Shirley Sherrod: Beneath The Headlines

CNN is strongly pushing the notion that Shirley Sherrod is a uniter, dedicated to bringing people together. However, her rhetoric beneath the headlines hardly supports that conclusion.

Sherrod's steadfast motto: 'Let's work together'

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Shirley Miller Sherrod has spent most of her life fighting injustice.

How is it that one unites, while casting your entire political opposition as racist, without any evidence to support the charge? That is what Sherrod actually does. And she does it consistently.

source: You know, I haven't seen such a mean-spirited people as I've seen lately over this issue of health care. Some of the racism we thought was buried. Didn't it surface? Now, we endured eight years of the Bush's and we didn't do the stuff these Republicans are doing because you have a black President.

I've seen people, including some on the Right, claiming Sherrod deserves an apology from Andrew Breitbart. Fair enough, though I disagree. But I wonder, will those same truth seekers call on Sherrod to apologize for charging that, what Breitbart really wants is a genuine return to slavery? Or, shall we assume that the apology seekers actually agree with her? Come on, pundits. Don't let your inkwells go dry, now. This is just getting fun - or rather unfunny, perhaps. Are these the words of someone who ever truly forgives someone over issues involving race?

On Andrew Breitbart: I know I've gotten past black versus white. He's probably the person who's never gotten past it and never attempted to get past it.

I think he would like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery. That's where I think he would like to see all black people end up again.

COOPER: You think -- you think he's racist?

SHERROD: ... I think he's so vicious. Yes, I do.

And I think that's why he's so vicious against a black president, you know. He would go after me. I don't think it was even the NAACP he was totally after. I think he was after a black president.

Isn't that charge above a terrible injustice done to Breitbart by a Sherrod who claims to devote her life to fighting injustice? Or is it impossible to treat a while male unjustly in Sherrod's view? What say you, apology seekers? Doesn't Sherrod now owe Breitbart an apology, as well? Or does her unfairly maligning someone in such a horrible manner draw a pass? And, if so, then why? Because she's black, or her father was tragically killed decades ago?

Sherrod must really have the apology seekers at NRO scared. They represent the so called conservatives most closely aligned with money and the elite. The reality is, from the grassroots to the power elite, there is no one on the Right who escapes Sherrod's accusations of evil and racism - and all in her quest to get people to work together, right?  

source - The people with money, the elites decided, hey, we need to do something here to divide them [the white and black servants] so that’s where they made black people servants for life. That’s when they put laws in place forbidding them to marry each other. That’s when they created the racism that we know of today. They did it to keep us divided. And here we are over 400 years later and it is still working.

Sorry, friends. But when I look below the headlines at the real Shirley Sherrod, as opposed to the fast spun media myth - I think I see her for what she really is. And it's a very clear portrait painted in sharp contrasts between black and white. Far from bringing the races together in America, the Shirley Sherrods of the world accomplish nothing but maintaining any distance, if not actually driving them apart. It's amazing how the conditions for having sainthood bestowed upon oneself have changed over the years.

On race: "It's not so much about white…" (catches herself, says), "It IS about white and black."

Comments

[King Simar Shabazz (D-black panther)]

Come on 2penny,, where yous at cracker boy,, you lett'n me down here, get to tell 'em cracker boy,, get to tell 'em!!!

[Tea Party at Perrysburg]

I totally agree with you. I think people need to reverse the roles of black and white in this situation and see who gets away with what. Her behavior following the incident reveals much more that is quite damning. She is immature, peevish, opportunistic, self-pitying and, yes, racist.

She hasn't gotten "past the racism" at all. She's enjoying the spotlight. GEEZ. Could she be on any more tv shows, complaining about her treatment, when in actuality the treatment was from the NAALCP and the WHITE HOUSE? Naturally it automatically reverted to an accusation against Fox and Breitbart once the guilty parties apologized. By then, she realized her greatest victimhood originated with the other accusations.

But she still has a lawsuit in mind. This person is an opportunist and a predator.

