Cornucopia’s Take: The federal government paid out over $1 billion to settle a class-action suit based on discriminatory USDA policies in the 80s and 90s. Congress appropriated funds for a second phase of settlements, but a USDA-hired administrator allegedly improperly denied plaintiffs’ claims. The Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association is now asking President Trump to uphold a recent court finding and pay the farmers and heirs of farmers their long-awaited due.


Black farmers call on Trump to accept ruling in suit against USDA
Commercial Appeal
by Tom Charlier, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Source: Kirstie Warner

A Memphis-based organization representing black farmers called on President Trump Monday to accept a court ruling that could lead to payouts totaling more than $1 billion to growers who claim they were denied crop loans and other assistance based on race.

More than 100 farmers and heirs of farmers crowded into the Downtown offices of the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association to hear that their case against the U.S. Department of Agriculture survived a recent court challenge.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last week issued an order denying the USDA’s motion for a summary ruling that essentially would have thrown out the claims of some 15,000 black farmers and their heirs.

“This is a monumental decision,” BFAA President Thomas Burrell said. “It vindicates our movement, it vindicates our organization.”

The case, brought by descendants of Earnest Lee Boyland, a farmer from Mason, Tennessee, is a class-action lawsuit that represents a secondary wave of claims alleging pervasive discriminatory practices by USDA.

In 1999, a federal appellate judge approved a settlement of a class-action suit brought by African-American farmers who claimed the department discriminated against them between 1983 and 1997. By the end of 2011, nearly 16,000 growers had collected settlements totaling $1.06 billion.

But because tens of thousands of farmers missed the September 2000 deadline for filing claims under the initial suit, Congress added a provision to the 2008 Farm Bill allowing them to petition the court. In 2010 Congress appropriated $1.2 billion for the second-phase of settlements.

The Boyland suit contends that a private claims administrator hired by USDA improperly denied the plaintiffs’ efforts to be part of the second-phase settlement.

Burrell said the organization is urging the Trump Administration to accept the Oct. 31 appellate court ruling and not try to block the black farmers’ claims.

“He can call the Department of Justice, Mr. (Attorney General Jeff) Sessions, and say, ‘This is wrong,'” Burrell said.

David A. Hall, a pastor who chairs a committee supporting the BFAA, told the farmers and family members Monday that their patience will be rewarded.

“You are the cream of the cream of the crop. You are the ones that have endured, you are the ones that have stuck it out. And I hope and pray that we will meet one another at the finish line — check in hand,”  Hall said.

“This is not something that somebody has given you. This is something that you deserve…”

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