Black Farmers Settlement Is Finally Approved

By ASHLEY SOUTHALL / NY TIMES / CNN / PBS

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 v. Glickman; in that settlement the federal government agreed to compensate black farmers and would-be farmers who said Agriculture Department officials denied or cheated them out of federal aid. To be eligible for money now, claimants must have farmed or attempted to farm between 1981 and 1986, have filed a discrimination complaint before July 1, 1987, and have filed a claim after the deadline in the original settlement.

The bill provides another $3.4 billion to American Indian plaintiffs who claim that Interior officials mismanaged royalties from leases of tribal land used to harvest oil, minerals and timber. Plaintiffs will receive $1.4 billion directly, while the government will use $2 billion to repurchase Indian lands broken up under the Dawes Act in the late 19th and early 20th century. Another $60 million will fund scholarships for American Indian students.

Representative James Clyburn, the majority whip, said the bill helped right historic injustices.

“Today we removed the stain on our country’s history and rectified these injustices,” he said, thanking several Republicans for helping with the bill. “What happened to our nation’s African American farmers and Native Americans was wrong, and we have made it right.”

The vote in the House was 256-152. President Obama is expected to sign it soon.

In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Obama applauded the bill’s passage, and pledged to continue efforts to resolve similar claims brought by women and Hispanic farmers. “Yet, while today’s vote demonstrates important progress, we must remember that much work remains to be done,” he said.

While members of both parties have said they supported compensation for the farmers and the Native Americans, some Republicans oppose the bill. Representative Michele Bachman has claimed that the black farmers’ suit was “rife with fraud” because there more claimants than there are black farmers. And Representative Steve King, Republican of Iowa, has called the case a form of reparations for slavery.

John W Boyd Jr. , the president of the National Black Farmers Association, countered that the dwindled number of black farmers was a result of the discrimination patterns alleged in the suit.

“This case ain’t got a thing to do with fraud,” he said Tuesday. “It’s about a group of black farmers complaining about what was done to them and seeking justice.”

The House has attached funding for the settlements to larger legislation twice, only to see it stripped out in the Senate over cost concerns. After months of wrangling, Senate lawmakers approved the settlements on Nov. 19 as a separate measure.

The Senate legislation also provides more than $1 billion to settle four water rights cases brought by American Indian tribes and extends for one year the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which helps states provide cash assistance and other services to the poor.

The money for the settlement will come out of funds from a surplus in nutrition programs for women and children, higher fees for customs activity and a Treasury program to recover overpaid unemployment benefits.