Dear     

Please join us in Washington, DC on April 26, 2006, at 9:30 A.M. in front the United States Department of Agriculture located at 14th and Independence Avenue in Washington, DC to
protest the Department of Agriculture's continuing discriminatory practices against Black farmers.

We demand that the Department of Agriculture:

• Stop discriminatory foreclosures.

• Provide Black farmers with equal credit opportunity.

• Include Black farmers in subsidy programs.

• Return money taken from farmers through offsets.

• Order the Office of Civil Rights to re-open thousands (over 9,000) of Black farmers complaints that were closed without an investigation.

• Revamp the County Committee System that discriminates against Black farmers. 

• Distribute program funds in a fair and equitable manner.

• Put a stop to US Marshal's/USDA blatant abuse of the laws of our land

• Restitution and/or remedy for farmers whose land/farms have been seized thru abusive and unlawful acts.

This is not the first time that we have demanded justice for Black farmers.  We have marched, sent petitions to USDA officials, filed complaints, and sued the Department of Agriculture in federal court with no satisfactory results of remedy and justice.

As a sought after remedy on the part of the Black farmers, in 1997, a class action lawsuit (Pigford v. Glickman) was filed on behalf of thousands of Black farmers across the country.  It was alleged that Black farmers have routinely been denied loans on the basis of race. 

As part of the settlement of Pigford v. Glickman, the Department of Agriculture agreed to pay $50,000 and debt cancellation to each farmer who established his (her) case.  Upon court approval on the
terms of the settlement agreement, a convoluted process was established to thwart payment and debt
relief for the farmers.  9,000 claims filed by Black farmers were denied.  More than 66,000 farmers were not notified about the settlement and were denied the opportunity to participate due to the imposed filing deadline.

Once again Black farmers petition for relief from discriminatory lending practices, and request that they be allowed to participate with equality and fairness in all USDA farm programs.

For decades, despite its promise that "no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color" the Department of Agriculture and the county commissioners discriminated against African American farmers when they denied, delayed or otherwise frustrated the applications of those farmers for farm loans and other credit and benefit programs.  Pigford v. Glickman, Opinion, pp.1-3 (D.D. C. 1998) Judge Friedman. Also see EWG and NBFA report Obstruction of Justice.

Black farmers have suffered as a result of this national disgrace.  Yet, discrimination continues, and Black farmers continue to lose their land. These issues need to be addressed or Black farmers will continue to disappear.  For example, in North Carolina, seventy per cent (70%) of Black farmers have disappeared and sixty four per cent (64%) of their farmland has been lost since 1978 to the present day.

The United States Government must assume responsibility for it's past and include African American farmers in its current programs.  If not, there will be no Black farmers participating in domestic food production.  Conditions for Black farmers are intolerable.  We will no longer accept being pushed off of "our" land.

It is a travesty that has happened and is happening to the Black farmer.  If left unchallenged other home and landowners who are not Black farmers will be subjected to the same type of discriminatory practices.  The egregious practices of those in power against those they consider "insignificant" citizens of all races must be stopped.

Discrimination against Black farmers and ranchers can be traced back to post Civil War.  We must not allow our story about Black farm families and their substantial contributions to the "American way of life" and what they did to help build the agricultural industry and this country be forgotten.  Black farmers and their supporters continue to meet in Louisiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Virginia and Texas to fight for their survival. 

Please come, join the non-violent fight for our cause, and rally with us at the Department of Agriculture on April 26 to put a stop to these continuing injustices.

Sincerely,

John Boyd
President, NBFA