The following article addresses the issue of the disparity in farm subsidies of Black American farmers. Overwhelmingly, White farmers receive more U.S. government subsidies, than Black farmers, even in counties where the majority of farmers are Black.
This issue is nothing new to me, as I have been following the plight of Black American farmers and their litigation efforts against the U.S. government for years, and have read of the hells so many Black farmers have suffered at the hands of their government which beats them down as they are already reeling from drought, crop losses, and farm mortgage losses. This contempt and racist economic violence against Black farmers has been going on for decades:
PDF]American Black Farmers Project Overviewfarmers afloat, but have systematically excluded blacks from government. subsidized farm programs over the decades. Black farmers have been …www.americanblackfarmersproject.com/downloads/AmerBla…
PDF]House Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill Will Loc… discrimination in government farm lending. Analysis of payments to individual farmers and farm businesses shows that a subsidy gap. between black farmers … www.blackfarmers.org/pdf/07_25_07Release.pdf
Government considers putting black farmers on subsidy commit… WASHINGTON (AP)–The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to put more black farmers on the committees that have oversight in how federal farm subsidies are … |
The victory that Black farmers received against the government was symbolic, as always, with no lasting results that would protect them from further U.S. government mismanagement or racism in farm subsidies:
Brian Oliver Sheppard, Black Farmers and Institutionalized R…
May 3, 2000 … Some black farmers covered under the lawsuit are saying their victory …. more US government subsidies than any other corporation today. …
www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/323.html
In order to create a lasting policy of sustainable local capacity in the continued existence of Black farmers, especially in the American South, farmers who have much to offer in the way of small-scale and biodiverse farming (essential to food security and environmental sustainability), this government will have to come to terms with the always present question of race, and the legacy of a history of systemic racism fom the United States government , and in the USDA. The administration of President Obama must address the continued negative effects of the racist history of loans denied and subsidies destroyed that this government committed against Black farmers, as well as the present-day denial of farm subsidies to Black farmers. This country cannot have any honest discussion on this travesty until it confronts the decades-long legacy of race in the hypocrisy of farm subsidies that continue to give all to White farmers, and very little to nothing, to Black farmers.
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