time, I saw this as an experimental trail balloon for some form of reparations. I still hold the same opinion. But if someone could show me some truly compelling evidence that black farmers were singularly and specifically targeted with extremely unfair practices based only on their race, then I would be more than happy to take an honest look at it. So - back to the partial quote above - it is hard to get young people interested in farming period - white or black. Farming, in part due to the heavy government hand (money doesn't come without strings, regulations, control, and insane paperwork), has become an extremely complicated endeavor. One has to truly love farming to even think about getting into it.
My dad still has 40 acres and a couple dozen cows and horses. I grew up with assorted farm animals. Some years we planted “crops”. We also had a pretty good sized garden. My dad always calls himself a hobby farmer because the property taxes have always been more than what he makes. If he was black maybe he could get a share of that billion dollars.
Maybe they should trying farming in Zimbabwe?
or tobacco allotments
teh government couldpay ME not to grow anything on my land...;-)
I don’t care what the color of the skin is, the fact is simply that if you don’t farm thousands of acres these days, you aren’t going to survive. Government programs have made that the fact of the land and it has been so for decades now.
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