This blog seeks to look at events thru the perspective of Black people. We seek the Nguzo Saba 365/7 on on our blog. Please be active as a villager by using the COMMENT OPTION on blog posts, Subscribe to our blog, introduce yourself or view our most popular posts!
Showing posts with label Shirley Sherrod. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shirley Sherrod. Show all posts
The Shirley Sherrod story took another turn today. Villagers recall that Mrs. Sherrod was forced to resign in July after edited misleading video footage of a speech she gave was posted on the Internet.
This blog joined with many others in asking President Obama to reinstate Mrs. Sherrod to her position. However, Sherrod decided that she was not going to come back to the Obama administration on a full time basis. She will be accepting work as an outside consultant with the US Department of Agriculture.
She explains to CNN's Tony Harris why she declined the positions offered by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in the following video:
Does anyone know if there was any consequence to Andrew Briebert for his deceitful blog post on Mrs. Sherrod that created the shytstorm in the first place?
On Monday, Andrew Breitbart (a blogger who works closely with FOX News and has a long history of launching deceptive, racially charged smear campaigns) posted a deceptively edited video of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod speaking at an NAACP function. The video shows Sherrod telling a story about how she once was asked for help from a White farmer, and how she didn't "give him the full force of what I could do" to help him, because of his race.
Breitbart touted the video as evidence that the NAACP and the Obama administration tolerated racial discrimination against White people, saying that it showed Sherrod's "federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions." Breitbart's doctored video and false storyline moved quickly to FOX News, where on-air personalities called for Sherrod's firing.
The truth is that Sherrod was telling a 24-year old story about her work for a non-profit organization whose mission was to help Black farmers. Discrimination against Black farmers was rampant, and she described how she was first reluctant when approached by a White farmer named Roger Spooner for help (Sherrod also says that her father was killed by a White farmer 45 years ago). But after seeing that no one wanted to help Spooner, she worked to save his farm, and eventually became good friends with his family.
Yesterday, Roger Spooner said that Sherrod saved their farm and kept them out of bankruptcy. He told CNN, "I don't know what brought up the racist mess. They just want to stir up some trouble, it sounds to me in my opinion."
The NAACP was snookered. They joined the attack on Shirley Sherrod based on the the edited video. They should have simply watched the full speech before they rushed to judgement. The full video is shown below:
It took less than 24 hours for the lies to be debunked. But by that time, it was too late — Sherrod was forced to quit.
Once the truth became known, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a statement saying that whether or not the smear campaign against Sherrod was based in lies, it was necessary to fire her because the "controversy" would make it hard for her to do her job.
The Obama administration is essentially saying that they will always back down in the face of dishonest, race-baiting smear campaigns launched by right-wing propagandists. They've ended the career of someone who did nothing wrong, and by handing a victory to the people who launched this deception, the administration is encouraging them to launch even more smears. All to avoid "controversy." It's pathetic, it's shameful, and it has to stop.
It's not the first time this has happened. Several members of the Obama administration have lost their jobs or been demoted, and nominees to cabinet positions have either stepped down or withdrawn their nominations after becoming the target of smear campaigns launched by FOX News and Breitbart.
It's bad enough that we have to fight the constant smear campaigns and appeals to racial paranoia from FOX and the right-wing media. But it's completely shameful and outrageous for the Obama administration to throw innocent public servants under the bus just to avoid having to fight back against the lies.
Please join us in calling on the White House to immediately give Shirley Sherrod her job back, and to stop bowing to the will of right-wing propaganda artists.
