By The Editors

For more than a decade, the class-action lawsuit involving tens of thousands of the nation’s black farmers on the one side and the federal Department of Agriculture on the other stood as a dramatic symbol of the institutional racism undermining even black Americans involved in one of America’s mythic occupations.

Now, those farmers may soon get a measure of justice. The Obama administration has offered a $1.25-billion settlement to compensate them for the blighted racial practices that were actively practiced at the department’s front-line offices in the field and tolerated at its headquarters in Washington.

The National Black Farmers’ Association, which represents more than 40, 000 black farmers in the longstanding legal battle, accepted the offer when it was announced February 18.

The settlement calls for an additional $1.15 billion – which Congress must appropriate by March 31 – to add to an existing $100-million fund already set up to pay black farmers who can prove they suffered racial discrimination in dealings with the agency’s farm home loan programs. Those involved in the complex dispute say it could ultimately involve as many as 60,000 farmers.

If Congress doesn’t act, the farmers group could withdraw its agreement to the settlement and continue to pursue legal action.

Under the general terms of the settlement, individual farmers who prove their business has been damaged by departmental discriminatory practices could get up to $50,000. Alternatively, individual farmers could pursue a more complicated process in order to seek payments of up to $250,000.

In the past the farmers’ association has said that many black farmers suffered serious hardships through the years because they were denied proper financial help by the federal agency. They claim some even lost their farms to foreclosure. The current settlement includes a provision that stops foreclosures of any farmers who file a claim for compensation until that process is finished.

The claims process the settlement establishes is scheduled to begin payments in the middle of 2011.

Administration officials praised the agreement. President Obama lauded Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “for bringing these long-of African-American farmers to a rightful conclusion. I look forward to a swift resolution to this issue, so that the families affected can move on with their lives.” Vilsack said that the department “has made it a top priority to ensure that all farmers are treated fairly and equally. We have worked hard to address … [its] checkered past so that we can get to the business of helping farmers succeed.” And Attorney General Eric Holder said the settlement will enable black farmers who are plaintiffs in the suit “to move forward and have their claims heard – with the federal government standing, not as an adversary, but as a partner.”

John Boyd, Jr., the founder and president of the farmers’ association was less effusive in his comments on the settlement. He had contended that the farmers deserved more money, but said he agreed to the settlement so that farmers could at least get some compensation.

In the years after the black farmers filed their lawsuit, in the early 1990s, Hispanic, women and Native American farmers have also sued the government, claiming the agriculture department engaged in a pattern of widespread discrimination against them as well.