(The Hill) — Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are complaining that legislation funding a settlement for discrimination against black farmers sets too high a bar for claimants. The lawmakers argue language added by the Senate, which is meant to prevent fraud in the program, sets higher standards for proving a claim than were […]
(New York Times) — The House has given final Congressional approval to a bill that would provide more than $4.55 billion to settle tens of thousands of longstanding claims brought by African Americans farmers and American Indians. The bill provides $1.15 billion to African Americans left out of a 1999 settlement of a lawsuit, Pigford […]
Black farmers continue to struggle for land, justice and rights.
(New York Times) — President Obama on Thursday urged Shirley Sherrod, the black Agriculture Department official whose firing and subsequent offer of rehiring this week renewed a conversation about politics and race, to continue “her hard work on behalf of those in need,” the White House said. Read More…
(HuffingtonPost.com) — On April 11, a man named John M. Bonner, of the small town Dinwiddie, Virginia, passed away. He was 87 years old. A pioneer of the Black Farmers’ Movement, which fought for equal treatment in rural county agriculture offices, farming was Bonner’s lifelong passion. He was also one of thousands of plaintiffs in […]