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Friend, For countless farmers struggling with debt after the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lending programs were a necessary lifeline. However, Black, Indigenous and Brown farmers have long suffered from racial discrimination that cost them desperately needed USDA assistance. For example, the USDA distributed $9.2 billion in aid to farmers in 2020 under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Less than 3 percent of that relief went to the category of producers defined by the USDA as being underserved by federal farm programs, including farmers of color. To correct decades of injustice, systemic racism and admitted discriminatory behavior by the federal government, the USDA set aside $4 billion in loan forgiveness for farmers of color this March. On June 10, a federal court in Wisconsin issued a temporary restraining order on the relief funds, subverting the will of Congress and stopping relief to over 17,000 Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color who have suffered historic, systemic and ongoing discrimination in USDA lending programs. That’s why the Southern Poverty Law Center recently filed an amicus brief asking the court to allow the distribution of $4 billion in loan forgiveness and avoid compounding decades of discrimination. The brief was filed on behalf of the Rural Coalition, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers Land Loss Prevention Project and 23 additional farm, rural, environmental, health and civil rights groups, and includes statements from BIPOC farmers who will experience irreparable harm from this delay in federal support. Although additional lawsuits seeking to block the relief continue to be filed, the SPLC and our partner organizations will not back down. These lawsuits only serve to put our farmers of color further in financial peril, take them off their lands and inhibit their centuries-long struggle for equity in agriculture. Thank you for your ongoing dedication to fighting for racial and economic justice for all. Sincerely, The Southern Poverty Law Center
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