Black Farmers Still Losing Ground
By Stephen Patterson
In These Times
December 10, 2010
http://www.inthesetimes.org/article/6741/black_farmers_still_losing_ground


A new federal lawsuit settlement won't stem the decline in
black land ownership, activists say.

It only took 11 years and 10 floor votes. In late
November, Congress finally agreed to pay black farmers
$1.15 billion in compensation for decades of
discrimination in lending practices and access to U.S.
agricultural subsidy programs. The claims stem from a
civil-rights lawsuit settlement reached in 1999 between
400 farmers and the government.

But even as payouts begin, America's black farmers are
still losing ground-literally. "It's not restitution for
what's been done," says Gary R. Grant, national
president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists
Association (BFAA). "Folks still don't understand that
farmers are continuing to lose."

The number of U.S. farms operated by black farmers
decreased by a staggering 97 percent between 1920 and
2007 (925,710 farms to 30,599) farms, according to
government statistics.

The BFAA, a national nonprofit organization based in
Tillery, N.C, with more than 1,500 members across the
country, works to reverse black farmers' losses by
connecting black farmers with services and monitoring
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). For the newly
settled lawsuit, known as Pigford II, BFAA worked with a
coalition of other black farmers' organizations to lobby
for relief through Congress, Grant said. The group is
now helping claimants obtain their due in the Claims
Resolution Act of 2010.

The total sum to be claimed by black farmers is $1.25
billion, as Congress approved $100 million under the
Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. (They aren't
the only group seeing justice: The Claims Settlement Act
of 2010 also included $3.4 billion in restitution for
Native American farmers, who won a lawsuit against the
government for losses due to mishandled trust funds. In
October, another group of Native American farmers won
$680 million in a discrimination lawsuit filed against
the USDA.)

But Grant says that because the approaching relief is no
panacea for black farmers, the organization is working
to call attention to the continued decrease in black-
owned farms before there are none. In October, BFAA
hosted its first annual Save the Land: Black Farmers
Benefit and Rally, in Tillery, to "bring awareness to
the plight of the continued decline of black farmers and
black land ownership." The event consisted of local
music, food and film screenings-all with justice for
black farmers in mind. More than 200 people attended the
event, says Grant, with representation from states
across the country. One of the films, We Shall Not Be
Moved: The History of the Tillery Resettlement Farm,
shows pre-Civil Rights era black farmers struggling
against racism and discrimination in the Tillery farm
community.

The BFAA is planning additional events in 2011, perhaps
in New York City or Washington D.C., to generate
awareness of black land loss and empower black farmers
to stand their ground. (Visit bfaa-us.org for more
information.) Grant says the goal is to educate the
public on the true standing of black farmers in America.
"The farmers who were involved in Pigford are still
trying to merely survive," he says. "Many people don't
understand that land is not only power. It is an
economic base that brings about independence and creates
safe spaces for people to stand their ground."

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