The New Nation - Internet Edition

THE US government's 'discrimination settlement' with black farmers was reopened as more than 70,000 potential claimants, the liability could exceed $3 billion - three times what was paid out under the original 1999 agreement - though the Congress approved $100 million in the budget for damages. The settlement was reopened to legislation that added to the farm bill passed late last year. The supporters acknowledge that the $100 million was an arbitrary amount that will not come close to covering the actual cost.

The decision to allow new claims came almost 10 years after the Department of Agriculture settled 'a class-action lawsuit' brought on behalf of thousands of black farmers. The farmers, mostly from rural areas in the South, alleged that local offices of the USDA routinely denied them loans, disaster assistance and other aid frequently given to whites - practices that often drove them out of business. At that time, 22,500 farmers filed claims and nearly two-thirds were awarded a total of $981 million in damages including one Virginia farmer who was awarded $6.6 million alone. An estimated 73,000 other farmers 'missed the October 1999 deadline for seeking claims'.

Democrat Representative Arthur Davis is the lead sponsor of the proposal in the US Congress to fix some amount of dollars to meet the provision because that's what the House rules require. Many were of the view that the six-month filing period was 'too short'. The farm bill provision gives another chance to anyone who filed late claims. Just days after it passed, more than 800 people sued in US District Court in Washington and lawyers working on the case expect the figure will go up by tens of thousands more.