Feb 11, 2025 Story by: Editor
MEMPHIS – Thomas Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, expressed confidence that the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will rule in the organization’s favor in its ongoing lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
During a press conference in Memphis, Burrell provided an update on the case.
“The mere fact that we [were] going to be able to go to Cincinnati and make oral arguments speaks volumes about the validity of our claim,” said Burrell, noting that oral arguments concluded on Jan. 30. “Congress intended for these heirs to be paid. We argued that USDA made the switch and that DFAP [Discrimination Financial Assistance Program] is unconstitutional… because of the defects in it, because of the fact that it denied individuals a fundamental promise… to be able to inherit real and personal property.”
In the summer of 2024, the USDA began issuing $50,000 payments to Black farmers who had been discriminated against by the federal agency. These payments were part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated $2.2 billion for compensation. However, heirs of Black farmers who faced discrimination before 2021 were excluded from the program—Burrell noted that these heirs were not even allowed to apply.
The Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association challenged the decision in court, but after losing in the Western District of Tennessee, the case advanced to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. A ruling is expected within one to two months.
Founded in 1997 and based in Memphis, the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association represents over 20,000 members, many of whom were denied a share of the compensation. Among them is Nimon Willis, who traveled to Cincinnati to hear the association’s arguments. Willis, whose late parents and grandparents were sharecroppers, said the compensation would hold great personal significance.
“It would mean a great deal to me,” Willis said. “We know they don’t want us to have anything, but, hey, you got to fight for what you want. Nothing comes free.”
Burrell also revealed that the organization is collaborating with Tennessee Sen. Brent Taylor to bring the case to former President Donald Trump’s attention, hoping he might intervene and facilitate a settlement. Despite Trump’s proposed budget cuts and policy shifts, Burrell remains optimistic that those changes will not affect this case.
“We don’t believe that the administration’s cut to the government falls within the same category of protecting a person’s constitutional rights,” he said. “This is a slippery slope here what USDA is doing, and that is if you start denying this group a right to inherit property, when are you going to start denying people who own farms, who died years ago and set up trust and wills and estates for their children?” Source: Commercial Appeal
