[asia-apec 1432] Call to Endorse the Rally for Black Farmers and Small Family Farms

[Anuradha Mittal]

Food First/ The Institute for Food and Development Policy is requesting 
that as many groups as possible endorse and post this event. Please 
email me at amittal at foodfirst.org. 

Many thanks,
Anuradha Mittal



**Congressional Representatives Support Family Farmers**

Congressional Representatives Join Rally for Black Farmers and Family 
Farms

USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, Washington, DC, May 8, 2000, 10:00 am

Co-Sponsored by Food First/ The Institute for Food and Development 
Policy 
& the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA)


Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Black 
Congressional Caucus, including Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Barbara Lee 
(D-CA), and Maxine Waters (D-CA), will join Black farmers and small 
family farmers from around the country in front of the United States 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) on May 8, to protest decades of 
on-going discrimination by the agency and to demand support for 
America’s small family farmers. This rally follows the March 6 and March 
20, 2000, arrests of 18 Black farmers at the USDA offices, when they 
tried to meet with the Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman.

The Rally for Black Family Farmers and the Family Farm Movement is 
co-sponsored by Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy and 
the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA).

In January 1999, lawyers representing Black farmers in a class-action 
suit against the USDA (Timothy Pigford, et al. v. Glickman) signed a 
consent agreement compensating each farmer with $50,000 for 
discrimination suffered in the distribution of loans and disaster relief 
by the USDA between the years 1981 and 1996. Now the USDA is stalling in 
paying the compensation.

According to Gary Grant, President of the BFAA, "the Consent Decree is 
no panacea for what has happened to us, but the terrorism with which the 
Decree is being implemented, with over 40% of farmers already rejected, 
it will lead to sure death of black family farmers in this nation."

The situation of Black farmers in the U.S. is very serious. In 1920, 
925,000 farmers were African Americans. In 1999, less than 18,000 
African American farmers remained. In 1990 a House of Representatives 
committee found that Black owned farms were going out of business at a 
rate five times that of white farmers, and that Black farmers, who 
represented less than 1% of U.S. farmers, were on the verge of 
extinction. Black farmers point to USDA discrimination as a major 
contributing factor in their declining numbers. To add to their woes, 
the Reagan administration eliminated the USDA's civil rights complaint 
division in 1983. That ended any federal investigation of complaints 
filed by minority farmers.

The rally on May 8 will inform the nation and the world of violations of 
the basic human rights of Black farmers by the USDA and the US Justice 
Department, as they continue to cause undue and unnecessary anguish for 
Black farmers and small family farmers. The rally is calling for:

o Fulfillment of the consent decree;
o Return of foreclosed lands to the Black farmers;
o Access to credit without discrimination in the future for all family 
farmers;
o Support for outreach, technical assistance and funding of education;
o Democratization of the USDA/Farm Services Agency;
o Full implementation of the Civil Rights Action team (CRAT) and 
National Small Farm Commission Recommendations;
o A Farm Bill to strengthen America's family farmers.

For more information, please contact Anuradha Mittal at 510-654-4400 or 
510-684-5993. A background report on the situation of Black farmers in 
the US, can be found at: 
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/2000/w00v6n1.html.



List of Endorsers:
The Center for Economic Justice, Washington, DC
The Edmonds Institute, WA
Grassroots International, Boston, MA
Pine Island Organics, FL
Richard Levins, Harvard School of Public Health 
Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst at foodfirst.org.
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