On the home page, Dan Foster has an article about the controversy surrounding the federal government’s settlement of the Pigford v. Glickman class-action lawsuit. The Pigford case was brought be black farmers who claimed that they were denied loans by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on a racially discriminatory basis. The evidence suggests that during the relevant period of time, 1983–1997, some black farmers were, indeed, discriminated against (there’s also evidence that the mechanism employed by the USDA to process and approve loans was a train wreck).
At some point during the litigation, politics and politicians intervened and the evidence necessary to establish eligibility to be part of the class was radically diluted. As a consequence, a flood of claims came in. There now are more than 90,000 claimants seeking compensation of at least $50,000 (one settlement was for $13,000,000). More than $2.25 billion will be paid out.
The problem is that during 1983–1997 there were nowhere near 90,000 black farmers in the entire United States. How many were there? The USDA says that in 1997 there were 18,500. And as Dan points out, even the most expansive estimate of the number of black farmers during the relevant period puts the figure at just 33,000.
Now, if every single black farmer in the United States (times three) had been discriminated against by the USDA, that should be an epic scandal with major repercussions. Yet it’s unclear that the federal government has taken any steps to address what appears to have been rampant racial discrimination by USDA.
Although Pigford is a matter normally addressed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, it’s unclear whether the agency will do so (a few of my colleagues are interested in the topic). There are scores of questions that must be answered: Who, if anyone, was disciplined for this massive discrimination? Has the system that permitted unbridled discrimination to occur over a 15-year period been scrapped or significantly reformed? How could discrimination on such a mammoth scale go undetected for so long? Have legitimate claims been squeezed out by, or subordinated to, fraudulent claims?
Hey, it’s only a couple of billion dollars. And rampant racial discrimination by the federal government. And possible massive fraud. And cynical political opportunism. And, apparently, galactic governmental incompetence.
Nonetheless, maybe someone should look into it.