Making restitution

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Talk about a disappointing harvest.

A federal initiative that was supposed to reverse years of government bias in lending to thousands of African-American farmers has come up far short.

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture pledged to pay as much as $2.3 billion to tens of thousands of farmers and their families, only about one-third that amount has been distributed. ...

A 1999 legal settlement committed Washington to redressing racial bias in federal loan programs that all but crippled the livelihoods of thousands of African-American farmers.

Over decades, black farmers were denied loans routinely, or loaned less than white farmers whose credit ratings were similar. The result was a devastating attrition rate, with 40 percent of the nation's black farmers leaving the land since the early 1980s.

The legal settlement of farmers' claims called for restitution in the form of expedited cash awards starting at $50,000 for each farmer. Existing federal loans ranging up to $150,000 per farm also were to be forgiven, and other steps were planned to provide technical assistance needed to help sustain African-American farmers. ...

Given the shameful bias black farmers were subjected to for years, federal officials should have made sure red tape didn't snarl claims.

Instead, their dismal track record has sown more injustice.