From CNN:
Tens of thousands of American farmers who suffered racial discrimination by the U.S. Agriculture Department in the 1980s and '90s may start getting compensation from a $1.25 billion settlement, a federal judge has ruled.
This settlement brings to a close the lawsuit Pigford v. Glickman, originally brought in 1997.
For years, black farmers had complained of discrimination in the awarding of USDA farm loans, debt restructuring and crop payments. In 1997, following a USDA-commissioned investigation that validated these complaints, a class-action lawsuit was filed by Pigford seeking damages and relief. On April 14, 1999, Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia approved a settlement agreement and consent decree in Pigford v. Glickman — which was later named Pigford v. Vilsack and came to be known as Pigford I.
An additional problem occurred when a large number of farmers missed the deadline for filing their claims. These claims were consolidated into a new case called In re Black Farmers Discrimination Litigation, but informally referred to as Pigford II. Congress then decided to take steps to address this issue.
The long story short is that Congress, in two separate pieces of legislation, appropriated an additional $1.25 billion to address the Pigford II claims. Today's announcement from Judge Paul Friedman that he approved the settlement reached between the plaintiffs and the Justice Department means that the money can start flowing to the people who deserved and have waited for it.
"So many farmers had ever given up hope that this would ever come to pass," said John Boyd, the head of the National Black Farmers Association.
Now that hope has been realized. This was an important issue that needed to be resolved. While it is obviously a terrible thing that our government discriminated against these farmers on the basis of being black, it is a good thing that finally, after too long, our government is paying restitution for those injustices.
Considering all the injustices that are not rectified, let's at least acknowledge the importance of this issue being resolved to the satisfaction of those treated unjustly. And let's keep working to right more injustices, and prevent others from ever occurring in the first place.
12:02 PM PT: Wow! The Rec List. Thanks for helping spread this important news!