The US Senate has again stalled the United States Government from awarding thousands of Black Farmers and Native Americans over 4.6 billion dollars that have been promised for over a decade. In this case the Republicans have repeatedly blocked democratic proposals for approving the budget to award these groups their fair share of overdue funds.
The government already has paid out more than $1 billion to about 16,000 black farmers, with most getting payments of about $50,000. The new money is intended for people – some estimates say 70,000 or 80,000 – who were denied earlier payments because they missed deadlines for filing. The amount of money each would get depends on how many claims are successfully filed.For the Black Farmers it has been a battle for over 14 years and round two of the lawsuits for the 70,000 to 80,000 Black Farmers who were denied earlier payments of the lawsuit (Pigford v. Glickman) due to missed deadlines.
In The Native American case there is over 300,000 Native Americans who claimed they were “Swindled” out of royalties such as Oil, Gas, and Timber that were looked over by the Interior Department since 1887. This class action suit is still going since 1996 by Elouise Obell of the Blackfeet Tribe in Browning, Montana.
Title: Senate Stalls Again on Settlements to Black Farmers, Native Americans
Publication: Huffington Post, August 5, 2010
Author: Ben Evans
URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/05/senate-stalls-black-farmers-native-americans_n_672753.html
Faculty Evaluator: Cynthia Boaz, Sonoma State University
Student Researcher: Nzinga Dotson-Newman