EthnicMajority

(Hispanic Business) USDA Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Fred Pfaeffle met with Hispanic and women farmers this week regarding discrimination that may have occurred over loans and other assistance between 1981 and 2000. Hispanic women farmers claim that loans and other assistance routinely went to whites.

On Feb. 25, the USDA announced it would pay up to $50,000 each to Hispanic farmers who can prove wrongful treatment. Pfaeffle held a series of meetings with farmers to discuss the process that has been put in place to resolve the claims, according to a USDA press release. There are no fees for people to participate in the program and it is voluntary.

Pfaeffle said the program offers alternatives to litigation and provides “at least $1.3 billion in compensation and up to $160 million in farm debt relief to eligible Hispanic and women farmers.”

“The Obama administration is committed to resolving all claims of past discrimination at USDA, so we can close this sad chapter in the department’s history,” Pfaeffle said. “We want to make sure that any Hispanic or women farmer or rancher who alleges discrimination is aware of this option to come forward, to have his or her claims heard and to participate in a process to receive compensation.”

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(AP) The Obama administration is offering at least $1.3 billion to settle complaints from female and Hispanic farmers who say they faced discrimination from the Agriculture Department.

The Agriculture and Justice departments announced Friday that farmers who could prove discrimination could receive up to $50,000. The proposal comes after the government settled with American Indians over similar discrimination issues last fall and Congress provided money for the second round of a black farmers settlement.

Like the black and American Indian farmers, the thousands of minorities and women say local USDA offices for years denied them loans and other assistance that routinely went to whites.

The government first announced its intent to settle the complaints in May. The more detailed offer announced Friday does not cap the number of farmers who may receive awards and waives some application fees.

Lawyers for both the women and Hispanic farmers said their clients deserve more money. Indian farmers were offered up to $250,000 each to settle claims.

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(USA Today) President Obama signed a $4.55 billion settlement today to end decades-old claims by African-American farmers and Native Americans who said the federal government cheated them out of loans and royalties from use of natural resources.

The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 “closes a long and unfortunate chapter in our history,” Obama said during the ceremony.

The bill provides $3.4 billion to American Indian tribes for past royalties from oil, gas, and timber extraction from their lands.

And $1.15 billion goes to African-American farmers who said they have been unfairly denied federal loans and other assistance.

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(Washington Informer) Twenty-five percent of African-American households suffered from food insecurity in 2009—compared to 11 percent of white households—according to the most recent data on hunger released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Food insecure households are those that struggle to put food on the table at some point in the year. Nationally, one in seven—or 14.7 percent—of U.S. households experienced food insecurity in 2009.

“The national figures are record-breaking, but the fact that such a disparity exists between African-Americans and whites shows that we must call on Congress to do more—especially for communities with the greatest need,” said Rev. Derrick Boykin, northeast regional organizer for Bread for the World. “Congress must act now to ensure that programs designed to mitigate hunger are well-funded.”

This year, participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP (formerly called food stamps) hit record levels. African-Americans comprised 22.6 percent of the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits each month. Ninety percent of African-American children will receive SNAP benefits at some point before age 20, compared to 49 percent of all U.S. children.

Nearly 35 percent of African-American children currently live in households that struggle to put food on the table, compared to 16.7 percent of white children.

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(Daily Press) Former U.S. Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday that a lack of diversity in the Obama administration might have led to her hasty dismissal after a doctored video of one of her speeches made her a target of conservative bloggers.

Sherrod said no African-Americans were involved in the direct discussions prior to her being forced to drive to the side of a Georgia highway and submit her resignation.

“There was no black person in his inner circle who could even talk about this, to say, ‘hey, you ought to look into this.’”

She said that the lack of the diversity ran from her bosses at U.S.D.A. all the way to the White House and that no person of color was among the dozen people who discussed her fate.

Instead, Sherrod said her dismissal came after a series of phone calls from U.S.D.A. deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development, Cheryl Cook, who eventually told her that the White House wanted her resignation.

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(The Hill) Shirley Sherrod’s firing at the Agriculture Department (USDA) has put the national spotlight on the agency’s troubled civil rights history.

And it reminded several black farmers’ advocates that the USDA has had to address charges of racism in the past.

Anger toward USDA by black farmers is not new. Thousands of civil rights complaints have been filed against the department after many black farmers were denied loans and other federal assistance over the years.

But Sherrod’s swift firing, based on edited video of a speech she gave — something Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has since apologized for — has reignited those feelings.

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(Atlanta Journal Constitution) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today he is reconsidering his department’s decision to fire a Georgia official in wake of new details about her controversial speech to the NAACP.

Vilsack said in a statement early Wednesday morning that he will “conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts” about his decision to ask Shirley Sherrod to resign. Washington’s apparent reversal came hours after a video of Sherrod’s full speech was released, and the director of rural development in Georgia was defended by the white couple at the center of the controversy.

The full, uncut video of a federal agricultural official’s NAACP speech purporting racial scheming, told a different story than the barely-three-minute snippet that cost Sherrod her job.

Despite admitting in the edited version of the taping that she once withheld help to the couple on the basis of race, Sherrod was defended Tuesday by the wife of a white Georgia farmer.

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(AP) The Obama administration on Tuesday offered $1.3 billion to settle complaints from female and Latino farmers who say they faced discrimination from the Agriculture Department.

The proposal comes as Congress is poised to approve a $1.25 billion settlement with African-American farmers in a similar discrimination case. The agency also is negotiating with Native American farmers over another lawsuit.

Details of the latest offer were provided to The Associated Press by a Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement has not been finalized.

The Latino and female farmers, whose lawsuits were filed a decade ago, have sought a larger settlement, and Stephen Hill, an attorney representing Latinos, suggested the cases remain far from being resolved.

Under the proposal, the government would reach out to farming communities to make women and Latinos aware of the settlement. Successful claimants could get a maximum of $50,000, but the awards could be lower depending on how many people win claims.

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