Black farmers might not receive their own debt-relief funding
CBSN
Earlier this year, Black farmers were slated to receive billions of dollars in federal aid to wipe away their U.S. Department of Agriculture loans. The chance of actually getting that money however is starting to wither.
That's because two federal judges have blocked Black, Brown and other farmers of color from getting the debt-relief payments. Judges in recent weeks have granted temporary injunctions on the debt subsidies after lawsuits from White farmers surfaced, claiming that the funding is racially discriminatory. U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard of Jacksonville, Florida, set an injunction Wednesday, one month after White farmer Scott Wynn of Jennings, Florida, filed a lawsuit arguing that he couldn't apply for the debt relief program. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach in Milwaukee also issued a temporary restraining order after the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed suit in April arguing that White farmers aren't eligible for the program, amounting to a violation of their constitutional rights. There are similar legal challenges in Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
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