[JustOneMan]

Next she will be proclaimed the 'Rosa Parks" of the white racist right wing media bus!

[tdpwells]

Yes, because none of the right would feel this way about *insert various Obama policy here* if Hillary had won. Nope, not at all. We'd be happy as pigs in crap.

[Obstreperous Infidel]

That's BS, tdpwells. Hillary's husband, yes, but not that one...She's, she's got a vagina for crying out loud. It's one thing to be black, but quite a-revolting-other to have a hoo-hoo.

[Fred Beloit]

In Sherrod's case Brietbart didn't go after her; he went after the NAACP, and even so he only went after them because the NAACP went after the tea parties first.
The Journolist lives on in spirit in the air broadcast media.

[A.W.]

thank you. the woman is a racist and apparently an idiot, too.

yeah, she went back and undid the racist thing she did to that farmer. good. that does in fact make the story less horrible.

but the is still a racism. and has no business in government.

[Jeff]

4 months ago she described sending the white farmer to one of his own kind ...

she didn't say "I sent him to a white lawyer" ... nope, one of his own kind ...

this is her current thinking ... if you are a white farmer today your kind is white and obviously not one of her kind ...

[Rob Alloy Iv]

Apparently she doesn't know the story of Andrew Breitbart who use to be a devoted liberal until he saw the way the Party Of Racial Love and Tolerance(Democrats) and NAACP treated the nomination of a Black Man (Clarence Thomas) as a Supreme Court Justice. Since Sherrod says anyone going against a Black Man being put in a position of power is Racist She must Denounce the NAACP and Democrats as a Racist body.

[Mikedd]

the woman is ignorant.

[joyMc]

This lady is obviously so working it. She is going to turn off more of CNNs failing audience. She is making the rounds. The thing is, she is a total phony. With no other information than that the NAACP likes her, I would know she is anti white if nothing else. People are not stupid.

[5th Level Fighter]

Boy, Ms. Sherrod sure is giving us some context now, isn't she?

[Elroy Jetson]

I hope she goes the "full Ginsburg". That would be awesome.

[Black Angus]

I don't believe this woman is a racist. And I don't at all think she's ignorant. She's definitely an opportunist though, obviously willing and able to play the race-card. She's done well financially by those means thus far.

But I also don't buy this whole "overreaction" explanation to Sherrod's lightning-quick resignation. The USDA defintely has something to hide (or burn, delete, bury, etc.). This whole Pigford and New Commnites, Inc. lawsuit stinks. I have a hard time believing it (the resignation) had to do with a battle between the government and right-wing blogs/media.

As far as Breitbart posting that -- I still have no idea what his motive was. I don't buy his explanation either, because the snippet he posted didn't accurately portray (not in a compelling way) what he claimed it did. Nor was it like him to to be that painfully sloppy.

And the MSM throughout all of this (FOX included) -- they are basically a reality-sitcom.

[Kent]

The last 30 years has been a hay day for persons of color hired by a government agency. Then, regardless of interest, inteligence,or aptitude, were fast tracked to supervision or management. The US Government is full of Shirley Sherrods and worse..

[Black Angus]

Kent,
What's the root of the problem really, though? Affirmative action -- or that we have a bureaucracy like the USDA that has the power to allocate grants and loans to farmers (or pretend-farmers)? Doesn't that just invite discrimination charges (real or frivolous)?

[Capt. America]

So, let's review the Breitbart gang's allegations:

When … she expresses a discriminatory attitude towards white people, the audience responds with applause. False.
The NAACP … is cheering on a person describing a white person as the other. False.
The NAACP audience seemed to have approved of her actions when she talked about not helping the white farmer. False.
They weren't cheering redemption; they were cheering discrimination. False.
As Ms. Sherrod recounted the first part of her parable, how she declined to do everything she could for the farmer because of his race, the audience responded in approval. False.

[JorgXMcKie]

Capt. America, do you just refuse to read what Breitbart actually writes or is your comprehension that low?

