Farmers Get Settlement Checks after Rough Decades  

Nearly 17,000 black farmers will each receive $50,000 plus $12,500 for taxes. In sum, the federal government will pay $62,500 in settlements for racially discriminatory practices that went on for many years. Nearly 30 years ago, I first experienced these injustices and led in forming the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA). Since that time we have traveled many rough roads. No matter how it is sliced, the $2.5 billion in payouts is historic in nature. In 1999, black farmers received a $1 billion payout in the first phase of settlement. In 2010 a $1.25 billion payment was made in a late filers’ lawsuit settlement.

The NBFA also paved the way for similar U.S. settlements with Hispanic and Women farmers ($1.3 billion) and Native American farmers ($800 million) and the related Cobell case settlement for ($3.4 billion).

I am proud to have led the fight for justice for the black farmers, a struggle few people ever thought we had a chance to win. During my 30-year lobbying campaign I made many friends and certainly heard from lots of critics. Some extremists questioned whether there were any black farmers in the U. S. and challenged our right to pursue justice. I heard charges that black farmers are frauds and were never real farmers. One member of Congress went so far to name my father “Drunk Johnny,” a cruel epithet toward a man who uses no alcohol. MOREHERE