African-American Farmer Relief and Anti-Discrimination Act (HR 3998)

After Congresswoman McKinney successfully amended the 1996 Farm Bill to include a disparity study of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) policies, the Secretary of Agriculture, in 1998, reported that the majority of African-American farmers who applied for assistance with farm credit programs administered by USDA were discriminated against.

Congress passed legislation in 1999 lifting restrictions that would have prevented African-American farmers from bringing forward civil actions. However, in 2002, the US Court of Appeals ruled that African-American farmers who had filed a class action suit in 1998 were victims of virtual malpractice by their class counsel. As a result, the claims of thousands of African-American farmers who had filed suit were either poorly or fraudulently processed.

This bill seeks justice at last for these African-American farmers. It would provide debt forgiveness to African-American farmers who entered into loan agreements with USDA under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act. It would require payment of minimum relief to those farmers who whose claims were fraudulently or poorly processed.

While the events in question occurred mainly between 1981 and 1996, this remains an important issue. We cannot claim that we are committed to justice if we let the claims of victims of admitted racial discrimination slip through the cracks in a resistant bureaucracy.