America\u2019s \u201cBlack Attorney General,\u201d Civil rights attorney Ben Crump on Wednesday, October 12, announced a class action suit against the United States government on behalf of the National Black Farmers Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit comes amid findings that Black farmers lost about $326 billion of land in America because of discrimination during the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the announcement of the suit on the National Mall in Washington, Crump and the farmers claimed the federal government breached its contract with socially disadvantaged farmers under the American Rescue Plan Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farmers contend that the law included provisions to pay off USDA loans held by 15,000 African Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics and Latinos in the farming industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In August, Congress repealed section 1005 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which provided funding and authorization for the federal government to pay up to 120 percent of direct and guaranteed loan outstanding balances as of January 1, 2021, for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, breaking the government\u2019s promise and leaving farmers in foreclosure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Black farmers said they relied on the federal government to keep its promise to fund $5 billion to the farmers when it passed the American Rescue Plan Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBlack and other farmers of color did exactly what the government asked them to do. They maintained or expanded their operations to strengthen America\u2019s food supply during the COVID-19 crisis,\u201d Crump asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey believed the U.S. government\u2019s promises. They took Congress and the Administration at their word, expecting that the government would pay off their debt, as the USDA promised in writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInstead, it was 40 acres and a mule all over again, 150 years later \u2013 broken promises that doomed generations of Black farmers to become sharecroppers and robbed Black families of billions in intergenerational wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Crump at the helm, Black farmers across the country said they\u2019re prepared to fight for the money promised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m very disappointed in this legislative action,\u201d said John Wesley Boyd, Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmer\u2019s Association, a nonprofit representing African American farmers and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m prepared to fight for debt relief for Black, Native American, and other farmers of color all the way to the Supreme Court. I\u2019m not going to stop fighting this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n