With support growing on both sides of the aisle in Congress, backers of bills to end decades of discrimination against black farmers said they are optimistic about soon getting a possible fix.
 
Eight years ago, the government reached a settlement in a major discrimination case involving black farmers. But when thousands of black farmers filed claims, they were denied. Other black farmers did not receive adequate notice of the settlement, so they either filed late or did not file claims at all, according to farmers and their representatives.
 
For about an hour on Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee, headed by Democratic Rep. John Conyers, heard testimony on two bills designed to fix some of the problems with the 1999 settlement.
 
One bill, sponsored by Alabama Democrat Artur Davis, is co-sponsored by at least nine Democrats, as well as Republican Spencer Bachus of Alabama.
 
“There is a significant need for Congress to open up the process for those who did not have an opportunity to file claims under the Pigford settlement,” Davis told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “If we fix it right, Congress will not have to come back again. There is significant momentum to do it."
 
The Davis-sponsored HR 558 would:

• Allow farmers to file who did not receive proper notice of original deadlines.
• Use black media outlets to communicate to black farmers and their heirs.
• Appoint a third party monitor to oversee the process.
• Delay foreclosure on farmers’ property until a resolution is found.

Another bill sponsored by Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat, and Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, would allow the farmers whose claims have been denied to go back to court.

Davis does not agree with the provisions of that bill because he said that in a majority of discrimination cases filed against the federal government in district courts, the plaintiffs lose.

“People would think they are getting an opportunity for a day in court, and the only real day they would get in court is the day they file the complaint,” Davis said.

Scott countered that Davis' legislation, which calls for more aggressive notification and would help claimants avoid foreclosure, might be too much to get through Congress. And, he said, farmers seem to want another chance in court.

At issue is the 1999 settlement of a class-action lawsuit by black farmers -- mostly from the South -- who alleged the Agriculture Department routinely denied them loans because of their race. The department agreed to pay at least $50,000 to farmers who could show they faced discrimination.

About two-thirds of the 22,442 farmers who filed have won claims, and the government has paid almost $950 million in compensation, according to a court-appointed monitor.

A majority of the claims were not heard because there was not adequate notice, and farmers missed the deadline, said Byron Perkins, an Alabama attorney representing the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association.

The government estimates that more than 63,000 claims have not been heard because farmers missed the filing deadline years ago.

Tom Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association, one of several organizations lobbying for relief, said he has to be optimistic.

“We can’t afford not to be optimistic. We have to move now,” Burrell told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“The immigration situation is having a negative impact on black farmers,” he said. “They are talking about bringing in 30 million more people to do the same thing we were brought here by force to do. And now we are being denied the right to do it.”

Burrell, who lives in Tennessee, had been a farmer like his father and his grandfather before him. The discriminatory practices of the United States Department of Agriculture forced him out of business, he says.

Burrell was row crop farmer, growing cotton and soy beans on 4,000 acres in Tennessee until 1981. That’s when he said he was forced out of business by the practices of the USDA.
 
“Often when blacks applied for loans, they would actually receive them after planting season," he said. "Anything you get after the planting season is a liability. It’s not an asset because it’s too late.”
 
Burrell said he’s one among thousands forced from farming.

“In 1920, there were almost 1 million black farmers in America. Now, there are about 5,000,” he said. “We are about to celebrate the 231st anniversary of the greatest democracy known to mankind. Allowing a federal agency to violate the rights of those who contributed to that greatness is not only unconstitutional, it’s ungodly."
 
Davis said the next step is to negotiate to come up with product that can be supported by the full Congress. He said that he is encouraged by the fact Conyers is a co-sponsor of his bill.
 
“This was the first time in three years there has been progress on this issue,” Davis said. “The momentum is there.”

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Associated Press contributed to this story.