Both sides of the political spectrum are pots calling the kettles black in this current "you're a racist" tug-o-war. On the right, while aggressively condemning NAACP's resolution repudiating racial elements in the Tea Party; one of the Tea Parties prominent leaders Mark Williams sent an embarrassing and racially charged so-called-satire post from the perspective of a "colored man". Mark Williams and his entire organization, Tea Party Express, was expelled from the National Tea Party Federation. On the left, while pointing the finger at the Tea Party, they refuse to include in their resolution, the new Black Panther Party's leaders who are asking for the "killing of cracker babies". [Now enters Shirley Sherrod].
Shirley Sherrod. Shirley Sherrod typifies this artificially created racial battle between the right and left. A right-biased website powered by Andrew Breitbart, BigGovernment, posted an incomplete video of a federally appointed USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, Shirley Sherrod, speaking at a NAACP dinner in March. In her speech, she recounts a story which takes place 26 years ago, while she was working for a nonprofit rural aid group, where she did not help a white farmer to her complete ability because he was white. End of sound-byte.
The NAACP quickly put out a statement condemning her remarks, without contacting her for verification or explanation says Sherrod. Almost as quickly as the incomplete video hit the air waves, the USDA Deputy Undersecretary Cheryl Cook called Sherrod while she was driving, and informed her "the White House wanted her to resign because her comments were generating a cable news controversy" naming Glenn Beck specifically. She resisted. In the final of the three phone conversations, "they asked me to pull over to the side of the road and submit my resignation on my Blackberry, and that's what I did." She told CNN that "it hurts [her] that [the administration] didn't even try to attempt to see what is happening here, they didn't care."
Who is coming to Shirley Sherrod's defense? The NAACP who has done a quick 180, the specifically named by the administration Glenn Beck, and even the white farmer she was speaking of! "We probably wouldn't have (our farm) today if it hadn't been for her leading us in the right direction," said Eloise Spooner, the wife of farmer Roger Spooner of Iron City, Ga. "I wish she could get her job back because she was good to us, I tell you." Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak defended his call for her resignation, even as more of the story poured out vindicating Shirley Sherrod's reputation, saying "the controversy surrounding her comments would create a situation where her decisions, rightly or wrongly, would be called into question making it difficult for her bring jobs to Georgia." The term “rightly or wrongly” suggests that the truth does not matter -- only perception, the politics of the situation.
The Shirley Sherrod drama illustrates that every organization, NAACP, Black Panthers, Tea Party, even government agencies, are full of humans. Humans who make mistakes, have prejudices to overcome or succomb to, learning lessons we are all faced with. The sad irony in the case of Shirley Sherrod, is the entirety of the video shows that she overcame her prejudices, and she eventually came to work closely with the white farmer and that she was trying to impart a lesson about how important it is to get beyond the issue of race.
“I went on to work with many more white farmers,” she said. “The story helped me realize that race is not the issue.”
“I went on to work with many more white farmers,” she said. “The story helped me realize that race is not the issue.”
