Business
African American farmers yet to receive settlement
African American farmers who were denied loans by federal agriculture officials are still waiting for money from a class-action discrimination settlement signed into law in 2010.
More than two years after President Obama signed a law compensating African American farmers for decades of discrimination by federal agriculture officials, the farmers are still waiting for their money.
“It should not have taken this long,” said Thomas Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association. “Justice delayed is justice denied.”
Farmers in Louisiana, Mississippi and other states say they’ve waited long enough. “We have not received not one penny,” said Mildred Jackson, 81,who owns a family farm in Evergreen, La. “They’ve been doing reviews since last year… I’m sure they have a lot of lawyers working on it. Why is it taking so long?”
Jackson is among an estimated 40,000 African American farmers claiming money from the US$1.2 billion settlement, which ended a landmark discrimination case against the federal Agriculture Department.
Read more: USA Today