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Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
LAWRENCE LUCAS President of USDA Coalition for Minorities
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
LAWRENCE LUCAS President of USDA Coalition for Minorities
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USDA Lacks Civil Rights
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Black Farmers Protest at CNNListen To Current Events Internet Radio Stations with New Orleans Wake Up on BlogTalkRadio |
Uncovering corruption in the Environmental Protection Agency |
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Lynette Brown Show Independent Black Farmers Pt.2
Black farmers are the real victims of USDA discriminationAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was direct, forceful and blunt when he said that the USDA does not tolerate racial discrimination. This was Vilsack’s widely circulated public explanation for firing Shirley Sherrod. There are two problems with this. One, the world now knows that Sherrod did not do or say anything to merit being branded a bigot and sacked. Vilsack and President Obama subsequently apologized to Sherrod and offered her her job back.
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Black Farmers: An Update Listen to internet radio with New Orleans Wake Up on BlogTalkRadio |
EEOC: RACISM IN THE 21st CENTURY |
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Racism in Government/NGOs and Environmental Injustice with Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, Lawrence Lucas, Norris McDonald and RueWe explore racism inside governmental and nongovernmental institutions and how their policies affect minority communities. Co-host is Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, EPA whistleblower and director of the Government Transparency and Accountability in the Green Shadow Cabinet. Lawrence Lucas is President of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and advocates on behalf of black farmers. Norris McDonald was the first black environmentalist and is president of the African American Environmentalist Association. Rue is an environmental activist who organizes with the community of Manchester in Houston, TX.
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MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY
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FARMING AND CIVIL RIGHTS
Witnesses testified about the operation of the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the role of the Office of the General Counsel of the USDA in addressing discrimination complaints pertaining to program delivery and employment. Representatives from the USDA, the National Black Farmers Association, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives examined civil rights issues in the farm industry, and the handling of civil rights complaints from USDA employees.
Rally For Black Farmers
Farmers and others gathered outside the Agriculture Department to protest on-going discrimination against minority farmers within the agriculture industry. At issue were loan grants, the treatment of small farmers, and the size of the bureaucracy at the Agriculture Department.
A Bittersweet Settlement for Black Farmers
Dec. 8, 2010, President Obama signed into law an historic discrimination settlement, known as “Pigford II,” which provides $1.15 billion to 75,000 black farmers. The settlement is a continuation of Pigford vs. Glickman, a class-action lawsuit brought against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1990s by black farmers for the decades of discrimination they experienced. Attorney General Eric Holder said, “This is a settlement that addressed a historical wrong, I mean something that this country is not and should not be about.”
FILIBUSTER USDA
WASHINGTON, DC - A group of women from as far away as California came to "Filibuster for Justice," taking place outside the Department of Agriculture. The women joined the "USDA Coalition of Minority Employees & Minority Farmers" to demonstrate while awaiting a positive response from Obama-appointed USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. For two years, Vilsack refused to meet with the group to discuss serious civil rights issues and concerns. The group asked that he meet with them to address the "racism, sexism, sexual assaults, bullying, racial epithet (hangman's nooses, use of the "N" word, the justification of a monkey doll), reprisals, initimidation, and hostile work environment."
Senator Charles Grassley Opens Whistleblower Summit and Recieves Prestigious "Pillar Human Rights" Award
Refusing to be intimidated or forced into the shadows, Michael McCray and dozen's of other whistleblowers from across the country are speaking out and converged on Capitol Hill to convene the sixth annual Whistleblower Summit. McCray has a passion for justice, and is on a mission to speak out against corruption through the halls of the Nation's Capitol.
The ACORN 8 and the USDA Coalition co-hosted this year's Whistleblower Summit a Civil & Human Rights Conference in Washington, DC. "Our conference theme was "WoW" Obama?' We were focusing on the Obama Administration's War on Whistleblowers; and federal workforce violence, or Obama's War on Women at USDA."
The ACORN 8 and the USDA Coalition co-hosted this year's Whistleblower Summit a Civil & Human Rights Conference in Washington, DC. "Our conference theme was "WoW" Obama?' We were focusing on the Obama Administration's War on Whistleblowers; and federal workforce violence, or Obama's War on Women at USDA."
FOREST SERVICE UNDER FIRE
WASHINGTON, DC - A group of women from as far away as California came to "Filibuster for Justice," taking place outside the Department of Agriculture. The women joined the "USDA Coalition of Minority Employees & Minority Farmers" to demonstrate while awaiting a positive response from Obama-appointed USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. For two years, Vilsack refused to meet with the group to discuss serious civil rights issues and concerns. The group asked that he meet with them to address the "racism, sexism, sexual assaults, bullying, racial epithet (hangman's nooses, use of the "N" word, the justification of a monkey doll), reprisals, intimidation, and hostile work environment."
The Agriculture Hit Man: USDA ignores 1999 class action, illegally revives debt and threatens whistleblowers
According to Lawrence Lucas, a retired employee of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and current president of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, the United States Department of Agriculture is not your garden variety government bureaucracy. In an interview, Lucas said USDA operates as a plantation—a closed society which operates by its own rules, outside of the rule of law.
