Sherrod Non-scandal Caused by Political Agendas, Selfish Overreactions
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23 July 2010
By now you've certainly heard that the unfairly ousted former USDA Official Shirley Sherrod was called a racist and edited video of her decades old speech was used by elements of the right wing media for their own purposes to slam the Obama administration. There is no other way to say it. Sherrod isn't a racist, nor did she use her current position in the Obama administration to discriminate against white farmers.
And contrary to the after-the-fact assertions by the blogger who lit the match of the whole mess, this Sherrod incident didn't start out as a critique of a random crowd at an NAACP-sponsored speech. Because of a selfish need by certain entities to NOT be called hypocritical by those they have previously criticized, undeserved consequences befell Sherrod before the veracity of any of the allegations against her were ever checked.
The larger questions in this political fight, however, are why the hell were so many non-right wing-conservative entities so quick to believe the unverified allegation against Sherrod and why did people from the general media, the administration and the NAACP react so strongly without exchanging one word with the accused? Are employees of the Obama Admin so sensitive to racial issues that they jump to cut off anything that could be remotely distracting? Further, does this illustrate how guarded the rest of us should be against being involved in an unthinking mob instigated by one or a few people who have their own hateful or one-sided agendas?
It is quite clear she got the shaft because right wing media outlets wanted a win against the Administration after being humiliated by real racist elements of the Tea Party, in my opinion. However, they picked the wrong woman and the wrong issue because Sherrod didn't slink away into obscurity. She, unlike other qualified people who have been drummed out of key positions in the Obama Administration by the media, didn't cower in a corner for the asinine reason of 'becoming a distraction' to the Administration. She isn't sitting quietly somewhere and allowing herself to be victimized by people who couldn't bother to find out what the hell they were talking about BEFORE publicly berating her.
The day after Sherrod was literally told to pull over to the side of the road and submit her registration via Blackberry was a perfect example of why people cannot foam at the mouth after seeing a few minutes of video on some random website. Such video could turn out to be a sliced up version of a 24 year old speech about things which have nothing to do with a person's current positions. Fox News and all those talking heads who opened their mouths to condemn Sherrod as a racist now look stupid for calling her shameful and for pushing this story.
After the edited version of Sherrod's old speech was put online by that conservative blogger, an untold number of other conservative media outlets jumped off the proverbial cliff trying to take flight with this non-scandal. Sherrod's allegedly 'racist statements' were fodder for Fox news and online bloggers all over the nation. That's almost to be expected considering the one-sided nature of much of their coverage, as critics charge.
However, what really proved to be a slap in the face is that the NAACP along with the USDA greatly condemned Sherrod's words based on that edited video as well. Had the NAACP not have just been in a political fight against racist elements of the Tea Party, there's a question as to whether or not they would have been so quick to condemn Sherrod before even talking to her or watching the full video of her speech.
How dare the NAACP jump on this woman publicly without watching the full video or talking to her when it is their mission to make sure no one is being treated unfairly. I even question whether this story would have gotten legs had the NAACP not waded into it because they wanted to prove to their critics that they could be just as tough on allegedly reverse racism as they are on any other form of racial discrimination.
There were howls of criticism against Sherrod even from people like Roland Martin (often on CNN) who used her situation to paint a broader brush of how racism in any form cannot be tolerated. (Has he even unequivocally apologized to Sherrod? You know, an apology that doesn't include a "but", a "however" or a "given the fact that..." ? ) He hadn't seen the full video either before jumping in front of a camera to talk about it.
Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary, is the one who cut Sherrod from her job before knowing all the facts involved or even talking to her about the freakin' video. The USDA (and possibly the Obama administration) for their part acted like scared losers afraid of their own shadow in their handling of this situation. Critics have accused the administration of hearing footsteps in the dark (Glenn Beck, Bill OReilly, etc) on this issue and responding as a result. Vilsack has since said they will review their decision to fire Sherrod and Obama reportedly had a short conversation with her as well, but has the damage already been done? Can she ever trust the people working above her again?
> Saved by the non-victim
What killed this controversy is the fact that the "white farmer" at issue -- the same one who so many conservatives were screeching about -- came out in Sherrod's defense by saying in no uncertain terms that Sherrod went above and beyond her duties to help him keep his farm.
Appearing on CNN's Rick's List July 20, Roger Spooner and his wife Eloise had nothing but glowing remarks to say about Sherrod's help. In response to allegations that Sherrod is racist, they told host Rick Sanchez flat-out, "They don't know what they're talking about".
Spooner went on to say that he was never treated nicer by "Shirley". Yes. He called her by her first name because the family have remained friendly with Sherrod for over two decades. He continued, "She done [sic] a magnificent job. I don't have words to explain it."
Spooner said to Sanchez:
...I don't know what brought up the 'racist' mess. Just want to stir up some trouble, it sounds to me if you want to know my opinion. But it wasn't no racist nowhere about [sic]... We were shocked. We didn't believe it.
...
We were gonna lose our farm if something couldn't be done. [Shirley Sherrod] jumped in there and she got everything lined up. We went up there and she done her level best for us.
Just the image on television of these two older white people defending Sherrod after accusations by conservatives of being racist is striking. The Spooners, who were not rich or well connected, didn't have to come out and say anything in Sherrod's defense if they didn't want to. But they repudiated (yes, the word is REPUDIATE, Sarah) the raging reports and threw cold water over anybody trying to use their situation for political purposes.
For many of Sherrod's critics, having the very farmer at the heart of the issue vouch for the sincerity of Sherrod killed this story. Nothing less would have sufficed.
I hate to say this but had the Spooners not decided to come forward with their comments, we may still be debating about whether or not Sherrod is a racist or debating what she really meant to say in that decades old video. Bloggers would still be trying to come up with excuses as to why Sherrod could be racist, or still trying to parse her words, or still criticizing her for her choice of words.
This older white couple -- who looked like they could have been the parents or grandparents of any of Sherrod's conservative critics -- was unafraid by the spectacle of the media and stood up for the truth. It was like a nail to the forehead of this "Sherrod is a racist" skulduggery. And that's why the story turned on its head.
>Lessons learned? Nope.
I'm skeptical as to whether or not the lessons learned from this incident will be remembered the next time something more nuanced comes along, and the next non-white person working with or for Obama is accused of having an imaginary black agenda against white people.
I'm sure some conservative somewhere who was spurned by the Sherrod incident is on the hunt for the next issue. But if that time comes, will people take a step back and use those atrophied analytical thinking skills BEFORE they publicly rake someone over the coals? Or will the same elements of the media shoot from the lip and force the rest of the spineless media to cover whatever it is they rant over?
Shirley Sherrod may be close to getting her good name back, but will the next person who comes under conservative attack be so lucky as to have their full words, context and all, on tape? And will the Obama administration see that next victim as a political liability instead of trying to hold on to that skilled person? We will see.
© whisperdispatch
