White farmers blocked a much-needed federal relief program for Black farmers.
This month, in a historic step to redress racism, the United States Department of Agriculture planned to begin issuing $4 billion in debt relief to minority farmers around the country. The move follows a long and ugly record of discrimination, including by the USDA itself.
Depressingly but not surprisingly, a group of white farmers has sued the USDA over the relief program, which was passed as part of the American Rescue Plan back in March. These longtime beneficiaries of systemic racism now claim they are victims of reverse discrimination. On June 10, a US District court issued a temporary restraining order on the USDA's plan while it decides if the agency's program discriminates against white farmers. A judge in Florida also ruled against the program on June 24, throwing the future of the aid further into doubt.
More shocking, though, has been the reaction from banks. Three of the country's biggest banking trade groups are fighting to stop the debt relief. In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, they issued a barely veiled threat to withhold credit from farmers of color if the USDA moves ahead with the initiative.
The three trade groups - the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the National Rural Lenders Association - collectively represent a huge swath of American financial institutions, including the very ones that spent much of the 20th century denying home and business loans to people of color. Their attack on an effort to correct the effects of their actions shows how acceptable blatant racism remains in America's most powerful institutions.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-farmers-blocked-much-needed-130200284.html
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That sounds about right. Business as usual in the good ol' U.S. of A. 
