John Boyd, head of the National Association of Black Farmers, expressed reservations about Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in an interview with PBS NewsHour correspondent Lisa Desjardins.
Boyd said he is “disappointed” to hear that Vilsack would be reprising his role after leading the USDA for eight years under President Barack Obama. Boyd had hoped for “new blood” within the agency, which he said did not do enough for farmers of color.
Boyd accused Vilsack of being willfully blind to ongoing discrimination within the department during his tenure there, and urged him to take a more “aggressive approach” against the USDA’s “culture of discrimination” going forward.
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