Consumer Law
Minority Farmers Sue Federal Government for Allegedly Reworking Debt Relief Program
Minority farmers are taking the federal government to court for watering down a $4 billion debt relief program aimed at helping the dwindling number of people of color who continue to work the country’s farmlands, according to a lawsuit filed last week.
The plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit said the government went back on its word to Black and other minority farmers when the relief program, originally pushed through by Democrats in Congress, was reworked and broadened after white farmers balked.
“They broke their promise to Black farmers and other farmers of color,” John Boyd, a plaintiff and the president of the National Black Farmers Association, told NBC News on Wednesday just before he held a press conference on the matter.
