Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., this week criticized the $5 billion in funding for debt repayment for minority farmers, saying that it amounted to “reparations,” and drawing criticism from the House Majority Whip.
Graham, during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, ripped the fund as being another part of a Democrat “wish list” that successfully passed as part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
“Let me give you an example of something that really bothers me. In this bill, if you’re a farmer, your loan will be forgiven up to 120% of your loan … if you’re socially disadvantaged, if you’re African American, some other minority. But if you’re [a] white person, if you’re a white woman, no forgiveness. That’s reparations. What does that have to do with COVID?” he asked.
The American Rescue Plan includes about $10.4 billion for agriculture, with about half of that going to disadvantaged farmers, according to The Washington Post, which notes that about one quarter of disadvantaged farmers are Black. These funds would be provided for debt relief, grants, education, training, and other forms of assistance.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., told CNN after Graham’s comments that the senator “ought to be ashamed” of himself and should “go to church” to “get in touch with his Christianity.”
He said, “Lindsey Graham is from South Carolina. He knows South Carolina’s history. He knows what the state of South Carolina and this country has done to Black farmers in South Carolina. They didn’t do it to White farmers. We’re trying to rescue the lives and livelihoods of people. He ought to be ashamed of himself.”
Clyburn added, “I think you ought to go back and maybe go to church. Get in touch with his Christianity.”
John Boyd Jr., the founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, also ripped Graham for his remark in an interview with CNN this week.
“Here you have a group of people who barely can defend themselves and instead of these senators voting to support historic measure like this where I have been trying to get debt relief for Black farmers and other farmers of color over 30 years,” he told CNN anchor Brianna Keilar. “I never heard Senator Lindsey Graham speak out against discrimination, where I been spat on and called racial epithets and had my USDA applications torn up and thrown in the trash can. He knows about discrimination … I never heard him speak out against discrimination, but he doesn’t want us to get any justice here.”
Source: Newmax
