Thursday, August 12, 2010

How many Senators does it take to avoid paying black farmers?

Once again, here's a timely update to the plight of the black farmers who STILL aren't paid, months after the February 2010 court settlement, thanks to inexcusable delays in the Senate. Hat tip to rikyrah at JJP for posting story & link where I would see it. Comments have been light (nonexistent) on this update over at JJP so I'm cross-posting here for possible penetration.

Black farmers ask why some get aid and they wait
By Jasmin Melvin
WASHINGTON | Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:45pm EDT

(Reuters) - Black farmers involved in a decades-old discrimination case are questioning why the Obama administration has promised to hasten aid for some large-scale farmers in the South while their case is held up in political wrangling.

The administration pledged last week to find $1.5 billion to help farmers hit by natural disasters after it appeared unlikely the Senate would promptly fund the package.

Black farmers reached a historic $1.25 billion civil rights settlement in February to compensate them for being left out of federal farm loan and assistance programs for years due to racism, but are still waiting for funding.

There have been seven failed attempts by the Senate, including one last week, to fund the settlement...



2 comments:

CNu said...

comments are light because we are all so very far removed from the productive 14% of the economy from whence food, energy, and durable manufactured goods emanate.

that will change radically as the food-powered, make-work economy continues its inevitable and unending contraction and more and more people are compelled to discontinue their non-productive and unsustainable lifestyles.

ProfGeo said...

As an educator who has held divers and sundry jobs, I'm not looking forward to going back to some of the old ones. (That's a bit of a contradiction when read literally, but I'll leave it as a valid summary of my mindset at the moment!)