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CNN Live Today

In Nation's Capital, Dozens of Black Farmers Rallying in Washington

Aired August 22, 2002 - 12:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to the nation's capital now, where dozens of black farmers, complete with tractors, and even livestock, are rallying in Washington today. They say the seeds of racism have been growing at the Department of Agriculture, and they are the victims.
CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joins us live from the USDA.

Hi there, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka.

And it's been a longstanding complaint for decades that the United States Department of Agriculture has been a hotbed of racists treatment of black farmers, whose numbers have been dwindling over the decades.

In 1999, here in Washington, they won a massive class-action suit in which the government admitted discrimination, and that black farmers who qualified they were told they could get a minimum of $50,000 plus loan forgiveness, each of them, as a penalty from the government.

Now the complaint, which was brought by 60 farmers today, and a couple of mules and a couple of tractors, the complaint is that the Agriculture Department has been dragging its feet , and thousands upon thousands of them have not gotten the payments that they deserve, because of bureaucratic red tape, and they said a continuation of racism. Racism, they also say, which is manifested, manifested by the much longer period of time that it take as black farmer to get a loan than it does a white farmer, something like 223 days versus 60 days.

So what the black farmer's organization is saying is that there has to be a moratorium on foreclosures. Right now, they are talking to Agriculture officials. Officials are saying, give us specific cases, but the blacks are saying, give us a moratorium.

It has been a longstanding battle. The lawsuit was settled in 1999, but this is an issue that really strike a nerve among African- Americans in the United States. It goes back to the days of slavery and just beyond, and the promise for 40 acres, and the mythical promise of a mule, 40 acres and a mule, a promise that was never kept, and black farmers say, that the promises have not been kept since then. One other point, Fredricka, one of the mules that was brought here today, his owner named him "40 Acres" -- Fredricka. WHITFIELD: Well, Bob, the federal government knows how many people have been paid this $50,000, and in addition to the loan forgiveness, so is the USDA in any way responding to those who have not received the money?

FRANKEN: Well, the USDA, according to many farmers, is resisting almost every one of the claims. Now the USDA responds by saying, nearly 13,000 farmers have been paid, but that some of the other claims are questionable, and that some of the other claims are just still unresolved.

So the battle goes on. The black farmers say really what is happening is that they are a victim of the continuing racism in the USDA.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bob Franken, from the nation's capital, thank you very much much -- Anderson.

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