RFK Jr. says he would give black farmers $5B in reparations –…

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he will support giving black farmers $5 billion in reparations once in office — throwing his weight behind a provision in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan that was struck down by a court as unconstitutional. “When I’m in the White House… I’m going to get rid of those people in USDA and get that money,” Kennedy told John Boyd Jr., the founder of the National Black Farmers Association, in a recent episode of his podcast. “That $5 billion is not money, that is an entitlement,” the 70-year-old added. “It’s money that was a loan that black farmers were entitled to way back when and was stolen from them through discrimination.” Kennedy has supported other programs supporting the black community, including issuing low interest microloans. REUTERS Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 proposed a loan assistance program of roughly $5 billion for “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers” — defined as those who “have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice” — who were harmed financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The provision was quickly challenged by white farmers in Texas, across the Midwest and in Florida, and was ultimately stalled after Jacksonville...