WASHINGTON – Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI)
announced today that he is a co-sponsor of the Black Farmers Fairness
Act (H.R. 2233), legislation designed to spare African-American farmers
the negative economic and tax consequences resulting from their
successful class-action settlement with the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA).
On April 14, the District of Columbia's District Court
determined that thousands of African-American farmers had been
discriminated against by the USDA. The judge awarded each affected
farmer a $50,000 settlement, as well as forgiveness for debts resulting
from discrimination for the past injustices.
The legislation would lift the tax burden -- income and
estate taxes -- associated with both cash payment and the debt
forgiveness aspects of the settlement. The legislation also releases
class members from having to include the settlement benefits in
determining eligibility for federal assistance programs.
"Regrettably, this settlement has negative economic and
tax consequences resulting from the lump-sum payment," said Kennedy. "I
support this legislation because the federal government should not
profit from its own civil rights infraction."
The class-action settlement was designed to end decades of
complaints from black farmers who said they were shut out of USDA loan
programs, disaster assistance and other farm aid because of their race.
In 1920, 14 percent of farmers in the United States were black. By 1992,
that number had dwindled to 1 percent, and today it is even lower.
"This Congress has an obligation to finish what it started
last year when we voted to approve the settlement," said Kennedy. "We
have the opportunity to right a wrong and ensure that those who were
denied the opportunity to pursue the American Dream are not hurt further
by this settlement."
Black farmers documented countless instances of
discrimination, including racial slurs by USDA employees, and being told
that the government was out of money. Nearly 15,000 black farmers have
applied for a share of the multibillion-dollar federal settlement.
Kennedy is one of 19 co-sponsors of the bill introduced by
Congressman J.C. Watts Jr. (R-Okla.).