Many people like to say that we are now in a post-racial society because the US has elected President Obama, but that certainly isn’t the case. We still witness racial profiling, the proliferation of ethnically tinged lies, and face institutional barriers to equality. One area where Latinos are often the low men and women on the totem pole is in the agriculture industry. However, once upon a time, Latino owned farms and ranches thrived throughout the American Southwest, and we weren’t necessarily on the lower rungs on that ladder. My own family has roots in these agrarian institutions.
So today when I read this article about how Hispanic farmers have been treated by the US Department of Agriculture when filing claims for assitance that white farmers seem to have no trouble receiving, I was saddened.
Nine years ago a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Latino farmers from Texas to California alleging that the USDA discriminated against them by refusing to assist with disaster relief and then neglecting to investigate complaints.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that hundreds of discrimination complaints by minority farmers have not been processed by the USDA as indicated by a General Accountability Office report.
What makes the case of the Latino farmers frustrating is that African-American farmers have filed a similar suit as a class action back in 1999 and have been awarded a $1 billion settlement. This particular suit went before a different judge.
Just last month when I was in Washington D.C., I attended a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Conference session on Latinos and agricultural issues, and some of the attendees brought up this particular case in an open comment session.
Fortunately, the current Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has been trying to stamp out discrimination within his agency saying last month, “From the moment I became the secretary of agriculture, my message has been clear: discrimination in any form will not be tolerated at USDA.”
This issue of discrimination against Hispanic farmers is one that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus would be wise to jump on, especially as the movement toward more locally grown produce takes hold in the US given the economic and environmental consequences of big agribusiness. In glancing through the CHC press releases for the past 12 months, I haven’t seen any statement by the Caucus on this issue. Hopefully, they are doing something behind the scenes that we don’t know about.
10 responses so far ↓
1 PMG! // Oct 22, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Love to hear more about the conference!! And did you manage to catch the Bracero exhibit at the Smithsonian? It absolutely took my breath away…
Anyway, they probably touched upon this, but what the Bush administration did the USDA was horrifying. Budgets were slashed and policies were quashed. Vilsak was not my ideal choice of Secretary of Agg. but he’s been an effective leader and hopefully will get the USDA back up from being out…
2 BettyM // Oct 23, 2009 at 9:32 am
Obviously there are serious problems with the USDA or Mr. Vilsak would not have commented on discrimination issues within USDA. This is an outrage!
3 El Cholo // Oct 23, 2009 at 9:42 am
Don’t expect any real changes in the USDA for at least four years. Bush appointees and career bureaucrats are still firmly entrenched deciding who gets what, what gets subsidized and how much tax dollars they’ll parlay to Archer Midland Daniels, and their subsidiaries. And don’t expect the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to even utter a word in defense of Latino farmers getting the shaft. This is way too deep of an issue for those flojos to even decipher. Especially those flojo Congressmen representing Congressional districts in Texas, who should know better. Are you listening Silvestre Reyes? Or are you still focusing all your energies hiring exclusively under 25 year old female staffers, and determining the differences between Shi’ite and Sunni jihadists.
4 Reyfeo // Oct 26, 2009 at 10:11 am
Your savior NObama could with the stroke of a pen change this, but he won’t…at what point does he take responsibilty for these actions…!!??
5 El Cholo // Oct 26, 2009 at 5:25 pm
You’re not very bright are you Reyfeo. .. He’s President Obama, not Dictator, Tyrannical Lord Cheney. Or maybe that’s too difficult for you to grasp, mister one stroke of the pen.
6 Reyfeo // Oct 26, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I have been accused of being rude from time to time Cholo…like you said they are appointed and hence serve at the will of the POTUS…BUT, NObama could easily find new cronies to liberate the USDA of these tyrants (gasp!!).
What’s funny is you never seem to slam NObama for anything, its always Bush’s fault…i’m bright enough to know we’ve elected a new POTUS and the Bush Lied Kids Died slogan is overused and out of tune…you nee start to laying blame where it’s merited-?NOBAMA!!
sincerely,
“One Stroke”…..lolololl!!!
7 DoctorH // Oct 26, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Now back to our conversation…
What about that Congressman from Texas 27th Congressional district, Solomon Ortiz, the one who gets all that money from American Crystal Sugar and Chase Credit Card Services and has never written any legislation? He’s sponsored 157 bills in thirty years in Congress, so he’s moving at the same snail’s pace as Loretta Sanchez. Why isn’t this Congressman pegged to assist those Latino farmers in his district?
8 Anna // Oct 29, 2009 at 1:17 am
Reyfeo, you’re right. Obama has the power to change it, but don’t hold your breath.
9 Reyfeo // Oct 29, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Thats my point..El Cholo can hate Bush all he wants (I have issues with him myself) but its time to lay blame where it belongs…NObama!!
10 FormerStaffer // Nov 1, 2009 at 11:07 am
Who says ignorance isn’t bliss?
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