You know the rest. By now I'm sure you aware of the whole Shirley Sherrod, NAACP-USDA controversy. If not let me summarize and bring you up to speed-Sherrod, an official for the Agricultural Department, was asked to resign by the Department of Agriculture when a video posted by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart surfaced of her giving a speech at an NAACP function. In the video Sherrod discussed not giving a white farmer "the full force of what I could do" to help him save his farm from foreclosure. This was followed by condemnation from the NAACP, while conservative blogs held the tape up as proof that the NAACP was racist.
However, if everyone had just taken a second to look at the whole unedited video and not be in such a rush to condemn, maybe this woman would still have her job. Sherrod went on to say that she recognized she had prejudices of her own, and she needed to overcome them in order to be a better person(those weren't the exact words, but that was her general point). In addition the white farmer she helped was interviewed and said he wouldn't still have his farm if if wasn't for Sherrod. Now the NAACP and the government look like damn fools for jumping to conclusions too soon.
Breitbart said he posted to video in response to the NAACP's accusations of racism within the Tea Party and that this wasn't about Sherrod. Sure it wasn't. That's why you posted an edited clip you got in an e-mail without verifying it and took this woman's words out of context, making her speech seem like a racist rant instead of a lesson in overcoming one's own prejudices. And now other conservatives like Ann Coulter are saying that Breitbart, not Sherrod, is the victim in this whole mess. Unbelievable.
This whole controversy shows how easily the media can be manipulated into a frenzy when facts are not thoroughly checked. It also reveals how easily we as a society jump up and down and cry racism, or accept that a racist act or statement has been made, be it from a black or white person., without knowing the whole story. While I understand the NAACP and the USDA didn't want to be tied to anything resembling racism, it wouldn't hurt to do a little more background checking first. And even though both have since apologized, I'm sure Ms. Sherrod wouldn't mind if a paycheck came along with it:).
P.S. For more background on Shirley Sherrod, her life and her civil rights record, click here.
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