John Boyd of the National Black Farmers Association on MSNBC's The Ed Show

farmers of america are still fighting for the justice they technically won 11 years ago. in 1999 the farmers won the biggest civil rights settlement in american history. after generations of racial discrimination, the government was supposed to pay them $2 billion, but year after year congress has failed to appropriate the funds. the farmers, well, they are still old $1.5 billion, and they are ramping up the pressure. john boyd is the president of the national black farmers association. just traveled from virginia to new york with his mule named struggle. today he stood on the courthouse steps in lower manhattan to call on the senate to act. mr. boyd, good to have you with us tonight. appreciate your time. what's the next legal step here, john? >> well, i'm hopeful, you know, that the senate will act here after they come back from recess on september 13th. >> well, they haven't for 11 years. >> they haven't for 11 years and that was one reason why i brought my mule to new york city today to raise the visibility and to let new yorkers and the world know that black farmers have not received their settlement and the congress -- the senate basically has failed seven times to pass this bill. >> boyd -- mr. boyd, i'm told that it takes a black farmer 400 days to process a loan with the usda compared to 30 days for white farms. is that true? >> that's very true, and it's really a national disgrace that we have statistics like that. >> why? >> and black farmers have been losing land. >> it's based on discrimination in farm lending programs. >> what does tom vilsack say to you when you bring it up to him? >> he's very supportive and he's working the senate but the reality is the bill has failed seven times, and we need republicans and democrats to come back in september and pass this bill because black farmers have been waiting too long, you know, ed. they are dying, and they don't deserve this. >> how many black farmers are we talking about in america? >> tens of -- tens of thousands of black farmers in this case. there's 40,000 black farmers that make a living by farming, but there's -- this case goes back to 1918, to 1996, and there's -- nearly 80,000 black farmers filed late claims through the original settlement, and that's what this case is all about, so we really need the senate to act, and the black farmers have done everything right here. we have a judgment against the united states department of agriculture. we have a passed bill that's already written into law that says that congress that will enact it. >> it's an incredible social injustice unfolding in front of our eyes. mr. boyd, we'll not let this go.