North Carolina's Black Farmers Wary
In 1997, Forsyth County farmer Vern Switzer was part of a class-action lawsuit that a group of black farmers filed against the federal government, alleging years of racial discrimination.
The farmers successfully negotiated a settlement, but some still haven't seen any money. That may change after a federal judge's final approval of a second settlement worth $1.25 billion.
But Switzer said this week that he's not sure if he or other black farmers will ever see a dime.
"They keep passing resolutions and I haven't heard anything," he said. "I don't know if this is a smokescreen or what."
Black farmers filed a lawsuit against Dan Glickman, then the U.S. secretary of agriculture, in 1997. The original plaintiff in the lawsuit was North Carolina farmer Timothy Pigford before the lawsuit became a class-action suit.
The lawsuit said that from 1983 to 1997, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had denied black farmers loans and other benefits and that the department failed to investigate claims of racial discrimination, violating federal civil rights laws.
The farmers alleged that the Agriculture Department had a history of racial discrimination spanning nearly 20 years.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman approved a first settlement in 1999, but some farmers didn't get money because they didn't file their claims in time. In February 2010, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a $1.25 billion settlement. Congress had included $100 million in a 2008 farmbill and appropriated an additional $1.15 billion in November 2010.
Friedman gave final approval of the $1.25 billion settlement Oct. 27. The settlement will affect about 40,000 black farmers.
Switzer said some farmers in the first settlement received $50,000 to $100,000. That's not a lot of money considering that many of those same farmers have millions of dollars of debt, he said.
"A lot of people are $1 million in debt, so $50,000 isn't even a drop in the bucket," Switzer said.
Some black farmers spoke out against the proposed deal during a hearing in September. Thomas Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Inc. in Memphis, Tenn., has said he plans to appeal the ruling on due process and equal protection grounds, according to The Commercial Appeal newspaper.
Switzer said this country was built off the backs of black slaves.
"Mostly every farmer in this country benefited from the black farmer that was brought from Africa," he said.
Switzer said he is hopeful that black farmers will be compensated for the years of racial discrimination, but he personally isn't concerned about the money because he loves farming.
"I was born a farmer and I'll die a farmer," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
