Obama Administration Leaves Black Farmers Hanging Financially

The federal government recently approved a $1 billion dollar settlement for over 80,000 African American farmers who were victims of consistent discrimination by the U.S. Agriculture Department. "The Pigford Case" dates back to 1999 and qualified farmers were set to receive up to $50,000 each to settle claims. Additionally, farmers can pursue claims for actual damages, going up to $250,000.

The problem is that the federal government refuses to pay. Well, at the very least, they have been dragging their feet on the settlement, much to the dismay of the black farmers affected by this discrimination.

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FOR USE WITH AFP STORY by Virginia MONTET, USA-music-theatre-history A recreated marquee welcomes guest to the Smithsonian's African American History and Culture exhibit "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment " on April 21, 2010 at the Smithsonian Museum of American History of Washington, DC. The exhibit opens to the pubic through August 29. The exhibit is also scheduled to go to Detroit and New York. AFP PHOTO/TIM SLOAN (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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FOR USE WITH AFP STORY by Virginia MONTET, USA-music-theatre-history (FILES) Jazz singer and piano player Nat King Cole plays with his jazz orchestra on the stage of the Apollo Theatre, in Harlem, in New York in the fifties. The Smithsonian's African American History and Culture exhibit "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment" opens to the pubic through August 29. The exhibit is also scheduled to go to Detroit and New York. AFP PHOTO/FILES/ERIC SCHWAB (Photo credit should read ERIC SCHWAB/AFP/Getty Images)

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FOR USE WITH AFP STORY by Virginia MONTET, USA-music-theatre-history The entrance to the Smithsonian's African American History and Culture exhibit "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment " on April 21, 2010 at the Smithsonian Museum of American History of Washington, DC. The exhibit opens to the pubic through August 29. The exhibit is also scheduled to go to Detroit and New York. AFP PHOTO/TIM SLOAN (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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FOR USE WITH AFP STORY by Virginia MONTET, USA-music-theatre-history Three dresses (R) worn by the 1960s singing group Supremes are on display at the Smithsonian's African American History and Culture exhibit "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment " on April 21, 2010 at the Smithsonian Museum of American History of Washington, DC. The exhibit opens to the pubic through August 29. The exhibit is also scheduled to go to Detroit and New York. AFP PHOTO/TIM SLOAN (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

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Roberta Randolph, of Oakland, California, sits in the living room of her daughter's home, April 15, 2010. Randolph was diagnosed about eight years ago with Alzheimer's disease. African Americans are twice as likely as whites to get the disease, but are much less likely to be diagnosed. (D. Ross Cameron/Contra Costa Times/MCT)

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Roberta Randolph, of Oakland, California, left, laughs with her son-in-law Nathaniel Mason in the living room of his home, April 15, 2010. Randolph was diagnosed about eight years ago with Alzheimer's disease. African Americans are twice as likely as whites to get the disease, but are much less likely to be diagnosed. (D. Ross Cameron/Contra Costa Times/MCT)

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Singer Leslie Uggams, left, speaks with National Museum of African American History and Culture founding director Lonnie G. Bunch, III, in a new exhibit about how the Apollo Theater shaped American entertainment, at the National Museum of American History in Washington, on Tuesday, April 20, 2010. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Lizzie Pryor, 53, mows the lawn outside her home in Baptist Town, a poor, African-American enclave of Greenwood, Mississippi. (Shashank Bengali/MCT)

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Vecepia Towery, center, the East Bay woman who became the first African-American winner of the TV show "Survivor" almost 10 years ago, gives instructions to Araceli Hernandez, left, and Shanese Ellis at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward, California, March 4, 2010. (Doug Duran/Contra Costa Times/MCT)

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Vecepia Towery, the East Bay woman who became the first African-American winner of the TV show "Survivor" almost 10 years ago, poses for portrait in Hayward, California, March 4, 2010. (Doug Duran/Contra Costa Times/MCT)

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The farmers have the right to pull out of the settlement and pursue individual claims against the government. That hasn't happened yet, but remains a possibility.

"Nobody's pulled out yet," said John Boyd, the head of the National Black Farmers Association, "but if we don't get things moving, it may come to that."

The US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says there is no question that the farmers are due their settlement. In a statement Wednesday he said, "I have met with and talked to key stakeholders and members of Congress reiterating the administration's ongoing efforts to close this chapter in the history of the department."

When it comes to the state of black farmers in America, I can't help but wonder why the US government, with an African American president and Attorney General, would allow the process to drag on for this long without being remedied. I presume that the Congressional Black Caucus is advocating for these farmers as well (or so I hope), so the question remains as to why there is a bottleneck in the process. Many farmers struggle economically, and the farmers and their families are in dire need of this money.

What's more interesting is that $50,000 is not a great deal of money when you've been turned down for critical financing to run your business. I argue that the impact of racial discrimination on the ability of black farmers to get the funds they need is far more devastating than the amount of money they are set to receive from this lawsuit. It is time for the federal government to cough up the cash, and everyone in the Beltway knows it.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.