WASHINGTON�The National Association of Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association (BFAA) recently announced during a teleconference their endorsement of two congressional bills seeking to expedite the processing of payments owed them from a $2 billion class action discrimination lawsuit by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Republican-sponsored bills, drafted by House Republican Chairman J.C. Watts, Jr. (R-Ok.) and Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.), also seek to remove tax consequences levied against the financial settlement.

Conference participants included Eddie Slaughter, national vice president for BFAA; Tom Burrell, political strategist, BFAA; Willie Head, Jr. of Valdosta, Ga.; Dr. Ashanty Farid, South Alabama Rural Business Enterprises, Inc.; and Fernando Burkett, executive director of BFAA/Arkansas Chapter. Elroy Sailor, director of policy, House Republican Conference, moderated the news conference.

"It is a moral issue for us," commented Dr. Farid. "I think that our government intentionally, deceptively sought ways to take that land back from us and place us and our grandchildren into city slums. It is the same type of scenario that Hitler played out in Germany against the Jews�almost identical and it has to be the act of very evil minds because we have every right to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness in this country."

In April 1999, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman approved a $2 billion settlement�the largest civil rights settlement in U.S. history�between the USDA and Black farmers as a "fair resolution of the claims brought in this case and a good first step toward assuring that the kind of discrimination that has been visited on African American farmers since Reconstruction will not continue."

Since then, however, stringent qualifications have been placed on the farmers, causing many of them to be disqualified for the award. Those that have qualified and received the initial $50,000 compensation now face the hurdle of overcoming the higher tax bracket the award places them in with the Internal Revenue Service.

"No branch of government should further benefit from their discrimination of others," said Mr. Sailor. "The passing of this measure will protect the farmers from suffering additional injustice as Congressman Watts works to exact more pressure on the USDA to honor their agreement with the Black farmers."

To date, only 8,000 of the 20,000 farmers attached to the settlement have received any compensation. In addition, the settlement ($50,000 per farmer) and the promise of debt relief, does very little to eradicate the average farmer debt of $100,000 to $150,000.

H. CON. RES. 296 and H.R. 2233 respectively ask the Congress to expedite the settlement process to Black farmers and remove the tax consequences associated with their awards. Democrats defeated the first bill (H. CON. RES. 296), forcing the drafting of H.R. 2233.

"It hurt us to know that the Congressional Black Caucus helped to defeat a bill that could help us just because it was drafted by Republicans," lamented Mr. Slaughter. "How can you be a Black elected official and not see the importance of saving Black farmland?"

"We thought that they would help us. We won a lawsuit against the government that said we were discriminated against and of all people the Black Caucus has refused to help us�only because we are supporting people who are supporting us, who happen to be on the other side of government," said Mr. Burkett.

"The major media has played a �hear no evil, see no evil game� to keep the American public uninformed about the USDA�s continued discrimination and harassment of these hard working citizens," said Dr. Ridgley A. Mu�min Muhammad of Muhammad Farms. "Even after wining the out of court settlement, which the government brokered to keep the Black farmers� stories from being told in open court, the government is reneging on its agreement," he said.

Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman has refused to expedite compensation to the farmers, Dr. Muhammad said. Calls to Mr. Glickman�s office were not returned.

In published statements, Mr. Glickman has said that the USDA�s commitment to Black farmers and civil rights does not end with the attempt to administer the awards and that part of the past discriminatory problems are linked to the dismantling of the USDA�s civil rights division under President Ronald Reagan.