Your entire post is "false".

[RICHARD]

andrew is a goddamed racist !!!!!!!!!

[RICHARD]

shirley don't owe that racist bastard anything she should sue him for eveything he own.....conservative racist bastard

[w3bgrrl]

Sherrod's steadfast motto: 'Let's work together, you racist tea party crackers!'

[Sevgen]

At the end of the day, few will deny that Mr Breitbart's initial action showed the entire country how the right is resorting into sometimes criminal hysterics in order to get their party back in power. Just for the sake of possessing power. His follow-ups are nothing more than attempted damage control. Anyone who would sink this low to gain an objective cannot be worthy of credibility or the gift of power. We not only have the smoking gun, we have the entire, lurid affair in video taped living color. Only a weasel would continue to heap lie upon lie in the hopes of "...fool[ing] some of the people." I hope Mr. Breitbart will eventually be convicted by the court of public opinion as it becomes increasingly evident that he appeals only to the overzealous and shrinking fringe. Maybe there will be more than a few who will look more closely at just a few of the many outright lies I saw posted on this site.

I know I won't be back again and from what I'm reading I am among many.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"Anyone who would sink this low to gain an objective cannot be worthy of credibility or the gift of power."

Sort of like Barack Obama releasing Jack Ryan's sealed divorce records.

Or Barack Obama ordering his campaign workers to illegally go through government records on Joe the Plumber.

Or Barack Obama's White House censoring and blocking Freedom of Information Act requests based on political affiliation.

So really, Sevgen, you accusing other people of bad behavior is hilarious when you one considers what you support and endorse.

Go back to your fellow racists. What public opinion is seeing is how racists like yourself and your little race-baiter Sherrod can't handle having their words publicly exposed.

[American Girl]

Barak Obama and his administration has set race relations back 80 years or more in this country. As a person born in the sixties, I was conditioned by my parents, media and society to be color blind and judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. I had always done that. The America I lived in would have ostracised any white person who would have made racist comments against blacks. However, I an shocked to see the outpouring of racism by the black community against whites lately. I wonder now if all the black people I have worked with over the years, chatted with in airports, etc... have secretly harbored a racist bias against me because I am white and were they "just being polite" and thinking "white bitch!" the whole time about me.
I hope not. However, some of the racism I am seeing from black people these days makes me wonder.

[MCGIRV]

Oh come on! "Criminal Hysterics!" You're hysterical!

[Black American]

American Girl said:
"black people I have worked with......(may have) secretly harbored a racist bias against me."

I'm sure they did not harbor any more racist bias against you than you might have harbored against them. Blacks don't go out of their way to hate or dislike whites. However, don't you think that our early treatment in this country, at least, gives us some reasons to be wary of whites? Since you were born in the '60's, you are 40-50 years old. I was born in the '50's and the America (south) that I lived in required blacks to be very careful and cautious in dealing with whites. Don't get me wrong. There weren't any Bull Connors or George Wallaces running around my hometown. But sadly, people were not always judged by the content of the character. Sometimes they were judged by the color of their skin. Very few, if any, whites "ostracized" another white person for making racist comments. Thank God times are different now. The town that you lived in must have really been exceptional.

[North Dallas Thirty]

And, as was tersely pointed out elsewhere, for a "vicious racist", Breitbart sure has a lot of black contributors on his websites.

http://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/2010/07/23/shirley-she-cant-be-serious/

So keep your mouth open and keep screaming, insane little girl. Indeed, I would say we conservatives should be encouraging her to speak more and more, just like Jeremiah Wright.

[nohammernosickl]

Dan, bravo for not backing down to this bigoted race hustler. She belongs alongside Al Sharpton and Jesse Jerkson... other race hustling poverty pimps who use threats of shutting people down and accusations of racism to usurp donations and advance their agendas. This is a woman who sued the government for millions of dollars and was awarded a huge settlement.

