Policy of racial quotas is becoming very obvious for what it really is, namely, the dispossession of the Founding population of this Nation.
In addition to all the other ways that the Shirley Sherrod fiasco made the Obama administration look bad, it also dredged up the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s checkered history on racial issues. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack himself referred to it as justification for Sherrod’s initial banishment.
But while the department unquestionably has overlooked minority farmers in the past, giving rise to lawsuits and expensive settlements, it’s actually made great strides—as farmers interviewed for the Weekly’s recent cover story (“This Is My Country,” July 14) made clear. These days, the USDA is considered the best source of funding for minority farmers, according to sources in Yakima Valley’s Latino farming community.
In fact, the USDA’s Farm Service Agency has a loan program specifically targeting “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.”
“The FSA is the only [lender] that doesn’t require a down payment,” notes Malaquías Flores, head of a program at Washington State University that helps aspiring Latino farmers find funding. The FSA also offers low interest rates to minority farmers, he says.