Pigford Hucksters Send Message to Obama: You’re Failing the ‘Litmus Test’
by Lee StranahanThomas Burrell, head of the Black Farmers Agricultural Association, Inc., is not ready to leave the Pigford settlement business without a fight.
Despite recent court setbacks, he is still threatening legal action. The fact that Burrell is calling out President Barack Obama seems to signal that Burrell feels he has to play hardball and threaten the tacit agreement that was made between candidate Obama and a number of self-styled “black leaders” about the Pigford settlement and the African-American vote several years ago.
This recent news report from Tennessee shows Burrell and local clergymen taking public aim at the President. Burrell correctly points out that the Pigford 2 settlement for black farmers has a number of restrictions on it that new settlements for women and Latino farmers do not have. The disparity is actually somewhat bizarre, and will be the topic of further reporting in the future.
However, Burrell’s refusal to go down quietly on the issue signals a potential problem for Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign strategy that would be missed by many observers who don’t understand the connection between Obama and Pigford.
Even though most of the voting public has never heard of the Pigford settlement, it’s much better known in the black community. Black voters have never been a complete shoo-in for Barack Obama, as questions were openly raised in the run-up to the 2008 election as to whether candidate Obama was “black enough” to resonate with African-Americans.
Skeptics who wonder whether the seemingly obscure Pigford settlement is actually such a big issue between Obama and black voters don’t really need to look far. During the July 2010 firestorm over Shirley Sherrod’s dismissal by the USDA, April Ryan, the White House correspondent for the American Urban Radio Network, appeared on a panel discussion on CNN. Ms. Ryan laid out the case that Obama’s support for Pigford was a “litmus test” for the President:
I think one of the reasons why race has stuck like glue to this president, especially right now–a Democratic source said this poignantly–there have been major milestones with this administration but blacks don’t feel like they’re very linked to it. I think there will be a litmus test for this administration–no, I don’t think, I know–it’s the black farmers settlement. President Obama put $1.25 billion in his 2011 budget and we’ll see if Congress does push through this money. If no,t the president can just go on and do it through the judgment fund as well, he can do it on his own. So, we’ll see what happens.
Another panelist chimes in:
Yeah, that’s going to be the measuring stick right there, April–if the black farmers get their money.
You’ll notice that nobody on the panel was confused about what Pigford was, or questioned Ms. Ryan’s claim that that it was a litmus test for Obama. In fact, another panelist wholeheartedly agreed with her, and a second panelist began to discuss the issue in some detail before being cut off by the host.
People often talk about “dog whistle politics,” but rest assured that when Thomas Burrell goes after President Obama in black churches and starts to get media attention for it, the dog whistle is going to be heard loud and clear in Washington.
With the 2012 presidential election now underway, we will be focusing in the coming months on Barack Obama’s long-standing, extensive, and direct connections to the Pigford settlement. Stay tuned.
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17 Comments
A song is in order. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y7CGKZOOpg&fe...
Hell, not only Pigford, but I heard yesterday someone is floating the idea of another TARP… OMG… Audacity MUCH???
Add to that the info that Fannie and Freddie are donating homes to local charities to be given or sold to "the poor", and I also heard lenders are being pressed again to relax rules and regs on "borrowers" for home mortgages… CRA MUCH?
o-HOLE is planning a wholesale giveaway of tax-payer cash from the U.S. Treasury, a giveaway so BIG none of us can fathom the proportions of it. Boehner, Boehner… EARTH to BOEHNER??? Get out'a the tanning bed Johnny boy, and do yur J O B !!! The House of Rep's controls the purse… 'member that?
Will Boehner allow o-HOLE to buy the 2012 election using the U.S. Treasury as his personal campaign war chest? Boehner has the opportunity to be a National hero here… I predict he'll pass…
FIGHT on PATRIOTS!!!
; )
"Yeah, that’s going to be the measuring stick right there, April–if the black farmers get their money."
