Conservative bloggers are expressing outrage over comments at the recent NAACP conference made by Georgia director of Rural Development Shirley Sherrod. After watching the video, I think they have good reason to be outraged. While Sherrod has claimed that the remarks were “misconstrued.” While Media Matters has raised valid concerns over the fairness of the view as edited, the comments still contain racist elements. She has now resigned.
The video has surfaced after NAACP accused Tea Party member of racism and the Tea Party severing of ties with one of its founders over a racist rant.
This video shows Sherrod recounted “the first time I was faced with having to help a white farmer save his farm” and how she viewed the farmer as trying to be “superior” to her while she controlled the money for such farmers.
“He had to come to me for help. What he didn’t know while he was taking all that time trying to show me he was superior to me was I was trying to decide just how much help I was going to give him . . . I was struggling with the fact that so many black people have lost their farmland and here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land — so I didn’t give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough.”
She notes that, to avoid any later complaints, she said she took him to see “one of his own” — a white lawyer” “I figured that if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him.”
UPDATE: the NAACP denounced the comments but has now retracted the original statement below.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, while condemning her recent comments, had earlier praised her selection. However, even after the retraction of the earlier NAACP statement, Vilsack stood by his decision on the need for the resignation. The next day, however, Vilsack said he would review the decision.
Yesterday, Andrew Breitbart released heavily-edited video of a speech that Shirley Sherrod, then-USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development gave at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Georgia this year. Breitbart writes that in the video, “this federally appointed executive bureaucrat lays out in stark detail, that her federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions.”
Media Matters has responded to the story and accused Breitbart of misleading people on the story — insisting that the video is heavily edited. They note that Sherrod was telling a story she had described took place decades ago when she worked for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund. The video reportedly excluded the fact that Sherrod spoke of how she went on to work with and befriend the man. She is quoted as saying at the end of the story: “And I went on to work with many more white farmers,” she said. “The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it’s about the people who have and the people who don’t. When I speak to groups, I try to speak about getting beyond the issue of race.”
This account is supported by the farmer’s wife who credited Sherrod with saving their land.
That is indeed redeeming, but I am not sure it rectifies the problem given the shocking first part of the story. UPDATE: there could be legal consequences to the editing of this tape as discussed in a later blog. The story suggests that (assuming this was reportedly roughly 20 years ago), these were her sentiments in 1986. That is pretty shocking even if she did ultimately help the farmer and overcome such racial issues. Nevertheless, the retraction should force Breitbart and others to come forward to explain why the end of the story was clearly removed to avoid the mitigating material.
Below is the full original statement from the NAACP:
July 20, 2010
NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous issued the following statement today after a careful investigation into the presentation of former USDA Official Shirley Sherrod.
The NAACP has a zero tolerance policy against racial discrimination, whether practiced by blacks, whites, or any other group.
The NAACP also has long championed and embraced transformation by people who have moved beyond racial bias. Most notably, we have done so for late Alabama Governor George Wallace and late US Senator Robert Byrd — each a man who had associated with and supported white supremacists and their cause before embracing civil rights for all.
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.
The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech. They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.
Moreover, this incident and the lesson it prompted occurred more that 20 years before she went to work for USDA.
Finally, she was sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption. In the full video, Ms.Sherrod says she realized that the dislocation of farmers is about “haves and have nots.” “It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people,” says Sherrod in the speech. “We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn’t matter.”
This is a teachable moment, for activists and for journalists.
Most Americans agree that racism has no place in American Society. We also believe that civil and human rights have to be measured by a single yardstick.
The NAACP has demonstrated its commitment to live by that standard.
The Tea Party Federation took a step in that direction when it expelled the Tea Party Express over the weekend. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from other leaders in the Tea Party movement like Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, who have been virtually silent on the “internal bigotry” issue.
Next time we are confronted by a racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the Tea Party like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate in responding. The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed. This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.
According to the USDA, Sherrod’s statements prompted her dismissal. While we understand why Secretary Vilsack believes this false controversy will impede her ability to function in the role, we urge him to reconsider.
