Top Democratic leader James Clyburn calls on Lindsey Graham to ‘go to church’ after reparations comment

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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 did to the black farmers of South Carolina. They didn’t. not done to white farmers. We’re trying to save 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 bill, expected to pass the House on Wednesday, will provide direct payments of up to 120% of the outstanding debt of a “socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher “From January 1, 2021. A socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher is any person belonging to a socially disadvantaged group, those who have been” subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group regardless of their individual qualities ”, according to a house code.
During an interview on Fox News, Graham criticized the bill for including the provision and others that he said are unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic. He also called aid to farmers “reparations,” a term referring 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, another minority. But if you are a white person, if you are a white woman, no forgiveness. These are reparations. What has it got to do with Covid? ”Graham said on Sunday. Morning Futures.

Over the years, black farmers have been driven off their land and faced discrimination from the US Department of Agriculture. In 1920, the USDA had 925,708 black farmers, or about 14% of all farmers at the time. There were only 45,508 black farmers – about 1.3% of all American farmers – in the United States in 2017 according to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture.
John Boyd Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, criticized Graham’s comment during an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Tuesday and accused 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, I am trying to get debt relief for black farmers and other colored farmers for 30 years, ”he told Keilar. . “I have never heard Senator Lindsey Graham speak out against discrimination, where I have been spat and called racial epithets and seen my USDA claims torn up and thrown in the trash. He knows discrimination. … I’ve never heard him speak out about discrimination, but he doesn’t want us to get justice here. “

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

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