Tom Burrel, President of the one of the few black farmers who actually received compensation for USDA’s discrimination, based on the 1999 consent decree and the Black Farmers' Settlement, goes even further. Burrell, who left a lucrative career in the automotive industry to return to his agriculture roots, says the USDA operates as a subversive agency, ignoring court orders and bypassing the Constitution. Burrell also says the agency operates its own intelligence and intimidation squad, targeting whistleblowers, farmers and critics. Violence is not unknown. Burrell likens these USDA operatives to the Gestapo.
Critics say the USDA is one of the most powerful federal agencies in existence, with a monster budget and little oversight. It routinely coopts political appointees, according to Burrell, and uses farm loan policies and procedures to eliminate disfavored minority and disadvantaged farmers.
Lucas says that the agency’s aggressive retaliation against critics, whistleblowers and farm activists is widespread and he is not surprised that a USDA manager, Shirley Shirrard came under fire. Many activists and farmers believe that Sherrord was targeted because she was so successful in assisting family farmers to keep their land. According to several congressional hearings, USDA has been following a 1972 Nixon era policy of eliminating family farmers and moving US agriculture to a “more efficient corporate farm model” for two generations. This process was described in a Congressional Hearing 40 years ago. (See: www.themilkweed.com/Issues_In_Depth.htm www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-17-2006-93693.aspand www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/151897 )
http://beforeitsnews.com/economics-and-politics/2010/08/the-agriculture-hit-man-usda-ignores-1999-class-action-illegally-revives-debt-and-threatens-whistleblowers-141282.html
Tom Burrel, President of the one of the few black farmers who actually received compensation for USDA’s discrimination, based on the 1999 consent decree and the Black Farmers' Settlement, goes even further. Burrell, who left a lucrative career in the automotive industry to return to his agriculture roots, says the USDA operates as a subversive agency, ignoring court orders and bypassing the Constitution. Burrell also says the agency operates its own intelligence and intimidation squad, targeting whistleblowers, farmers and critics. Violence is not unknown. Burrell likens these USDA operatives to the Gestapo.
Critics say the USDA is one of the most powerful federal agencies in existence, with a monster budget and little oversight. It routinely coopts political appointees, according to Burrell, and uses farm loan policies and procedures to eliminate disfavored minority and disadvantaged farmers.
Lucas says that the agency’s aggressive retaliation against critics, whistleblowers and farm activists is widespread and he is not surprised that a USDA manager, Shirley Shirrard came under fire. Many activists and farmers believe that Sherrord was targeted because she was so successful in assisting family farmers to keep their land. According to several congressional hearings, USDA has been following a 1972 Nixon era policy of eliminating family farmers and moving US agriculture to a “more efficient corporate farm model” for two generations. This process was described in a Congressional Hearing 40 years ago. (See: www.themilkweed.com/Issues_In_Depth.htm www.buzzle.com/editorials/4-17-2006-93693.aspand www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/151897 )
http://beforeitsnews.com/economics-and-politics/2010/08/the-agriculture-hit-man-usda-ignores-1999-class-action-illegally-revives-debt-and-threatens-whistleblowers-141282.html
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DISCRIMINATION
Participants from several minority organizations briefed reporters on discrimination within the Department of Agriculture and its impact on employees and services. They called for institutional changes and an overall “zero tolerance” within the department for discrimination of any kind. The USDA Coalition of Minority Employees was founded in 1994 to advocate such changes.
Independent Black Farmers Birmingham
THE NAACP OF ALABAMA SUPPORTS BLACK FARMERS IN A DISPUTE AGAINST THE USDA.
Bernard Simelton, President of the NAACP Alabama State Conference, said on Tuesday that his organization is joining with the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and others to pressure the Department of Agriculture to settle thousands of claims by black farmers that they have been discriminated against in their applications for loans and other federal assistance.
“The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP has received several complaints from black farmers that they continue to be denied equal treatment by the United States Department of Agriculture,” said Simelton, flanked by more than a dozen black farmers and NAACP
Bernard Simelton, President of the NAACP Alabama State Conference, said on Tuesday that his organization is joining with the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and others to pressure the Department of Agriculture to settle thousands of claims by black farmers that they have been discriminated against in their applications for loans and other federal assistance.
“The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP has received several complaints from black farmers that they continue to be denied equal treatment by the United States Department of Agriculture,” said Simelton, flanked by more than a dozen black farmers and NAACP
President Obama Sign Executive Order: Mandate Discipline For Public Officials Who Break Civil Rights Laws
We write to urge you, as head of the executive branch of government, to promote an end to unfairness, bullying and retaliation in the federal workplace by signing an executive order to mandate discipline for public officials found guilty of violating the civil rights of federal employees or the public they are to faithfully serve.
On May 15, 2002, Congress passed the Notification and Federal Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation (No FEAR) Act after hearing testimony that federal workforce abuse reduces government's ability to timely and adequately address vital public needs.http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/no_fear/pl_107-1743.pdfChronic problems of discrimination and retaliation against federal employees and customers (such as the Black, Hispanic and Native American farmers) they are to serve have costs taxpayers in the billions.
On May 15, 2002, Congress passed the Notification and Federal Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation (No FEAR) Act after hearing testimony that federal workforce abuse reduces government's ability to timely and adequately address vital public needs.http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/no_fear/pl_107-1743.pdfChronic problems of discrimination and retaliation against federal employees and customers (such as the Black, Hispanic and Native American farmers) they are to serve have costs taxpayers in the billions.