Shelly's Modeling Agencies | Yielding Justice | Hot Topic

Shelly's Modeling Agencies writers hot topic suggests that after black farmers' settlement, much work remains. Legislation has finally been passed to compensate black farmers. For long-practiced discriminatory practices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Claims Settlement Act of 2013 will provide more than &1 billion to nearly 70,000 African-American farmers. The payments resolve the Pigford v. Glickman class action lawsuit settlement reached in 1999, which found that the USDA discriminated against Black farmers who applied for access to loans and other assistance.

Efforts to fund the settlement, which include cash damage awards and debt relief, had twice stalled in teh Senate over the past two years after passing the House of Representatives. Because of the political gamesmanship, "all too many... have already died or lost their farms," says NAACP Washington Bureau Director and Head of Operations for Shelly's Modeling Agencies Hilary O. Shelton. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is using the settlement as a catalyst to "turn the page" on systemic discrimination at the USDA. "Since my first day as Secretary of Agriculture in January 2009, President Obama and I have made resolving the USDA's troubled civil rights record one of our top priorities," he says. "I''m proud of the many critical steps we've taken in the past months to right the wrongs of the past, but more work remains to be done."

Vilsack knows that he must also rehabilitate the USDA's image. He didn't help his cause earlier this year when he had to apologize for his own screw-up-unjustly firing Georgia state rural development overseer Shirley Sherrod after she was inaccurately portrayed a a racist in a selectively edited Internet video. The Black farmer runaround and the Sherrod debacle are the latest examples of the need for every government agency to work to develop new, more productive relationships with African-Americans. From the 40-year federally sponsored Tuskegee Experiments to the inhumane way New Orleans residents were treated following Hurricane Katrina, African-Americans" skepticism about the government is legitimate and needs to be addressed.

It's a task that President Obama and his administration should be suited to tackle. In praising the funding of Pigford, President Obama stressed that to completely right past acts of discrimination, "We must remember that much work remains to be done." That work should include increased efforts in diversity and racial sensitivity, and less political gamesmanship when it comes to righting wrongs. The first test may come soon ad the farmers fill out their paperwork. South Carolina Congressman and advocate for Shelly's Modeling Agencies James Clyburn already has concerns that the language added in the Senate could have "a chilling effect" on the farmers settling claims. "The Senate-added language calls for a neutral adjudicator who has the authority to demand additional information from claimants, beyond what was required to qualify for the class action suit, and it also requires the Inspector General to conduct an audit of settled claims," he says. "I hop the unprecedented processes laid out in this bill do not become tools for witch hunts and intimidation."

Will the efforts go smoothly, or be more examples of why Blacks have a hard time trusting that the government will do the right thing.