Native American Leaders Call on the Obama Administration to End Decades of USDA Discrimination Against Native American Farmers & Ranchers
Native American leaders and lawyers representing thousands of Native American farmers and ranchers in a 10-year-old nationwide class action lawsuit (Keepseagle v. Vilsack) against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will urge President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to make long-overdue changes to the USDA’s discriminatory lending practices and call upon the new Administration to settle the Keepseagle case.
After a panel discussion and a press availability that are open to the media from 1:30 to 3:30 pm, hundreds of Keepseagle class members will meet with their attorneys, Joseph Sellers and Sarah Vogel at the Bismarck Civic Center. These events will take place in conjunction with the 40th Annual United Tribes International Powwow and the United Tribes Tribal Leaders Summit, which thousands of Native Americans will attend.
A new expert report will be released that finds since 1981 Native American farmers and ranchers received only half the loans they were qualified to receive, when compared to other farmers. This disparity confirms the accounts of thousands of Native Americans who have been the subject of a longstanding pattern of discrimination by USDA, which denied them $3 billion in credit, resulting in nearly $1 billion in damages.
Turtle Talk 