One of the key attorneys in the Pigford “black farmers” lawsuit has confirmed, on camera, what we at Big Government have argued for months: that the $2.7 billion Pigford settlement has been corrupted by fraud on a massive scale.
On September 23, 2011, at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., attorney Faya Rose Toure (a.k.a. Rose Sanders) described a conspiracy to defraud the federal government, involving claimants, attorneys, and members of the clergy.
The original Pigford plaintiffs were black farmers who sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture for racial discrimination.
Sanders related how class-action lawyers later recruited claimants by sending representatives to black churches, where they allegedly told congregants that they were eligible for “reparations,” even if they had never farmed.
Sanders’s claims were at least partially corroborated at the press conference by Gary Grant, President of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, who indicated that he knew of the involvement of preachers in Pigford-related fraud.
What Sanders reveals in the clip below ought to be enough to cause the supervising judge, Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to suspend the settlement process.
It ought to be enough to prompt the FBI to re-open investigations into the lawyers and organizations involved.
It ought to be enough to encourage Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to fire up his magic investigation machine, and start issuing subpoenas–not just regarding the Pigford settlement, but also the Obama-created settlements for women, Native American, and Hispanic/Latino famers who are alleging discrimination.
Watch the clip, then I’ll take you through some of the points that Pigford attorney Sanders is making.
And so after all of that, they are now accusing the farmers of fraud. There is a problem. There are people who are out there hustling, and taking advantage of black farmers. And some of them are our people. They are the ones that are misleading the people, making them believe they are in the lawsuit, making them believe they are eligible. I actually went to a meeting in Alabama, where these white lawyers from Texas had hired–you were there [“Yes, maʼam. And they’re still calling me and trying to get me to fraud.”]–hired black people, hired black people to go into all these black churches and they literally told black people: “Oh, you didn’t have to farm. It doesn’t matter if your grandfather never farmed. If you ever thought about farming, youʼre eligible for this lawsuit.” So these people are thinking this is more of a like reparations-type lawsuit. They donʼt know any better. So when they sign up, they just donʼt know. But the government is determined to prosecute [them], and to limit this process, and that is something I think we need to be outraged about. I think we need to somehow get to the NAACP, and I have talked to the NAACP–we’ve got to have a coalition. We–frankly speaking, we’ve got to get away from some of our differences, because our needs are greater than our differences…
Let’s start at the beginning.
- And so after all of that, they are now accusing the farmers of fraud.
Here Sanders is incorrect. Nobody is accusing the farmers of fraud–certainly nobody at Big Government. Quite the opposite, the black farmers are doing the accusing. They have repeatedly said they know about fraud in Pigford, but can’t get anyone to listen. In fact, when the farmers told Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) about the fraud, he told them to be quiet–a story that should have been a national scandal, though the press ignored it.
The idea that people are “accusing the farmers” is just a way of deflecting scrutiny of the organizations supporting Pigford. But since no mainstream journalists showed up to the press conference–which, incidentally, included the New Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam–Sanders decided to continue, and to open up about what she knew about corruption in Pigford.
- There is a problem. There are people who are out there hustling, and taking advantage of black farmers. And some of them are our people. They are the ones that are misleading the people, making them believe they are in the lawsuit, making them believe they are eligible. I actually went to a meeting in Alabama, where these white lawyers from Texas had hired–you were there [“Yes, maʼam. And they’re still calling me and trying to get me to fraud.”]–hired black people, hired black people to go into all these black churches and they literally told black people: “Oh, you didn’t have to farm. It doesn’t matter if your grandfather never farmed. If you ever thought about farming, you’re eligible for this lawsuit.”
There it is: an officer of the court and a claimant attorney–representing Charles and Shirley Sherrod, whose farming collective was the largest beneficiary of the settlement–stating clearly that she is aware that there is organized, deliberate, large-scale fraud in Pigford.
It should be noted that when these exact same charges were made by people like Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), they were called delusional racists.
It’s also worth mentioning that we’ve had another attorney admit on camera that there was fraud in Pigford, as well: Othello Cross from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Sanders’s revelation demands an immediate investigation–not to determine whether fraud exists, but to delve into the details.
- So these people are thinking this is more of a like reparations-type lawsuit. They donʼt know any better. So when they sign up, they just donʼt know.
Again, the slander against Rep. King and Rep. Bachmann can’t be overstated: when they used the term “reparations” to describe how Pigford was being advertised, they were called racists and race-baiters. Andrew Breitbart has been called the same thing for using the word “reparations,” and so have I.
Sanders just vindicated all of us.
- But the government is determined to prosecute [them], and to limit this process, and that is something I think we need to be outraged about. I think we need to somehow get to the NAACP, and I have talked to the NAACP–we’ve got to have a coalition. We–frankly speaking, we’ve got to get away from some of our differences, because our needs are greater than our differences…”
Now, this statement is totally bizarre. I’ve seen no evidence that the government is determined to prosecute anyone. In fact, there’s plenty of evidence of a cover-up.
If a coalition with the NAACP would root out fraud, it would be welcome. But that is not what Sanders has in mind. She doesn’t want investigations and prosecutions; she wants the NAACP to take the heat off Pigford by protesting that black farmers are under greater scrutiny than other minority farmers.
Unfortunately for Sanders–and fortunately for the black farmers still waiting for justice–she cannot take back her public admission.
It is no longer possible to deny the urgent need for a federal investigation of fraud in the Pigford settlement. Those who stand in the way of that investigation should know that they are helping to cover up crime on a potentially massive scale.
$2.7 billion is worth more than five Solyndras. That’s not counting the potential billions in the pending copycat lawsuits in Pigford’s wake.
And there are more revelations to come.
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