I reject the notion that the initial tapes were taken out of context. I don't think that the entirety of the speech vindicates her much at all. She still advances the meme that all conservatives are evil, George Bush was a racist and anyone who opposes Odumbo is a racist. This is such a tired, hackneyed, prehistoric point of view. She's as divisive of a personality as they come. When everything revolves around race, any rational discussion gets crowded out completely.

[Will]

"Isn't that charge above a terrible injustice done to Breitbart by a Sherrod who claims to devote her life to fighting injustice? Or is it impossible to treat a while male unjustly in Sherrod's view? What say you, apology seekers? Doesn't Sherrod now owe Breitbart an apology, as well? Or does her unfairly maligning someone in such a horrible manner draw a pass?"

Once again, you completely miss the point. No one--including Sherrod--is saying Andrew Breitbart isn't allowed his opinion that Shirley Sherrod is a racist. He'd be wrong in her view (and mine), but that would be his fair opinion. What they ARE saying is that he is NOT allowed to release a video that CONFIRMS that opinion of her racism through SELECTIVE EDITING, when the full video would show THE OPPOSITE.

You are intentionlly changing the subject and the terms of the debate, into "if it's not fair that Andrew called Shirley a racist, then it's not fair that Shirley called Andrew a racist", when the whole frigging thing started from Andrew releasing a DOCTORED TAPE that made the world think, for a couple days, that Shirley was a racist. That is what people have rightly called Andrew Breitbart out on. Not that he is calling Shirley Sherrod a racist, but that he had to manufacture evidence to "prove" it.

[Sevgen]

When I say I won't be back, I mean that I won't be back under this name.

I will, of course, comment again under another name to express my OUTRAGE!!!! the next time a MediaMatters blast email instructs me to.

[Sunglasses on a Cloudy Day]

"When I say I won't be back, I mean that I won't be back under this name.

I will, of course, comment again under another name to express my OUTRAGE!!!! the next time a MediaMatters blast email instructs me to."

Wow. Thanks for the heads up. Most trolls don't show that kind of courtesy.

[papertiger]

===That is what people have rightly called Andrew Breitbart out on. Not that he is calling Shirley Sherrod a racist, but that he had to manufacture evidence to "prove" it.===

Where did I see an example of this type of journalism in action?

Oh yes. It was from Think Progress.

+++ Lee Fang, a writer for the far-left blog Think Progress, recently posted a video purporting to show racism at Tea Parties. But the video was a total fraud. It took statements out of context, claimed racism where there really was none, claimed liberal plants were authentic members of the movement, and even used video from 2006, three years before the movement existed!

Liberal writers at the Nation and the Huffington Post, as well as former Fox News cohost Alan Colmes all trumpeted the Think Progress video as evidence of Tea Party racism, despite the easily-verifiable evidence to the contrary. +++

That's what John Podesta is doing now a days.

[jd]

There is an interesting lawsuit which coincides with this mentioned in a comment on the RBO (real barak obama.wordpress.com) website. Of course, since it concerns a lawsuit filed by poor white Georgia farmers it won't be mentioned by anyone defending Ms. Sherrod.

[Fred Beloit]

Oh this is too funny. The attack of the Journolist nutroots. Every once in a while one of the Journolister blogs or maybe even more than one will send a batallion of moonbeams with pockets full of defective metal jackets to attack this site. Fortunately, defenders like North Dallas always send them running back down the hill to their trenches in the bogs. Libruls fighting in pants too tight for them. Hahaha.

[noel@yahoo.com]

This is my timeline:

After viewing the snippet, I thought Shirley Sherrod was racist.

After viewing the whole tape, it turned out that I have mistakenly judged her as racist.

After so many interviews with the Liberal media and making comments about the incident and the people who seem to have done her wrong, I finally conclude that she is a .....

RACIST!

[Gary]

Wow. It's pretty clear to me that the particular department this lady was heading up was not simply a place for farmers to go to get help regarding agriculture. But more like a welfare office, where you had to prove how down and out you were before you'd even be looked at. And I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to also be black. I hate to think that last part, but Sherrod's recent behavior has made it clear she's still got some huge chips on her shoulder regarding race.

