Call Me a Skeptic: USDA and Funding for Discrimination

Call me a skeptic if you wish. It seems that we have been down this road before. The terrain looks terribly familiar and the potholes, they look pretty much the same. 

Many of us are familiar with the machinations of Pigford I and then Pigford II. Though Pigford I was  class action suit back in 1999 under the direction of Judge Friedman, it contained a lot of money, a lot of lawyers, and restrictions that made things maddening for Black farmers. For instance, class counsel on the one hand waived discovery, but yet made off like a bandit in terms of money for their services. Again, the demand for Black farmers was to find a "similarly situated" white farmer with whom to compare and contrast so that racism could be proved. Whoever heard and that and who would ever agree to such a requirement? Billions of dollars were paid out to lawyers and to farmers. Most farmers I know wanted debt relief, not the promise of the $50K plus tax relief if settled under Track A or an undetermined amount if settled under Track B. What they wanted was to be relieved from the onerous burden of debt which had been demanded of them despite it being the fault of someone else. Only 371 Black farmers out of 16K actually received debt relief. 

Yes, we've been down this road before. 

Back a few years ago, we thought all was to be settled under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. I wrote about that. You can check that out here. No need to repeat the same words. The promise of 100% of debt relief plus 20% for taxes was halted in two courts across the land as a result of white farmers saying that they deserved some of that money, too. The key here is "slow walking" and big bank involvement. There is a lawsuit in federal court about these matters. 

Then, President Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Again, I wrote a few words about that to President Biden, complete with political satire. You can find them here. No need to repeat them here. Bottom line? White farmers got debt relief as did Hispanic, Asian, and Native Americans, but not Black farmers. That was to have been done out of the $3.1B congress appropriated. We know of eleven or so Black farmers who were relieved of their debts. Eleven out of some 2,900 who have loans with USDA? We have moved from Black to Socially Disadvantaged and now to "distressed producers." Who would not qualify? 

Now comes the final focus. Precisely $2.2B has been allocated to those who can prove that they have been discriminated against. I have attended three Zoom calls with the USDA and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. Here is a brief summation. 

The web page is now up and running. Check in here for complete details here for the announcement and check in here for next steps. 

Here are a few points of summary:  1) prove you have been discriminated against by filling out required or optional forms, or by supplying them to the hub; 2) a national entity is in charge of it all (is this even legal?); 3) work via one of two hubs in whichever region you reside (they are found in the links above); 4) feel free to get free advise from one of eight "cooperators" that are also found above; 5) this is a free process, so do not go and hire an attorney, but if you do, their fees are your responsibility; 6) the documents may be submitted via portal or copies at a local FSA office; 7) the list of documents required and/or requested is quite lengthy, so get started now; the deadline for submission is October 31; 8) this is not a first come first serve process; 9) all documents of all those who submit will be evaluated and the entity in charge will decide how much you are to receive; 10) the limit for payments is $500K; 11) per the Zoom calls, do not expect anything close to that; 12) the final word is the final word, i.e., there is no appeals process as what you receive is what you receive; 13) this is not a lawsuit process but a compensation model; 14) there are several law firms out in cyberspace wanting your business, for a fee of course, and 15) white farmers' claims have diluted the pool of potential funding. 

There are several potholes in this process. First, if you trust the USDA, do not get legal counsel, but if you do not trust USDA, you might get legal counsel, or you might consider trusting one of the "cooperator" groups, if you see one that you trust, or if you know someone affiliated with them that you trust. 

The most eggregious aspect of the process is that there is no appeals process. Coupled with that, an outside entity decides what your compensation will be. What is offered is the bottom line. Accept it or reject it. I have yet to hear of a complicated process like this that does not have an embedded appezls process. 

I have reviewed the materials. It all looks complicated to me. It is described as a simple do it yourself model. Perhaps it will be simple for many. 

The biggest grief I have with the process is that it was designed back in the day to attempt to level the playing field, one in which white farmers had all of the advantages and Black farmers received less than they deserved. How level is the playing field when Black farmers have lost land and productivity on the land from 1920 to 1997 to the tune of $326B? 

