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. (emphasis mine)
When they start acting, instead of reacting - maybe I'll take them seriously. "Snookered??" Really?? (Who says that?) Besides, shouldn't you have done all that shit in the second paragraph, BEFORE you put this out???
NAACP Slams Shirley Sherrod's Actions as 'Shameful':
"We are appalled by her actions, just as we are with abuses of power against farmers of color and female farmers.
"Her actions were shameful. While she went on to explain in the story that she ultimately realized her mistake, as well as the common predicament of working people of all races, she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man."First of all, let's just call it what it really is - Fox News just made a big, damn fool of you guys! And you fell for it - hook, line and sinker, tripping all over yourselves trying to look all Changeling-decreed "post-racial" with that knee-jerk, slamming of this sister for being honest about how she felt. You guys were in such a damn hurry to distance yourselves from this woman, that you initially MISSED the "teachable moment" she was trying to share!
Hell, if more of our people were truly honest about how they felt, maybe we could have a real conversation about race in this country! But no-o-o, most of us just keep wearing that damn mask, tilting at windmills Don Quixote-style (instead of resolving to address the real issues with which our community struggles), being twisted in the wind by white folk, hell-bent on keeping that foot-on-neck scenario firmly in place by any means necessary. {smdh}
What she admitted feeling, was nothing short of what I, and I'm certain, plenty other Black folk would have felt - if we're honest. And what she did, after feeling that, was again, nothing short of what I, and I'm certain, plenty other Black folk would have done in the end - the right damn thing. It just blows my mind, that after damn-near 400 years (and counting) of white supremacy in this country, not only do plenty white folk still think that we don't have a right to our feelings - plenty of us do too!
Second of all, isn't this JULY? This NAACP banquet (That's right - NAACP banquet!) happened in March!?! But Mr. Jealous only got appalled, and felt all this shame about it now? Please. He should be appalled and ashamed that he got suckered into that knee-jerk statement.
There was no excuse for that attack. None. And they shouldn't have fired her (because we all know - that's what "agreeing to accept a resignation" really means). Even though the tape had been edited, they still (I'm convinced, unwittingly - because that's not what they were looking for in the first place) left in the "teachable moment!":
It's obvious from the video, that she felt she was among "her own," having one of those conversations a lot of Black folk never have in "mixed company" (and never admit to having at all!). But c'mon ya'll - she had to know the cameras were rolling! Apparently, she didn't care to keep "wearing the damn mask" - preferring instead, to share an important, personal and necessary "teachable moment" with her people, in a way she was sure they'd feel and understand. She was probably confident that if the shit hit the fan, her president, the NAACP and her kinfolk - at the very least - would "get it" and stand with her. As it turns out - that last part was her real mistake.
I've pretty much stopped watching the news in general, and CNN in particular but, I just had to put this video here:
See why I stopped watching CNN? Have they no real researchers on staff? Look at how they killed the man while he was riding around on his Peterbilt!!
A-a-anyway, I posted the video because: 1) her, "if the staff were free to tell you" around the :58 click provides - despite all their blather about transparency - a very telling peek into how the Changeling's administration is no different than Shrub's or anybody else's, and 2) Eloise Spooner's call illustrates the importance of the "teachable moment" that Mr. Jealous, et al initially missed - because they chose to immediately believe the "lying eyes" of racist white men before even talking to the sister (patriarchy, after all is patriarchy) and they were too quick to "rush to judgement."
Instead of all these resolutions decreeing the obvious, young Mr. Jealous would do well to take a step back and stop - as the beautiful, "young, gifted and Black" Sunni Patterson says in the video below - "mistaking mimicry for mastery, or pretending for knowing." Stop, as she says, giving "in to the empty threats and scare tactics of the powerless ones" and learn to "be faithful, strategic, victorious and free." Maybe then, I'll actually open one of those solicitations for membership that keep coming in the mail - and respond.
UPDATE I: Sherrod has her say! Reminds me of another "Shirley" sister-warrior - Ms. Chisholm would be proud!
UPDATE II: Yeah, the Changeling would have you believe it's the lunatics running the asylum. Please! As Jason Linkins so succinctly points out here - he's the HLIC (Head Lunatic In Charge)!: Shirley Sherrod Scandal: How The White House Is Backing Away From The Decision To Fire Her.
