If you know me, you’ll know that I am always talking griping bitching about balanced reporting. And quite frankly, I jumped the gun writing about Shirley Sherrod.
The whole video shows a tale about redemption. And that redemption was Ms. Sherrod’s own journey.
You can see it and read about it for yourself on whichever news outlet is carrying it, as it’s all over the news.
Her father was killed by white men. She, of anyone, has endured racism and her story was telling how she overcame it.
I still believe that a government official should strive for following the path of what’s right for everyone, no matter your personal issues. And as it turned out the farmers in question believe that she helped them save their farm. Even though she admitted she didn’t go full force in helping them…at first.
Here’s what Juan Williams, of Faux News said in the aftermath:
When the White House execution order of Sherrod reached the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the official there did not stop the bandwagon.
The department has its own history of racial discrimination in failing to help deserving black farmers. They did not want to stir old ghosts.
Everyone – the White House, the Agriculture Department, the anonymous editor, the website – has political dirt and racial guilt all over their hands. The little guy, Shirley Sherrod, was just “collateral damage,” in a political war.
The usual race-baiters, the Al Sharptons and David Dukes, must be smiling.
But somehow Shirley Sherrod got the true story out because tapes exist of the full speech. Now the White House has apologized to Sherrod.
And now the Agriculture Department has now offered Sherrod a new position.
But what has been revealed, once again, is the pattern of race-baiting and racial lies that is used by left and right when they convince themselves they have larger, more righteous political goals to reach.
Here are some comments I got on Facebook:
I []understand the way it was spun in the media. I know enough not to believe a lot of hype. And I’m a centrist / libertarian and just not into agendas. But there is a time and a place, and looking past her behavior at one time, I still think it is wrong that she even publicly shared this. Better to reveal this in your memoirs than on film. I know you don’t feel the same way, and it should be out there, but in this case, it cost her a job.
Racism IS ugly. It is also used very loosely and wrongly in some cases. And we do all have our own biases. But when you’re a public official, things are different. They are held to a higher standard. Right or wrong, that is a fact of their chosen profession. Of course we all learn and grow.
We all have biases…it is when we are not aware of them that it becomes a part of our unconscious behaviors…the point to her whole speech, even the part we are able to see is that she became aware of them…it would have been grounds for dismissal if they became her actions…she never allowed them to become her actions…admitting to having biases is like admitting to being human…
I agree with both of these points.
And I believe I owe Ms. Sherrod an apology for jumping the gun and labeling her a racist, when evidently is not.
My sincerest apologies go out to her.
Comments 1
The sole purpose of government officials is to administer public policy. It is NOT to inject one’s personal prejudices into a position where one can screw over another human being, a farmer no less, and then run off and brag about it. Being employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, her past, or that of her ancestors, is irrelevant. If she was going to be so antagonistically influenced by events of days gone by, she had no business being employed by a government department. Not then, now now, and certainly not ever again.
Posted 22 Jul 2010 at 12:42 pm ¶Post a Comment