USDA grapples with modern-day equivalent of "40 acres and a mule"
Two black farmers are suing the Agriculture Department, claiming the agency has discriminated against them by failing to live up to a deal to give them access to federal loans and subsidies.The lawsuits have targeted not just the agency but also the USDA's top civil rights official, whom the farmer's lawyer calls "the most powerful black man in the Bush administration." Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Vernon Parker was appointed by President Bush to straighten out the agency's civil rights office. But James Myart, Jr., the civil rights attorney behind the lawsuits, calls Parker a "joke" among black farmers -- accusing him of not doing enough to settle discrimination claims against the Agriculture Department. "Vernon Parker is the most powerful black man in the Bush Administration -- that is because he has power of the pen and government's checkbook to resolve the problem," Myart said. The Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association cited census figures showing that in 1910 black farmers owned about 16 million acres of land, buying about 8 percent more real estate between 1900 and 1910 on a per capita basis than their white counterparts. Today, it is estimated that blacks own fewer than 2 million acres. [more 
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