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Black farmers file objection to settlement | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH - About 150 black farmers will object to the multimillion-dollar Agriculture Department settlement of their racial discrimination lawsuit and demand more money and guar antees, their attorney said Fri day. Marcus Jimison, managing attorney of the Durham-based Land Loss Prevention Project, said the Jan. 5 settlement of the 1997 lawsuit does not provide relief to all affected black farm ers, nor does it require the USDA to admit liability or to make systemic change. The farmers also want an economic analysis conducted, he said. "It is hard to calculate the exact extent of the damages," Jimison said. "In our pleading, . one of the specific objections is that there hasn't been what we believe are sufficient explanation levels." The farmers will send their objection Saturday to U.S. Dis trict Court in Washington, D.C., where the consent decree was filed, he said. Black farmers sued because they were denied access to gov ernment loans and subsidies. A federal .judge gave preliminary approval to the deal, which cov ers black farmers from 1981 to 1996. Final approval is expected at a hearing on March 2. The Land Loss Prevention Project estimates the settlement is worth anywhere from $350 million to $600 million, but the true cost of the USDA's discrim inatory practices probably exceeds $3 billion, said executive director Stephon J. Bowens. "Many of the farmers object ing to the proposed consent decree recognize that USDA owes them a much greater debt than the proposed settlement provides," he said. The consent idecree would dward each of between 2,000 and 8,000 farmers $50,000 tax free and forgive certain govern-f ment debts. Jimison said the farmers believe they also should be com pensated for outstanding private debt. "Many farmers have lots of other debt owed to private cred itors incurred because couldn't get adequate money from the government to pay off private debt," he said. "So the private debt actually is a direct result of government discrimination." The Land Loss Prevention Project said in a news release that the consent degree also omits any requirement that USDA employees who "openly and blatantly belittled, misin formed, ignored, threatened and ..otherwise discriminated against black farmers will be sanctioned and/or terminated." Under the agreement, farm ers with more documented evi dence of their discrimination can opt to go before an indepen dent arbitrator and seek larger damages. Farmers may also choose to opt out of the lawsuit and have their cases settled administratively within USDA. Plaintiffs' attorney Alexan der Pires said earlier that he expects about 5,000 black farm ers, 10 percent of the 50,000 black farmers in the country in the early 1980s, to benefit from the settlement. A major advertising cam paign was mounted on televi sion, in magazines and in hun dreds of newspapers to try to locate more eligible farmers. The $450,000 advertising campaign is being paid for by the Agricul ture Department under the set tlement agreement. The Land Loss Prevention Project was founded in Durham in 1982 by the N.C. Association of Black Lawyers to curb land loss by black landowners. I , Photo by Damon ram Black farmers talk with the media during a recent press conference in Greensboro. High cost of politics silences minorities Study finds lackff resources pushes blacks out of political hunt By PAUL SHEPARD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS _ WASHINGTON - Racial minorities' influence on Ameri can politics is muted because they contribute less to political parties than whites,and have less to spend on campaigns, civil rights leaders said Friday. "We are at the start of a decades-long civil rights move-. ment," said John C. Bonifaz, executive director of the Boston-based National Voting Rights Institute, which spon sored the conference where the leaders gathered, "Campaign Finance as a Civil Rights Issue." The institute, the NAACP and other civil rights organiza tions are seeking to portray the campaign finance issue as a new frontier in the nation's civil rights debate. They argue that public financing of elections would help level the playing field for candidates who might be long on vision and ability but short on funding. "We are making the argu ment that the lack of wealth ought not to be an obstacle to participate fully in the (politi cal) process," said Willie Abrams, NAACP legislative counsel. Bonifaz contended the polit ical finance system violates the equal protection and First Amendment rights of low income voters and candidates, who are disproportionately members of minority groups. Because studies show minor-ties don't donate to can didates in the same measure as whites, their influence is reduced, Bonifaz said. Addi tionally, since minorities have less income and wealth than whites, the high costs of run ning a successful campaign dis proportionately hurt their chances of running. The institute and- the NAACP have filed suit against officials in Georgia who super vise elections. It suit argues that the state's political finance sys tem places an unfair burden on blacks and other minorities. \ The Chronicle's e-mail address is: wschron@netun limited.net ? 1 ^^BARGAlS^^ ^ MATINEES ? $4.50 ^ ? ^JN^TS^SdITORSSS^" 1 [ mittiii tfMWM ! ] SAAWrtMniVAA.il IfltilM I i ?Aienti>iMttii i ????*? i i usinrnmnsTirc-Ui misw* i orronsTiKi i...., mmwa ? ? KSMMAWTTUiK-Ui 1 COMING SOON STADIUM SEATING MM REYNOLD* RO 9r$U111UTK-U< IJIUI5JI7JIEJ AIUTA* usTOtv t? i*??#w asmupianiIi :?*>*??? TKTmiDUWili *.. smrwATimvii HUM 9WHSHA?f INLOd'li UtNTftM ElEAimi'Il omawi* maw* *2mv)?m\wu HTMCII J:B*?7*M MOT HOM Tit PAST ft-l) llUlf** MM PETERS CREE* PKWY m MWVTt WW* ?< I* *?<*???? Hinnist JJKB*?M smW'K-n worn IRCMmmALLOAT I wso*v AMFlf ?BRTAHi PC-I.I .l:BH<!:B":B*B 0*1 AnwK-ut aar-Mim iSMlWK-13' Ui?M7-JUI 4^4^ | SALE! GE SOFT WHITE UGHT BULBS 4-pock 40, 60, 75 or 100 watt. I ? - I 2/$12 ^ \ SALE! 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