A full investigation into "PIGFORD. et al…. IS and should be front and center before one single penny more is dolled out to ANYONE. WHO exactly… name the person or persons living or dead… that did the wronging….. MAKE THEM PAY!
PAY to claims made absolutely PUBLIC…… I am furious and sick to death at our government caving in to hucksters and shysters for political points and votes. I believe there WERE people possibly wronged but THIS whole "PIGFORD" Shakedown of America to PAY OFF disgruntled black America is WRONG on all levels! THERE IS NO MORE MONEY TO TAKE FROM ME… TO GIVE AWAY TO PEOPLE THAT THINK THEY ARE ENTITLED….
In 632 A.D. the Arabian Caliph sends Mohammed Ali to Africa to capture and bring back slaves to Arabia and therein the slave markets of Africa are established. Better to have died in Africa rather than flourish in America? Any believing this can accomplish it with ease as the airfare is quite inexpensive or better yet… 40,000 refugees and climbing are all congregated into a single spot on the Somali border and every single one would trade being tortured for just a chance at the lot of America's poorest resident. People need to comprehend. Americans need to comprehend.
Debbie W.S. Philosophy on Taxes…In a Nutshell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz_htv6PLLI&eu...
You know why Democrats love high taxes? They don't pay theirs!
"The time is near at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves."
George Washington
The obama campaign will use an all-of-the-above approach to vote buying and voter fraud.
Seems James O'Keefe has exposed one part of the fraud:
"VIDEO: NH poll workers shown handing out ballots in dead peoples’ names"
http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/11/video-nh-poll-w...
This has nothing to do with black farmers being discriminated against anymore. This is simply back door reparations for slavery and overall discrimination since. Was there and is there now, discrimination against blacks? Of course.
Is there discrimination against Muslims and any other group you may want to name? Yep, there is.
When do all the other hands start reaching into my pocket for discrimination I wasn't part of?
My dad beat me on a, more or less, daily basis. That certainly feels like discrimination but, do I sue my dad? No. I get over it. It's about time certain segments of our society "got over it".
Lee has told us there were 19,000 or so black farmers at the time of the "offense". Not all were denied loans and, in fact, probably not a lot of them would qualify in the first place. Even so, I think they have been paid. Some, more than they would have ever made as a farmer. Time to move on, not ask for more money for every black that SAYS he planted a tomato plant in a pot.
What this really says to me are some blacks are jealous of others who managed to get paid, in some cases, for a valid complaint. They want theirs now.
"Time to move on, not ask for more money ……………"
Yeah, but that's just not the way it works. Once you give away a dime, they'll always come back for a dollar.
Ain't that so, John.
It's kinda' like, "Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for life, give a man a fish and he'll stand around and wait for another. After a while, he'll demand it!"
I wonder if they need official picture ID to pick up Pigford checks, John?
LOL hypocrisy alert!!!
From Dreams of My Father: 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race.'
From Dreams of My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'
Obama wouldn't be a racialist now would he? Naaaaaaaaaaawww!!!
No, but they probably needed one to CASH the check.
And I think that's just RACIST!
That woman is such a….arrrgghh! I don't have the words, Wash!
She completely ignores that nearly half the taxpayers in America do not pay any federal income taxes.
Repeats the crap that the Bush cuts only affect "millionaires and billionaires".
Ignores the fact that the upper 20% of taxpayers pay 70% (or something like that) of all federal income taxes.
And, ignores the fact that her boss says we should "all have skin in the game".
Here's a thought. How about a mandatory minimum federal income tax of $100 or so on any income greater than $15K. I wonder what that would do to revenues? At least, some of that skin in the game crap would be addressed.
I wish I could have given your comment a dozen thumbs up! You're right on the mark!
Well, thank you!
I still contend that President Obama will set another milestone at sometime in his career……………….the first President of the United States sentenced to federal prison!
You and I do have the words, but they would not allow them here in this public forum.
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