Tuesday, July 20, 2010

BUSTED! Video of USDA Director Shirley Sherrod sharing a racist moment with the NAACP

 
Big Government: We are in possession of a video from in which Shirley Sherrod, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, speaks at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Georgia. In her meandering speech to what appears to be an all-black audience, this federally appointed executive bureaucrat lays out in stark detail, that her federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions.
In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn’t do everything she can for him, because he is white. Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from “one of his own kind”. She refers him to a white lawyer.
Sherrod’s racist tale is received by the NAACP audience with nodding approval and murmurs of recognition and agreement. Hardly the behavior of the group now holding itself up as the supreme judge of another groups’ racial tolerance. [MORE]
What was all that chatter from the NAACP last week about how the Tea Party must remove racists from their ranks?  The good Lord says; “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.  Well, it is time for the NAACP to put down its bag of stones and time for them to do a little house cleaning of their own.

It is rather sad to see what the NAACP has become over the years. Here is an organization that once stood boldly against racial discrimination. Today, the organization is chock full of small-minded bigots who prefer to wallow in hypocrisy rather than stand as vanguards against discrimination for all Americans.

When the NAACP decided to take on the Tea Parties, they clearly thought they would be dealing with your typical elected Republican. Instead they are finding out the hard way that conservative activists are not the same as elected Republicans. Wantonly chucking around the race card simply won’t do. The NAACP is now set to have it biases, hypocrisy and foolishness exposed for all of America to see.

Aside from the racism in the video above, Andrew Breitbart exposes another problem (perhaps America’s biggest problem) from the same event with Ms. Sherrod. Ms. Sherrod is caught out there bragging about how great it is to work for Uncle Sam. How despite hard times for the private sector, good times are rolling on the public nickel.


This is exactly what the Tea Party is fighting against. Why should government employees enjoy better job security than the people who actually pay their salary? American Spectator had an article this Saturday called America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution. It is a long read (21 pages printed) but well worth it. In it the author Angelo Codevilla spells out where attitudes like Ms. Sherrod’s come from. Take time to read it. It will enlighten you as to what a big task we have ahead of us if we truly want government to work for the people again.

Oh, and before I forget, after her big YouTube moment, Ms. Sherrod has resigned.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definition: Racism
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism

1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and those racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2: racial prejudice or discrimination

Definition: Discrimination
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrimination

1 a: the act of discriminating b: the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently
2: the quality or power of finely distinguishing
3 a: the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually b: prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment



Why that only black is…, racism? Racism is more that color of your skin! Discriminations are racism of Black, Latin, White, European, Asians, Indian, Jews, Miscegenation, etc. This is a social issue that is Universal and not only of America. Racism is wrong in any circumstance and social issue!

billd said...

Disheartening as well as sad

In the USA, there is "good money in poverty (aka social programs, wherein the safety net has become a hammock)” and race victim-hood is “job security”…

We will stampede for bargains, wait in line for a free lunch, throw-out common sense for promises of rich reward, and willingly “get by” at someone else’s expense

So, America now has a ruling class that cynically exploits base human nature, dolling out small favors to many while carving-out handsome lifestyles for themselves, and we go along with it(!)

Forget the naacp, we must purge the apparatus, the people, the concept of “do-gooder” central authority; check-out nancy p to see what the future looks like if we don't

Just a conservative girl said...

I am very upset that she was allowed to resigned. She should have been fired for cause.

There are benefits issues when you work for the government. I am not sure of how time she spent in the public sector, but she may walk away with bennies. That is not acceptable.

Unknown said...

Just curious...as a black independent, one who always waits for more news when these issues come up, as there are always two sides to every story; what if there's a video out there that shows that what Brietbart posted was heavily edited to make it look like she said something racist? What if, in it's full context, what she says is actually race positive, ie., getting beyond race? Will you then repudiate the people who released this, knowing full well that the only reason for such an edit was to elicit the kind of reaction we are seeing?
It's hard to believe that, in this day and age, people are so willing to take at face value things that can be so easily manipulated. I would think that, being black, you would be a little more cautious with being caught up in the hysteria. After all, how many times has Brietbart been busted by pushing edited vids that totally distort the truth? I know the outcome was to your liking, but do the ends really justify the means?

