President Obama Honors His Campaign Promise to Black Farmers and Native Americans

I'm a straight-up city boy. I think that the only time I've been on a working farm was to take my youngest daughter on a field trip. The only other time was to take my son to his Pee-Wee football game that was played on a football field rented out by a local farmer. Neither of those farms were Black-owned.

As such, I haven't been as close to the situation with the decades-old claims of discrimination by African American farmers and Native Americans that the government mistreated and swindled them out of billions of dollars. However, I am glad the federal government is finally going to do right by these farmers and original Americans ... and that the settlement process will be starting soon.


My understanding is that President Obama is going to sign the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 authorizing payment of $4.6 billion to settle claims that arose in class-action lawsuits. This is another example of President Obama working with Congress to honor one of his campaign promises.

The package would award some $3.4 billion to American Indians for royalties for resources like oil, gas and timber. Another $1.2 billion would go to African American farmers who claim they were unfairly denied federal loans and other assistance.

Well done President Obama!