Amidst the budget issues, Afghanistan, and Health Care it seems like there are more and more issues slipping to the wayside.  One of those issues that I’ve recently had brought to my attention has to do with past discrimination by the US Department of Agriculture.  For decades both African-American and Latino farmers endured discrimination and unfair treatment in their loan applications and loan approvals.  

African-American farmers who experienced this discrimination by the U.S. Government were compensated by the Agriculture Department.  Latino farmers, however, were never addressed in that compensation and a lawsuit has been pending for years with no resolution under the Bush Administration.  

There is a lot more about this issue at:  http://www.garciaclassaction.org/  

So far, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and eight Senators, including Senator Barbara Boxer, have appealed to the President and the Agriculture Department, calling for a quick and fair resolution to the case.  

If your member of Congress hasn’t signed on yet, contact them and ask them to join in calling for a fair and quick resolution of the case.  You can also sign the online petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/peti…

We shouldn’t let the bigger fights obscure all the little cleanups we still have to do from the last eight years!