Patricia said...

I wouldn't worry about her future. They may say she resigned but I wouldn't be surprised to see her show up with Van Jones working with the Center For American Progress.

Just another shell game by the Obama administration.

Angie Lee said...

She hits the nail on the head in the first clip, something I've said long ago and still believe: It's not about black or white or sky-blue pink. It's about the haves and the have-nots.

This is the face of the new racism in America, the wealthy elite on one side and all the rest of us on the other, regardless of the color of our skin, those folks over there doing their darndest to avoid falling into the pit alongside us. Thanks to their maneuvering to avoid that fate, they've screwed us all.

Malcolm said...

Well said AlphaKP. The timing of the release of this video is highly suspect. It looks like an attempt by the right-wing to exact revenge against the NAACP because of its tea party resolution. As the day goes on, Brietbart's "exposé" is starting to unravel really quick.

It'll be interesting to see how Fox News and the rest of the right wing media/the conservative blogosphere follows up on this story.

Janelle said...

The social engineering game is old, tired and annoying.

Anonymous said...

When I first watched the video, I felt badly hurt, not only by what Mrs. Sherrod said, but by the approval of the audience at the NAACP Freedom Fund banquet, when she mentioned her assumptions that the farmer was trying to act superior, and that she didn't do all that she could, and sent him to one of his own kind. I used to be a democrat, I used to believe in my party, and grew up having tremendous respect for the NAACP.

I watched Mrs. Sherrod's interview on CNN, online when I got home. I listened to what she said, and I do believe that she was trying to make a point about how she over came her own negative feelings about race, during her speech. She also stated that she felt she had been fired because of a combination of the NAACP, and the administration being angry when they heard she would be appearing on Glenn Beck's show to give her side of the story. I didn't watch Beck that evening, so I don't know if she had been on. She stated that she was hurt because the NAACP weren't interested in hearing her side of the story.

Hearing the wife of the farmer, who called in, who defended Mrs. Sherrod, revealed that they hadn't been racist, or felt superior to Mrs. Sherrod. So much of the problems that we are going through regarding race today, come from a lack of communication, and a sense of misperception. What hasn't helped the situation has been those who seek to exploit the issue of race, for political agenda.

I have read Breitbart's statement that he received the video in two portions and has been trying to get the unedited video to examine it. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, because I haven't seen him lie, but I have seen and heard the dems an the left lie, exploit the issues, while not caring enough to deal with the serious problems facing all of us, black, brown and white, and as a country. I've seen them treat us all with contempt, and no longer trust them. They certainly have no sincere interest in participating in a conversation, listening and rethinking the insane course they are charting for us, irregardless of the fact that they know it's all been done before in Europe, and created economic instability and crisis. Their intent seems deliberate.

All I can end this comment with, is my belief that we need a real conversation, we need community, we need our elders listened to, and treated with respect, and our young people, of all colors benefiting from the wisdom of their elders. We need to look beyond our misperceptions, and talk with each other, come to recognize that we have much more in common than we have differences. We truly are one people, we are all Americans. I'm going to start adding this to my prayers tonight, and will pray for this each night.

JanBee said...

I hope you have the guts to apologize to this woman on your blog, now that the truth is out. Truly ironic that her very point that she used her "racist" story to make was that she was fighting for all poor people, not black people. Next time get the facts before rushing to wrong judgment.

Anonymous said...

I came back to add something, I believe we all should try and speak out to get Mrs. Sherrod her job back. It's preying on my mind about this woman being unfairly forced to resign. I plan on calling the USDA, to see if they'll let me speak with someone in Tom Vilsack's office, and contacting Senator Sessions of Georgia, to see if he can right this wrong. It is a wrong, and in this economy, this woman should not be without her job.

Marian said...

The video was not necessarily about her. The people in the audience did not know that the "enlightenment" part of her story was coming. They were enjoying all on its own the tale of denying the white farmer full help.

Susan said...

FYI: NAACP admits being “snookered” and calls for Sherrods job back. The full statement can be found on the NAACP’s website.

Unknown said...

And now the backtracking starts. The video wasn't about her, it was about the audience's reaction, Sherrod was racist because she first stated that she was biased because the white came on all superior, yada, yada.

Bottom line; Breitbart lied. In your face, no holds barred, bold-faced lie to tar and feather the NAACP because they dared to call out the factual racist elements within the tea-party. How dare they. And in the crossfire Sherrod got caught up in the juvenile antics of a proven liar. SOmeone said they haven't seen Breitbart lie; what about the ACORN vids? PRoven to be total falsehoods, but Fox doesn't report on that because, as I said, the ends justify the means with certain ideologies.

Fuzzy Slippers, you can rationalize this all you like, and I actually thought Sherrod was quite eloquent in relating her story bout how she transcended race. You made the point yourself in your post that she wasn't bring racist. Noe one denies that we are all capable of it, but who among us admit it? That's where the discussion should start. THe NAACP asked the Tea-Party to dismiss the racist portions of their movement...they didn't say the tea-party was racist. But to hear Fox News, Hannity, et. al., you'd think the NAACP accused them of lynching someone.

Reading blogs and bulletin boards, it'd depressingly obvious that people just cannot bring themselves to see that Sherrod was discussing something that all of us should discuss, and Breitbart lied. It's amazing that some people are able to sleep at night.

Unknown said...

And now the backtracking starts. The video wasn't about her, it was about the audience's reaction, Sherrod was racist because she first stated that she was biased because the white came on all superior, yada, yada.

Bottom line; Breitbart lied. In your face, no holds barred, bold-faced lie to tar and feather the NAACP because they dared to call out the factual racist elements within the tea-party. How dare they. And in the crossfire Sherrod got caught up in the juvenile antics of a proven liar. SOmeone said they haven't seen Breitbart lie; what about the ACORN vids? PRoven to be total falsehoods, but Fox doesn't report on that because, as I said, the ends justify the means with certain ideologies.

Fuzzy Slippers, you can rationalize this all you like, and I actually thought Sherrod was quite eloquent in relating her story bout how she transcended race. You made the point yourself in your post that she wasn't bring racist. Noe one denies that we are all capable of it, but who among us admit it? That's where the discussion should start. THe NAACP asked the Tea-Party to dismiss the racist portions of their movement...they didn't say the tea-party was racist. But to hear Fox News, Hannity, et. al., you'd think the NAACP accused them of lynching someone.

Reading blogs and bulletin boards, it'd depressingly obvious that people just cannot bring themselves to see that Sherrod was discussing something that all of us should discuss, and Breitbart lied. It's amazing that some people are able to sleep at night.

Anonymous said...

AlphaKP, what is your thought on Obama and his church, NAACP and hallmark card?



Shhhhhh!

Ignore this link. There is nothing to see.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/Shirley-Sherrods-Disappearing-Act-Not-So-Fast-98846149.html

Unknown said...

Mantis, what does it matter what my thoughts are regarding Obama and his church, or a hallmark card? That has nothing to do with this issue, and I can't say I'm surprised that you throw up these straw men to distract from the issue. I guess when you can't defend a position, you throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what will stick, right? As for your link, again, not surprised. The woman has been vindicated in that she did not say anything racist, but said something race positive, and still you try to demonize her. Bring up everything except the pertinent issue. Bring up a bunch of tangential issues. Like yesterday, I will reserve judgement on all news that is presented about her given the rush to judgement that has caused so many to back track in the past 18 hours or so.

Anonymous said...

I'm just asking a question to see if you are one of those crazy black liberation theologians.

Unknown said...

And I just wanted to see how ignorant you are. You didn't disappoint.

Malcolm said...

The title of this post should start off with the word "BUST!" instead of "BUSTED!" Just as I suspected, there is a lot of spinning and backtracking by the right wing after Breitbart's latest "story" has been exposed as a fraud. I was watching Breitbart's appearance on CNN and he actually questioned the honesty of Roger and Eloise Spooner!

Breitbart not only lied, but he smeared an innocent woman's reputation in the process. I'll be waiting to see how many you who rushed to judgement against Shirley Sherrod are big enough to apologize.

Fuzzy: If your comments about the timing of the release of the video are in reference to Breitbart explaining his motives on "Hannity" last night, please keep in mind that my comments were posted nearly 2 hours before the show aired.

Unknown said...

@Mantis...lol, man, lol.

When all else fails....go personal!

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