Eva M. Clayton: “Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to my colleagues' attention a high priority matter for rural and minority communities, the…”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to my colleagues' attention a high priority matter for rural and minority communities, the recent important activities surrounding the longstanding problem of discrimination against minority farmers within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Indeed, widespread unfair, unequal treatment of socially disadvantaged and minority farmers have been well documented for more than three decades. A GAO report, an inspector general's report, and an exhaustive Civil Rights Action Team report called CRAT are just the latest in a series of government initiatives examining this problem. This issue was first raised in 1965 when the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights established that the USDA discriminated both in internal employee actions and external program delivery activities. An ensuing USDA employee focus group in 1970 reported that USDA was callous in their institutional attitude and demeanor regarding civil rights and equal opportunity. In 1982, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights examined this issue a second time and published a report entitled 'The Decline of Black Farming in America.'”