What Really Happened with James Garnett?

One of the biggest villains of Pigford is an FSA employee named James Garnett.
"Dr." John Boyd has painted him to be a racist scoundrel... maybe he was, but a lot of things John Boyd has said about the man just don't add up.

For nine consecutive years, Boyd was completely denied the most important subsidy that every farmer in the United States is entitled to. According to Boyd, farmers usually apply yearly for a operational loan in December or January, so the loan would be approved in time to plant that particular year’s crop.  

“Mr. James Garnett, who was the county supervisor in charge of approving the operational loans in my county, tore up my application and then threw it in the trash can right in front of me. He said, ‘You can come up here next year — but that’s up to you. You really should sell.’ He told me he knew a farmer not too far up from me that ran a dairy farm, and he would arrange for me and my family to move up there and milk his cows. According to him, that would be a ‘better arrangement’ for me. Basically, he wanted me to sell my farm and go be a tenant farmer on a white man’s farm. We exchanged some words — and it wasn’t government terminology.”

When later asked in legal proceedings if he was generally opposed to lending money to black farmers, Garnett replied “yes, because I think they’re lazy and just wait for a paycheck every week.” Garnett also admitted to denying Boyd’s loan application year-after-year on frivolous grounds, which progressively worsened Boyd’s financial situation.

Boyd had a rock solid case for discrimination — and he wasn’t alone. In 1999, the USDA, reached a $2.3 billion settlement agreement and consent decree resolving a class action lawsuit filed by black farmers who were denied credit by the USDA during the Reagan Administration, when the civil rights arm of the agency was eliminated. Known as the Pigford case, the settlement sought to make amends for a long history of admitted and overt racial discrimination within the agency and the mostly white county committees that showed prejudice against black farmers in loan decisions. The USDA admitted to ‘bureaucratic delay’ — but not racism.   Atlanta Tribune

Somewhere, Boyd claims Garnett's confession is on tape


Compare Boyd's recent description of Garnett with Willie Crute's description of him. He's not nearly as scary in Willie's story. Boyd was at that testimony but did not say anything about James Garnett spitting on him then.

MR. MYART: Mr. Crute.
MR. CRUTE: Yes, good afternoon. How are you all?
My problem started in Mecklenburg County  back in 1992 when I entered the office of Jim Garnet  in Chase City, I went and put a farm  program together with him for  operation. We sat down, see where the cash flow, the program, cash on paper .  .Everything was going well, as I thought.  And we went along with it. I thought everything was  going good.
But Mr. Garnet had a time and processing paperwork. He would keep losing paperwork, would not process paperwork, and just  thought it was unimportant to what we doing.
And it went on, it went on, and he would steadily lose this time, what we wanted to do, wwanted to select roosters. Wanted to select a rooster house. Could do it only adding 46 percent  more houses in that area. And which we're working at this time. So Mr. Garnet proceeded. He would not process the application for the chicken house. He did put me in business with the cattle, though, I got my cattle and my equipment. But he just gave me enough money to get out there to get hung, not money to get back

Page 196 from the CLinton Library

The Militant embellishes Crute's story

Farmers at the demonstration explained that they were repeatedly denied loans both by private banks and by the County boards of the USDA. For example, another Baskerville farmer, Willie Crute, had to wait one year for approval of a $119,000 USDA loan, while equally qualified white farmers got approval in two to three months.