MEDIA ADVISORY FOR BLACK FARMERS PRESS EVENT
Black legacy farmers and their families standing in front of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC.
Courtesy of Gary Grant, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association. March 2, 1999.
MARCH 22ND, 2021
Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren Join Black Farmers to Highlight the $5B in Debt Relief Included in the Stimulus Bill Signed by President Biden
WASHINGTON DC – At 11:00am EST on Monday, March 22, 2021, several members of the U.S. Senate and a group of Black farmers from across the country will hold a briefing to discuss the historic action taken earlier this month when President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law that includes $5 billion in direct USDA debt relief and related services for Black farmers and other farmers of color.
The call will be moderated by Tracy Lloyd McCurty, Esq., Executive Director of the Black Belt Justice Center and Co-Organizer, Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign, and Lawrence Lucas, President Emeritus of the USDA Coalition of Minority Employees and Representative, Justice for Black Farmers Group. They will be joined by Sen. Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) who authored the debt relief provisions in the Senate bill, as well as Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) who were original co-sponsors of the proposal and will each make remarks at the opening of the call.
The following farmers will deliver short remarks and will then take questions from the press.
- Bernice Atchison, Farmer from Chilton County, Alabama and Pigford Historian
- Bernard Bates, Farmer from Hill City, Kansas
- Carolyn Jones, Farmer and Executive Director for Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance
- Anthony Sigue, Sugarcane Farmer from Iberia Parish, Louisiana
- Eddie Slaughter, Farmer from Buena Vista, Georgia
- Lloyd Wright, Farmer from Westmoreland County, Virginia and Former Director of the USDA Civil Rights Office
The call comes the same week that the US House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on USDA’s decades-long discriminatory policies targeted at Black farmers.
Details for the Zoom event
11:00am-12:00pm EST on Monday, March 22, 2021
NOTE: If you are interested in attending the virtual event with Senators Warnock, Booker, Warren and the Black farmers, please RSVP to one of the following staff at Environmental Working Group for the log-in information. Sarah Graddy: sarah@ewg.org; Alex Formuzis: alex@ewg.org