James Clyburn, senior Democratic leader, asks Lindsey Graham to “go to church” after the comment on the reparations

James Clyburn, senior Democratic leader, asks Lindsey Graham to “go to church” after the comment on the 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 have not done it to white farmers. We are trying to rescue people’s lives and livelihoods. He should be ashamed of himself, “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 project, due to pass the House on Wednesday, will provide direct payments of up to 120% from a “socially disadvantaged” farmer or a farmer’s outstanding debt on January 1, 2021 A socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher is anyone in a socially disadvantaged group, those who have been “subject to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group, regardless of their individual qualities”, according to a code of ethics. Chamber.
During an interview with Fox News, Graham criticized the bill for including the clause and others that he argued were unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic. He also called assistance to farmers “compensation”, a term that refers to compensation for 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 will be forgiven up to 120% of your loan, not 100%, but 120%, if you are socially disadvantaged, if you are African American, some other minority. But if you are a white person, if you are a white woman, there is no forgiveness. This is reparation. What does this have to do with Covid? “said Graham on” Sunday Morning Futures. “

Over the years, black farmers have been evicted from their land and have faced discrimination from the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1920, the USDA had 925,708 black farmers, corresponding to about 14% of all farmers at the time. There were only 45,508 black farmers – about 1.3% of all U.S. farmers – in the United States in 2017, according to the most recent USDA Agriculture Census.
John Boyd Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, criticized Graham’s comment during an interview with Brianna Keilar of CNN on Tuesday and accused the Republican of not wanting black farmers to receive justice.

“Here you have a group of people who can barely defend themselves and, instead of these senators voting in support of historic measures like this, I have been trying to get debt relief for black farmers and other colored farmers for more than 30 years,” he said. he to Keilar. “I never heard Senator Lindsey Graham speak out against discrimination, where I was spat out and nicknamed racism and had my USDA applications torn and thrown in the trash. He knows about discrimination … I never heard him speak out against discrimination, but he doesn’t want us to do justice here. “

Danielle Wiener-Bronner of CNN contributed to this report.

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