Justice: A Long Time Coming

It's time to Break It Down!

Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King is a staunch opponent of the Claims Settlement Act of 2010. Chances are you have never heard of it. President Obama signed the bill into law a week ago today, just ahead of the onset of the great tax debate of 2010. The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 is a $4.6 billion piece of legislation that includes the $1.15 billion Claims Settlement Act to compensate black farmers fro having been discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the $3.4 billion Cobell Settlement for Native American plaintiffs who claimed that U.S. Department of Interior officials mismanaged royalties from leases of tribal lands used to harvest oil, minerals, and timber. The sum of the Claims Settlement Act is in addition to a $1 billion settlement awarded earlier, making the total amount allocated to offset all claims by black farmers (more than 90,000) $2.15 billion.

Congressman King is joined in his persistent opposition by two other Republican Representatives, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia. All three House members support a congressional investigation into both settlements. They allege the claims are fraught with fraud and abuse.

Two weeks ago, in an effort to gin up support for his position, Congressman King, appeared on CNN’s John King Show, where he defended:

1. His contention that the bill had been promoted by a very, very urban (then) Senator Barack Obama.

2. His characterization of the settlement as Slavery Reparations

3. His assertion that the claims were riddled by rampant fraud

Where does one begin to deconstruct? There is so much material with which to work. Many people know urban is frequently used as code for pejoratively referring to blacks from the inner city. Mr. King insists that he did not. In fact, he indicated, in response to intense reaction to his comments, he had to go and look it up:

• “We had to go look this up to try to figure out how anybody could hyperventilate over calling the president a very urban, actually a very, very urban president, or a very urban senator at the time. He comes from a very urban area. It is not something that would ever occur to anybody in my background that that would be something that could some kind of racial pejorative. It’s just simply, he comes from the city, that’s urban. You come from the country, you’re rural.”

Fair enough. To make more of that, one would have to debate the Congressman’s intent. I have no doubt a great many people would, and in fact have done so. I don’t think I need to. You have seen both his comments, and his subsequent defense. You may decide that one for yourself.

In his initial speech, on the floor of the House of Representatives, Congressman King argued, forcefully, “We are not gonna pay slavery reparations in the United States Congress. That war’s been fought. That was a century ago. That debt was paid for in blood and it was paid for in the blood of a lot of Yankees, especially.” This type of diversion is frequently referred to as a straw man; fundamentally specious:

• The topic of Slavery Reparations is a familiar and frequently explosive one. As made evident by his line-in-the-sand posture, Representative King views this as a particularly weighty matter. However, the simple truth is, the settlements have nothing whatsoever to do with either reparations, or slaves. These agreements were designed to compensate American citizens, most whom happened to be black, because they were discriminated against while pursuing their livelihood, ostensibly because they were black.

Representative King also described the claims made by African American farmers who were discriminated against by the USDA in the 1980’s and 1990’s as fraudulent. This is yet another assertion that appears inconsistent with record, and that is not supported by investigatory research:

• The USDA has admitted that it denied loans to claimants in a discriminatory fashion, and that this pattern of discrimination was cause of most of the black farmers losing their livelihood.

• Moreover, a federal judge approved the second settlement after an FBI investigation.

• A USDA spokesman, called King’s allegations, “Nothing more than an attempt to derail an effort to provide long-overdue compensation to thousands of farmers who were discriminated against over several decades.”

• Out of 15,000 claims processed under the first settlement; the FBI determined that only 3 were fraudulent.

The current Administration has expressed a commitment to ensure that the new claims process is executed with integrity, and that it provides justice to those who have suffered discrimination. A familiar legal maxim dating all the way back to the 13th Century and the Magna Carta is, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

Over the nearly 30 years that have passed since the vile acts of discrimination were wrought upon a group of our nation’s farmers, undoubtedly, many of them have died. To those farmers, justice was unquestionably denied. But, to the survivors and heirs who participate in the settlements, I can imagine them harkening back to April 3, 1968, and channeling, not Representative Steve King, or CNN’s John King, or even John, King of England (upon whom the Magna Carta was imposed), but Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Indeed, “Justice: A Long Time Coming!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2010/12/president-obama-signs-claims-settlement.html

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-signs-bill-settling-black-farmers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_3Ei1VYWCQ

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2010/12/02/iowans-in-war-of-words-over-black-farmers/

http://politifi.com/news/Steve-King-Black-Farmers-Settlement-Is-Slavery-Reparations-VIDEO-1355860.html

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/moving_america_news/23865&page=2

http://www.radioiowa.com/2010/12/02/king-rails-against-slavery-reparations/

http://www.blackfarmers.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Bachmann

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Goodlatte

http://minnesotaindependent.com/74627/bachmann-king-fight-discrimination-claim-for-black-farmers

http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/rep-king-r-ia-accuses-obama-of-supporting-slavery-reparations-video

http://www.blogrunner.com/snapshot/D/0/1/steve_king_black_farmers_settlement_is_slavery_reparations/

http://www.mediaite.com/online/usda-responds-to-andrew-breitbart-and-rep-steve-king-on-black-farmer-settlement/

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/steve_king_black_farmers_settlement_is_slavery_rep.php

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2635266/posts

http://www.buzzbox.com/top/default/preview/history-and-geography-lessons-from-steve-king/?clusterId=2575860&id=17024758&topic=settlement%3Asteve-king

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/rep-king-equates-black-farmers-settlement-slavery-reparations/

http://okhenderson.com/2010/12/01/grassley-king-differ-on-pigford/

http://conversations.blackvoices.com/entertainment/99435682aaea4564b24369ed6fc90973/gop-says-obama-adva%20.../712ad1f579b94e29977dc7637872726b?sn=18

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/30/republican-calls-obama-ve_n_789723.html

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/254189/king-disputes-allegations-racism-brian-bolduc

http://www.youaredumb.net/

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=urban

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_for_slavery