[Patrick]

Will Big Government offer an apology for the edited video? I too was duped by the first video...and horrified, after I spoke out in public!!!, that the video was edited!!!

This is not what we need to win. We can never stoop to lying...and this is lying...and it was terribly embarrasing too.

I'm fighting mad! Not mad enough to vote Democrat...but I bet some are.

This was wrong!

[Gary H.]

Black Girl, what political party did Bull Connors & George Wallace belong to?

[gabriella taylor]

CAN WE SAY BACKFIRE!!!! BIG TIME!!!! BRIGHTBART YOUVE BEEN EXPOSED, THIS TIME U WERENT SO BRIGHT - MORE LIKE A BRIGHT FART HAHAHAHA

[Gary H.]

Brilliant, provocative, intuitive comment Gatriella.

[Gary Gross]

I wrote this post Thursday that Sherrod shouldn't be fitted for a halo:

http://www.letfreedomringblog.com/?p=8318

She's a bitter partisan who's attacking Fox even though they acted the most responsibly of all the major media outlets. Something tells me that isn't the straightest path to sainthood.

[Robert]

Gabby wrote all in caps so you know she thought long and hard beforehand.

[Alexandra AM]

Come on everyone. The debate centers on the fact that Andrew Breitbart - through selective "editing" gave the world the immpression that Sherrod was a racist. It was all over the news - lead to some VERY ugly things being said about this women - lead to her forced resignation - hate mail several death threats ex. . . I'm curious Dan who feels Ms. Sherrod doesn't deserve at least an apology - Mr. Breitbart manufactured a situation that has turned this womens life upside down. We would NEVER have heard about her but for his lies. Gary say's "she's a bitter partisan. . ." WOW, of course she's bitter - for several days EVERYONE thought she was an awful person (and, I can only imagine what kind of phone call she got from the BIG boss - probably a lot of yelling and NO listening). I don't want to hear lies. How can we trust anyone to give us the facts on what's going on in politics if were lied to? Very few people are addressing the FACT that Mr. Breitbart LIED. What should the punishment be? Let's deal with Breitbart and his ink (Republicans or Democrats) doesn't make any difference to me - I won't be manipulated!

[xax]

Sad. It's almost like:

none of them know what actually happened
they don't care about what actually happened
they are being told what to think.

Yet they scream about how they won't let themselves be manipulated. LOL!!

Stupid people make me laugh. We know what your game is. Overwhelm the comments section with talking points and phony anger. Who sent you the link to riehlword? Think Progress? The Kos kiddies?

Face it lefties, you're just not that bright. You're time is coming to an end and you know it.

[Ron]

I suspended judgement on Shirley once the confusion set in but having heard a bit more of her than I need , I am expecting a full blown Rev Wright episode. She is absolutely obsessed with race and government money and government jobs no one ever loses. It is funny in her longer version speech she says something like "did you ever hear of someone in government losing their job" ...well Shirley did for about a day. It will probably end up as another lawsuit.

[CNB]

The NAACP resolution did not label the whole Tea Party Movement as racist. It called for the racist elements in the Tea Party Movement to be removed. So Andrew Breitbart's retaliation by smearing Shirley Sherrod was NOT an appropriate response! The people on the right believe they can say and do anything and everything as outrageous as possible, but when they get a response from the people on the other side suddenly they defensively call themselves the "victim!" When the Democrats don't fight back, they are called "wimps." When they do fight back, they are smeared even further because the Republicans can dish it out, but they cannot take it and can't stand it when they don't hold all of the reins of power!

[Jim]

CNB

You are hilarious. The NAACP knows they were trashing the whole group-then they had to come out and spit their BS. If not they should have named the individuals who were racist. You're a shill and you know it .

[Cozella]

Read this

[adlibn]

She is too ignorant to realize that the people who put the rules in place to keep us divided are the Liberals and the Democratic party. She is just too weak and helpless to leave the liberal plantation.