So, the world is changing. The Supreme Court has ruled out affirmative action. It looks like similar processes are playing out at USDA. 

And, they ask us to trust them? 

I think we've been down this road before. 

Vilsack, White Farmers, Equity Commission, and Banks, What a Mess

A while back, in a blogpost on this blog, I lined out some pretty strong opinions about Secretary Tom Vilsack "slow-walking" processes such that white farmers will always be paid, but Black farmers will never find their debts cancelled as promised. 

Today, I'd like to add one more varible to the long list of dates and slow walking. The dates are set in stone from that previous post here. 

"1) March 3, 2021, Senator Warnock succeeds in getting his "Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act" passed. 

2) March 11, 2021, President Biden signs into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Within this package is section 1005 which allowed $4 Billion to be granted to farmers of color for debt relief of their direct loans. It also included section 1006 to the tune of $1.01 Billion for outreach, training, education, technical assistance, grants and loans, and other things related to minority farmers, or Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, a 2501 designation. The debt relief pack was shaped by Senator Warnock's legislation. 

3) The Miller v. Vilsack was filed in Texas on April 26, 2021. White farmers as a class are certified and the preliminary injunction signed by the judge. The white farmers claim reverse discrimination despite the fact that white farmers have received nearly all of the subsidies, coronavirus relief funds, and the funds from trump's failed war with China.

4) Faust etal v. Vilsack was filed on April 29, 2021 and the temporary restraining order granted on June 10, 2021. 

5) Winn v. Vilsack was filed on May 25, 2021. Defendants responded on June 4, a hearing was held June 16, and the judge issued the preliminary injunction on June 23, 2021."

Point is that Vilsack had more than enough time from the moment that President Biden signed the ARPA of 2021, and even before the ink dried, he could have had things in place. After all, the USDA does have computers, does it not? And it has records of every direct or guaranteed load and to whom, right? Yes, I thought so. 

On May 19, 2021, Alan Rappaport wrote an article in the New York Times entitled, "Banks Fight $4 Billion Debt Relief Plan For Black Farmers."  Rappaport surfaces a letter from three banking entitities to Vilsack telling him that to cancel the debts of Black farmers would costs them a lot of money. 

So, there we have it, Vilsack sauntering down the highway of life while our people die. While the white farmers file their racist and foolish lawsuits that stop debt cancellation, and the bankers associations lodge their complaints, Vilsack does nothing. 

And, he's still doing nothing for Black farmers but for white farmers and corporate farms, he's doing a lot. 

Another blog post on this page, I ventured out with my opinion about the Equity Commission and what it's all about. We told Biden that it was a bad idea. We told Vilsack and others that it was a bad idea. We said, to make a long story short, that there is a plethora of reports and commissions and we don't need another commission report. We have enough of them, and the document will be filed away or something like that, I told a reporter from Politico. In this specific blogpost, I address the conflict of interest and ethics violations, ones that USDA is saying that are not so, but me and my friends say is so. 

And now, to put all of these things together, we have it under good authority that Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, President Biden's appointee for a third wasted term, is now doing an end run around congressional policies and law. 

In section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, there is a $1B fund that is equally divided across four sub-items. Each category will receive $250M per our sources. The Equity Commission is paid out of #5 and that's another story. Vilsack is allegedly going to allocate those numbers across items in the way he wants, drop the total number of dollars or Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers to $250K when the ARPA had the cap at $500K. And, item #5 for direct payments to farmers and ranchers will not be made now but will require applications and documentation for those funds. And, per one of my colleagues, "the use of funds for the other items will not save one Black farmer." 

Also, he is expanding the groups that will receive any sort of funding under section 1006. Once upon a time this was for Black farmers and then it got watered down to historically underserved farmers and now to a benefit pool of 80 per cent of all farmers and ranchers. 

Those details can get confusing. Let me say it this way, Thomas Vilsack is running USDA like a plantation and he is going to do what he damn well pleases unless we all reach out and stop him. 

Thomas Vilsack has no interest in doing right by Black farmers and other minority farmers. He is listening to his own white self and to the white interests of other farmers and ranchers and law suits. 

He needs to be removed from office immediately.