Shirley Sherrod of the USDA’s Georgia Rural Development office has resigned following the airing of overtly racist remarks she made in a speech before—of all organizations—the NAACP.
At a local NAACP meeting in March of 2010, Sherrod boasted of withholding assistance to a farmer based on the color of his skin, which happened to be white. Sherrod (surprise!) is black.
In her comments, which are captured in the video below, Sherrod freely admits to "struggling with the fact that so many black people had lost their farm land, and here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land."
She further confesses to abusing her position by refusing to "give him the full force
of what I could do." The remarks conclude with a racist gem: "I took him to a white lawyer… I figured that if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him." [Emphasis added]
Upon accepting her resignation, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made a statement that was as predictable as it was naive. “There is zero tolerance for discrimination at USDA, and I strongly condemn any act of discrimination against any person.”
The NAACP has not yet released a statement of their own, but don't hold your breath waiting for one. The leadership of that antiquated organization talks a good game, but when it comes to racism, they take a purely one-sided view.
UPDATE: Since this story first appeared, new information has come to light suggesting that the video included below is an abridged version of a longer video, in which Shirley Sherrod reveals to her audience that her earlier racist views were misguided and that she has since seen the light. The revelation prompted NAACP CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous, who last night claimed to be "appalled by her [Sherrod's] actions," to err in the opposite direction, declaring "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." Although it is clearly lost on Jealous, at one time Sherrod did harbor racial bias toward white farmers—and admits as much in the video. To her credit, she came to realize the error of her ways. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Jealous.
It appears that the White House, which demanded her resignation, was equally hasty in its reading of the situation—as was, regrettably, this writer. I apologize for any harm that my characterization of Sherrod may have caused her reputation and hereby request that she been reinstated. Her redemption is to be applauded, which is more than can be said for the audience she was addressing, which can be seen in the video to express approval for her once-held racist views.
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Comments
I can't help but feel a sense of satisfaction that this waste of good air was forced to "resign". For those out there who are not nearly as bright as you think you - liberals, in other words, that's code for "she quit before they could fire her wide, dumb ass". Apparently, however, she is just barely smart enough to know that she'd have been jobless by Tuesday noon. I hope this behemoth has a good time hunting for work.
This woman disgusts me. Any type of racism disgusts me. Unfortunately, lately it seems some blacks feel they have carte blanch to offend or oppress white people now that Obama is President. This makes them no better than the KKK or the Nazis. This is no different than a white person oppressing a black person because of the color of their skin, or a Nazi oppressing a Jew because of their nationality and religion. Shirley Sherrod (Charade) is a disgusting racist, and should never be hired to any position of authority again.
And yet another examiner article that does not report the full story. The NAACP has in fact released at least two statements over Sherrod's statements-both of them condemning what she did, and the statements were released before you published this story. Please do your homework, you are not the only Examiner writer, and every time you don't report accurately it brings the whole enterprise down. Next time- GOOGLE!
Notice that NOBODY in the audience called her down, stood up and left, or found ANYTHING SHE SAID objectionable. No doubt her comments are similar to all NAACP racist speakers behind closed doors. Also, watch the lame-stream media run away from this story as it doesn't fit their agenda. Whites are victims of systemic racism every day from quotas, set asides, and preferences at schools and businesses throughout our country. We need affirmative action for whites to make up for the decades of legalized abuse at the hands of the black power system.
And yet another examiner article that does not report the full story. The NAACP has in fact released at least two statements over Sherrod's statementss"
How special of them. Months after the fact. This speech was in March and it took internet outcry to get them to apologize for this? They don't do it because they were sorry, they did it because she got caught.
As Peg noted above, the NAACP did post an official reply. It was good, right down to the second to last sentence in which they had to point out the well documented history of denying opportuinities to African, Latino, Asian, Native American and women... This was not an issue about the history of abuse towards these people, this was about black racism against white so don't try to deflect it and make it seem less serious by reminding the public of how much the whites have done in the past. Herein lies the problem, get OUT OF THE PAST.
I am glad to see that you have updated this article. There are a couple more things that are worth mentioning- Sherrod was not working for the US Government in the 80's, Sherrod is friends with the white farmers she helped and they have in fact come to her defense calling her a friend and crediting her for saving thier farm, and IT SHOULD BE very clear from the way she went about telling her story that everyone knew what was coming. The audience knew that Sharrod was not a racist.
MOST important thing you did not mention - this only became a story when Fox News decided to cover it but did not bother to check the story out first. What blame do they get? How many Fox News stories have to be discredited before someone on the "right" questions Fox News?
Boy do I wish I could include some links for you but Examiner does not allow that.
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