Finally, we hope this incident will heighten Congress’s urgency in dealing with the well documented findings of discrimination toward black, Latino, Asian American and Native American farmers, as well as female farmers of all races.
@Buddha Is Laughing
It’s also about discrimination based on skin color not matter the “logic” behind said discrimination. Racism is a much broader concept…
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Racism and discrimination are two different things yet they are often confused. A person can accept racial superiority without having an opportunity for racial discrimnation. Likewise, a person can discriminate based on race without the cause being racism. When somebody uses the word nigger that does not imply raicsm. You would have to look at the motivation of the action.
We have words such as bigotry, discrimination, and prejudice that mean particular things. You should not coopt the word racism because you are ignorant.
This was a heavily edited clip courtesy of Andy Dimbart – the same asshole responsible for the ACORN heavily edited to disguise the truth videos.
Read the full transcript – this excerpt is a lie created to exercise power by a man with a really tiny penis and a huge budget of wingnut welfare.
Only the race I believe in is the “Human race”. All racist people are Ignorant.
This is a highly edited video by Andrew Breitbart of edited video Acorn smear fame, and another fine example of his McCarthy technique.
In reality, this was a small part of her standard speech and to see people like Turley accept the cropped video is sad. It is also sad that Tom Vilsack did not even attempt to ascertain the facts before caving to pressure from the lie & smear experts on the right.
Here is yet another good person destroyed by the right wing noise machine to the approval of people who should damn well know better
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201007200030
This is NOT racist. Its about overcoming one’s tendencies to favor one’s own tribe. She was telling a story (from 24 years ago!) to illustrate how she overcame her own tendency to not help white farmers when she realized that it wasn’t about black or white, but about being poor. She is close friends to this day with the white farmer in the story, whose wife told CNN that Shirley Sherrod “saved” them by all that she did for them. When is this ridiculousness going to stop?!!!!
Racism is about racial superiority.
It’s also about discrimination based on skin color not matter the “logic” behind said discrimination.
Racism is a much broader concept that simply “(insert color here) superiority” although it is a primary ingredient.
Racism is about racial superiority. I am not exactly sure how this qualifies.
This is from the essay by Sophia Nelson whose interview I linked to above. This part of her economics I agree with. Byron will agree with the rest!
“…Even people who disagree with me don’t think that a public war of words over race is the best way forward. “How is condemning the actions of a few white fools in the tea party going to help put food on the table of unemployed black folks?” a black lawyer friend in his late 30s — a staunch Democrat — asked at a recent dinner party. He didn’t see how an NAACP resolution was going to create jobs in cities where black men are experiencing unemployment at Great Depression levels. “The NAACP needs to come up with something better than that move,” he said.
Another friend at the dinner, a black woman who works for a member of Congress, agreed. “We need to wake up. Black folks are hurting bad in this current economy, as are many whites and Hispanics. We better start finding a way to work together and stop all of this racial name-calling,” she said. “We need a Rainbow Coalition tea party to set this thing off before we all end up getting dumped in the Boston Harbor.”
Blouise said “the non-racists among us, on all sides of the color line, are deeply saddened for we understand how much further we all have to go in overcoming racism in America.”
Bingo.
And buckeye? I’d be all for “Archie Bunker to [coming] back as a relief valve for bigots to laugh with and non-bigots to laugh at.” Call it “All In The Zombie Family”.
Racism is alive and well in America – just ask any realtor.
And we can’t count on the youth to overcome it. I had a recent conversation with a 15-year-old from Miami and he explained about how his school is divided into 3 cliques – Hispanic, White, and Black. He said the Whites were constantly telling the Hispanics to “Speak English”. I was very disheartened.
This lady was indiscreet in showing her bias to an organization, where others would only say such things to friends, and she has paid the price.
And, as Mike A. says, the conservatives are jumping up and down gleefully adding it to the “New Black Panthers” controversy. Over the past few days I have watched every conservative including Joe Scarborough bring up how if a KKK person looked menacing at a polling center the MSM would be blasting it on every outlet. Must be a new talking point.
Maybe it’s time for Archie Bunker to come back as a relief valve for bigots to laugh with and non-bigots to laugh at.
