The United States Department of Agriculture has reached a 1.25 billion dollar settlement with black farmers, but it still requires Congressional approval.
The settlement will pay farmers up to 50-thousand dollars each. It’s to compensate them for racial bias by the USDA against black farmers who applied for loans years ago and were denied.
Mildred Whitehead’s father Glover had a farm in Hawkinsville and died ten years ago at the age of 90. She filed a settlement claim on behalf of her family. She says times were always hard.
“To my knowledge he were never able to get a loan and I could never understand why, and to this day I really, really don’t understand the nature of why he didn’t get it.”
Ten years ago the federal government settled another lawsuit brought by black farmers. But many farmers, especially in the south, did not get any money from it because they learned about the program too late.