Covid Relief Package to Include Billions for Black Farmers
Source: Rolling Stone
Covid Relief Package to Include Billions for Black Farmers
A provision sponsored by Sen. Rev. Warnock offers billions in debt relief to farmers of color after decades of government mistreatment
By TIM DICKINSON
Rod Bradshaw stands in a field on his farm near Jetmore, KS, Wednesday, January 13th, 2021. Bradshaw, who claims to be the last Black farmer in Hodgeman County, is concerned that systemic discrimination by government agencies, farm lenders and the courts have reduced the numbers of Black farmers in the United States from about a million in 1920 to less than 50,000 today.
Charlie Riedel/AP
The Covid relief package is providing a platform for a historic Senate newcomer to deliver for a long-struggling constituency: black farmers. Led by Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Senate Democrats are touting a $5 billion provision in the relief bill that will wipe out federal debts for farmers of color, and invest in reforms to help these farmers build generational wealth by keeping their family farms in the family.
On a call with reporters Wednesday, Warnock celebrated the inclusion of the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act in the $1.9 trillion Covid package. Warnock said Democrats were acting to “ensure equity in our recovery efforts and address longstanding injustices that have left some communities behind for far too long.” The newly elected Warnock, who is the first black senator to serve from Georgia, underscored that this federal assistance “will not only help farmers of color, but will also lift up the economies of our rural communities working to recover from the economic turndown.”
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Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/reparations-black-farmers-warnock-covid-relief-package-1136193/
Led by Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Senate Democrats are touting a $5 billion provision in the relief bill that will wipe out federal debts for farmers of color, and invest in reforms to help these farmers build generational wealth.
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