Shirley Sherrod caught in the crossfire

In the great pitch battle between the NAACP and the Tea Party movement over politically motivated charges of racism, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development Shirley Sherrod got caught in the crossfire.

After viewing the full video of Sherrrod’s remark it becomes clear that her story wasn’t one of black vs. white, but rather a shift in attitude from black vs. white to rich vs. poor. Ms. Sherrod also makes clear that this story happened before the USDA employed her. Ms. Sherrod goes on to state that she became good friends with the white farmer in the end and the white farmer’s family confirms Ms. Sherrod’s claims.

Before the full video was made available, Ms. Sherrod was asked to resign her position from the USDA. In a CNN interview, Ms. Sherrod says the request for her resignation came from the White House and that she was disappointed that the NAACP did not bother to hear her out.

Between the administration and the NAACP, the NAACP’s actions are most egregious. The NAACP’s initial reaction was to condemn Sherrod without hearing her side of the story. Once the full story got out, the NAACP claimed that they were snookered by Fox News and Andrew Breitbart.

With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias.

Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans. 

This is complete nonsense. The NAACP was in possession of the full video before anyone else yet they did not bother to view it before condemning Sherrod.  They only people who snookered the NAACP was the NAACP themselves when they decided that covering their own ass was far more important than defending Sherrod.

Regarding the administration, their actions were completely political.  In typical Obama administration fashion their goal was to take a hot subject off the front burner any way they can. So Shirley Sherrod was tossed under the bus just like Rev. Wright, Van Jones and Yosi Sargent.  The administration’s claims that it had no input into the request for Sherrod’s resignation and that the decision came from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack alone.  This is baloney. The Sherrod story was top news and whatever decision was made about her was going to reflect on the administration one way or another. Are we to believe that the White House did not care about the outcome?

Again, in order to remove the hot glare of attention from the Sherrod incident, the administration did a 180 just like the NAACP and is offering Sherrod her job back.

Regarding Andrew Breitbart, his goal was to launch a broadside at the NAACP. Mission accomplished, they made fools of themselves and pulled the administration along with them.  Where Breitbart can be faulted is for using the edited clips without knowing what the full story was about. In doing so, he has left himself open to criticism from the left and has caused most of the focus to go to Ms. Sherrod rather than the NAACP.

That being said, the left and Ms. Sherrod herself seem to think that all this is the fault of Breitbart and Fox News. Nope. Neither Breitbart nor Fox News fired Ms. Sherrod. It was the administration that chose to do that.

Each and every day, both the Democratic Party and the NAACP put themselves out there as great defenders and champions of the black community. Yet when a black person needed some defending, neither this Democratic administration or the NAACP defended her. Instead their first instincts were to defend themselves by throwing Sherrod under the bus. So in the end, the very people Ms, Sherrod is still putting her faith in are the very ones who betrayed her.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Mediaite

Via: CNN

Via: Big Government

Via: NAACP

Via: The Washington Post
Via: Media Matters

Full Video: Shirley Sherrod’s comments to the NAACP

As we all know many things have come out about USDA Director Shirley Sherrod’s speech to the NAACP. This is the full video of her remarks. A few commenters on the previous post seem to think I was throwing Sherrod under the bus for racism. Perhaps if they actually read my post they would have seen I was only critical of Sherrod for her love of government largess and the full video doesn’t change my mind on that score. I did come down harshly on the NAACP for racism and that still stands too, because the audience is approving when Sherrod tells of how she initially discriminated against the white farmer.

I will be posting shortly about the various plot twist concerning Sherrod, the NAACP and the administration.

Video h/t: DaTechguy’s Blog

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.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Big Government

Via: American Spectator

Via: The Other McCain