USDA faces multiple racial discrimination lawsuits...

[Green_Lantern]

And it's not discrimination against whites:

The firing of Shirley Sherrod by the Department of Agriculture has reopened a sore spot with many African-American farmers who have been charging the USDA with discrimination for years.

In fact, the USDA still faces thousands of discrimination lawsuits by minorities.

Those tens of thousands of claims come from minority farmers, mostly blacks, but also Latinos and women. They charge that they've been discriminated against over the years by the USDA, denied timely loans to buy seeds and equipment — loans that were granted to white farmers.

"This is what we call the last plantation," said John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association. "It's the last federal arm in this country to integrate, the United States Department of Agriculture. They filed lawsuits in federal court to prevent black workers from coming to work once they integrated. That's the history of the United States Department of Agriculture."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128699935

[Jumping John]

1. Sherrod sued the USDA for a billion dollars in Iowa when Vilsack was governor there also. N/t