As I listened to the speech, initially I was appalled but then, as the speech progressed, I realized the woman was explaining an “eye opening” experience … one that helped her, at least in her estimation, overcome her own racist tendencies. The conservative reaction is “business as usual” and her words will indeed inflame the fear so many whites hold dear … “our one time slaves are out to get us”.
I suspect that since her motivation was one of explaining how she overcame racist tendencies, she didn’t give thought to how her words could be cut and edited and her presentation turned on its ear. Her naiveté is rather stunning.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole episode reaffirms her original more racist reactions and just like the fear of blacks whites hold so dear, blacks will nod to themselves and dismiss the whole incident as just another example of white hypocrisy.
Perhaps white conservatives think this sort of campaign will strengthen their base and in that thought they would be correct … but … this kind of thing also strengthens the so called minority base … and the non-racists among us, on all sides of the color line, are deeply saddened for we understand how much further we all have to go in overcoming racism in America.
And a study in contrast:
I relay an example of someone acting with good character, Keith McVey.
erykah said “Oh my God! A white person a victim of racism. What has the world come to. Get over it.”
How about this little factual bombshell: racism is a stupidity that knows no racial or gender boundary. When Dr. King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”?
He wasn’t just talking about black children. Or white children. Or red children. Or yellow children. He was talking about all children.
Your statement is just as racist as this nitwit’s, erykah, and just as racist as Tea Bagger signs calling Obama a nigger.
The word you’re looking for is “hypocrite”, a demonstration of behavior that shows you’re lacking . . . character.
How about you getting over it?
At least she had the decency, and the balls, to resign, unlike those in similar situations who cry, “reverse racism!” ala the Tea Party and some in the GOBP.
And, I agree to a point with erykah – I have a tough time with the “poor, victimized white man.” I think it’s high time white people learned that we are not superior to anyone, and that everyone should have an equal shot in enjoying the rights and privileges that were once reserved for “whites only.”
Thanks for the link eniobob – The video is something that needs to be shoved in people’s faces these days. It makes my skin crawl that there is such cruelty and hatred towards the less fortunate in our society.
As Dr. Denis Leary says – “We suck.”
Ummm, boy, I don’t know how to say this, but this isn’t racist, and Turley, if you think it is, you’ve got some kind of problem.
She’s clearly, even in the edited video (and I’d sure like to see what was taken out) telling the audience about how she comes to realize that it’s not a black and white thing, but a poor and rich thing.
Listening to all of it, not just the first thirty seconds, would help with the comprehension problem.
This was on Talk of the Nation yesterday. The speaker/writer is a conservative Republican who is black. She speaks about the tea party, NAACP, economic conditions, etc. and tries to reach through the stereotypes without denial of racism. While I find her economic ideas appalling, I felt she was well motivated. It’s only about 15 mins, so if you have the time, it’s worth a listen. She does have some good ideas for reaching out to each other, which in my opinion, is one of the most important things we can do as citizens to help our nation at this difficult juncture.
http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=5&prgDate=7-19-2010
Sounds to me more a ‘how I grew out of my prejudices, and you can too’ speech.
The resignation was appropriate. The offending speech initially sounds much like a “now it’s our turn” argument, just the sort of thing that feeds into the greatest fear of white racists, that should whites ever become a demographic minority in this country, blacks will see it as an opportunity for some serious payback. (I find this fear particularly interesting because white conservatives are always insisting that the playing field was leveled with the passage of major civil rights legislation and that segregation was never the demonic plague portrayed by liberals.)
Of course, conservative “outrage” was overblown. If you listen closely to Ms. Sherrod’s comments, she acknowledges that her initial reaction to the pleas of a white farmer was wrong, that there is no difference between poor black farmers and poor white farmers who need the services of her agency. Nevertheless, this was entirely lost in the blowback from the right, which is not much given to subtlety.
Oh my God! A white person a victim of racism. What has the world come to. Get over it.
“To its credit, the NAACP has also denounced the comments. What is troubling is the sounds of approval from some in the audience.”
Dejavu: