James Clyburn, senior Democratic leader, calls on Lindsey Graham to ‘go to church’ after commenting on reparations

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Lindsey Graham is from South Carolina. He knows the history of South Carolina. He knows what the state of South Carolina and this country has done to black farmers in South Carolina. They haven’t done it to white farmers. We’re trying to save lives. and people’s livelihoods. He should be ashamed, “Clyburn told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on” New Day. ” “I think you should go back and maybe go to church. Get in touch with his Christianity. ‘

The $ 1.9 trillion stimulus bill, expected to be passed by the House of Representatives Wednesday, will provide up to 120% of the outstanding debt of a “socially disadvantaged” farmer or a farmer from January 1, 2021. A socially disadvantaged farmer or farmer. is someone in a socially disadvantaged group, those who “are subject to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities,” according to a house code.
During an interview on Fox News, Graham criticized the bill to include the provision and others he says are unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic. He also called aid to peasants ‘reparations,’ a term referring to compensation for the descendants of slaves.

“Let me give you an example of something that really bothers me. In this bill, if you are a farmer, your loan is forgiven up to 120% of your loan, not 100%, but 120% if you are socially disadvantaged. “African American, different minority. But if you’re white, if you’re white woman, no forgiveness. That’s recovery. What’s that got to do with Covid?” Graham said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Over the years, black farmers have been expelled from their land and are discriminated against by the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1920, the USDA counted 925,708 black farmers, representing about 14% of all farmers at the time. According to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture, there were only 45,508 black farmers – about 1.3% of all American farmers – in the United States in 2017.
John Boyd Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, turned down Graham’s comment during an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Tuesday, accusing the Republican of not wanting farmers of color to get justice.

“Here you have a group of people who can barely defend themselves and instead of these senators voting to support a historic measure like this, where I am trying to get debt relief for black farmers and other colored farmers for 30 years”, he told Keilar. . “I’ve never heard Senator Lindsey Graham speak out against discrimination, where I was spat on and mentioned racial swear words and my USDA filings were torn apart and thrown in the trash. He’s aware of discrimination … I’ve never heard him speak out against discrimination, but he doesn’t want us to get justice here.

CNN’s Danielle Wiener-Bronner contributed to this report.

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