Posted on 07/20/2010 7:59:45 PM PDT by kristinn
The NAACP has released a 43 minute long video of the controversial speech given by fired USDA official Shirley Sherrod. Excerpts of the speech showing her using racist language with the support of those attending an NAACP dinner in March were released yesterday by Big Government. Sherrod was forced to resign from her position last night.
The video can be viewed at the NAACP website or go directly to the YouTube video.
After pulling their initial statement denouncing Sherrod, the NAACP released a new statement today claiming the group was "snookered" by Fox News and Andrew Breitbart.
Earlier today, a bitter Sherrod complained of being betrayed by black people in an interview given to Georgia TV stationWALB:
She feels like no one's been willing to fight for her. "It hurts especially when the NAACP is doing it and Roland Martin is doing it. These are black people, they never asked me what happened, these are people who haven't been on the front line like I have for 45 years..."
The new statement by the NAACP:
July 20, 2010
(BALTIMORE, MD) - NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous issued the following statement today after a careful investigation into the presentation of former USDA Official Shirley Sherrod.
"The NAACP has a zero tolerance policy against racial discrimination, whether practiced by blacks, whites, or any other group.
The NAACP also has long championed and embraced transformation by people who have moved beyond racial bias. Most notably, we have done so for late Alabama Governor George Wallace and late US Senator Robert Byrd -- each a man who had associated with and supported white supremacists and their cause before embracing civil rights for all.
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.
The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech. They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.
Moreover, this incident and the lesson it prompted occurred more that 20 years before she went to work for USDA.
Finally, she was sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption. In the full video, Ms.Sherrod says she realized that the dislocation of farmers is about “haves and have nots.” "It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people," says Sherrod in the speech. “We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn’t matter.”
This is a teachable moment, for activists and for journalists.
Most Americans agree that racism has no place in American Society. We also believe that civil and human rights have to be measured by a single yardstick.
The NAACP has demonstrated its commitment to live by that standard.
The Tea Party Federation took a step in that direction when it expelled the Tea Party Express over the weekend. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from other leaders in the Tea Party movement like Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, who have been virtually silent on the “internal bigotry” issue.
Next time we are confronted by a racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the Tea Party like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate in responding. The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed. This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.
According to the USDA, Sherrod’s statements prompted her dismissal. While we understand why Secretary Vilsack believes this false controversy will impede her ability to function in the role, we urge him to reconsider.
Finally, we hope this incident will heighten Congress’s urgency in dealing with the well documented findings of discrimination toward black, Latino, Asian American and Native American farmers, as well as female farmers of all races."
###
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
Someone from the JournoList probably.
Right you are. Looks like we have a bunch of apologists who are trying, not very well either, to blame the messenger, not the guilty party. Next thing we’ll have em saying nobama really isn’t as bad as the crackers claim and we just need to give em the benefit of the doubt. BULL, I say!
All I am saying is that, with all of the real racism on the left (Wright, Holder, the New Black Panther idiots, etc), I don’t see the point in using edited, out-of-context videos to prove the point that the left is racist.
Oh, and if you have a problem with my username, take it up with the man who coined the phrase (and if you don’t know who that is, you have some nerve questioning anyone’s conservatism)
This video didn’t look right when I first saw it and I remember what Glen Beck said, search out source material and when I did, it seemed she was making a point that her original instinct was wrong and that the color of the mans skin wasn’t important but then a rough cut was made and the video stopped. Breitbart was sandbagged by the guy who sent the tape to him but he wouldn’t throw him under the bus. He came up with the cover story that the crowd laughed so they were bigoted. I think he should have said he was wrong but instead, he let his anger against the NAACP force him into an error. We should demand that Sherrod by hired back. We never said she should be fired. There is another reason Vilsack fired her and that should be the next story.
i wish that you had answered the freepmail i sent you concerning muffled oar and it’s non existence now after muffled oar had a post about you.
I’m not defending the converted racist, I guess I’m attacking what seems like race baiting to me in the edited version of the tape that was originally aired and how we did not hear how she was using her experience to point out how her prejudice was misplaced in the workplace. If it was the approval of her racism by the NAACP members present that was being exposed, specifically, as some on this thread are pointing out, then there is some validity to the entire episode. I see the commentary reacting to less than the whole story right here on this thread suggesting the liberals deserved to have the tables turned on them with less than honest reporting. Nothing could be more damaging than the conservative movement hosting and/or condoning such idiocy.
Would not surprise me at all.
You talking Barry or L. Brent?
Good point.
Imagine if a person gave a speech at a Tea Party and said they would not work hard to help a black person and that the black person should deal with “one of their own”. If the Tea Party crowd reacted with applause to this line, would it really matter to the MSM what the rest of the speech was about? The point is the crowd at the NAACP showed their racism and now this woman is paying the price while all the MSM can do is yell “OUT OF CONTEXT!!! OUT OF CONTEXT!!!”
Knowing where she was going and knowing the exact nature of the ending is not exactly the same.
The responses that I heard form the audience really don’t jive with that explanation in my mind.
They were essentially amening the most racist parts of the story, and I was disgusted by it.
The story about the white farmer was an illustration of a government employee thinking about and using a person’s race as a negative factor against them while employed by funds forcefully taken from them. I’ll take your money, you can’t stop me, and when you come and ask me for it, you may not get it, because you are another kind.
RACISM, PERIOD, END OF STORY.
She deserved to be fired, and the NAACP deserves to be exposed.
I trust them and I praise them for what they did.
The issue for Big Government wasn’t this woman’s story or whether she was or wasn’t redeemed. The issue was that s crowd at a NAACP meeting laughed, cheerrd and applauded when told about a black woman discriminating against white applicants.
It would have made no difference to the story whether she existed or not. The fact that the NAACP crowd appreciated the bigotry they heard from the speaker was the key.
THANK YOU!! One of many who get it!
From that perspective, I give approval to the report.
Its called "white guilt"and I for one am done with it.
And with that, the Operation is complete.
The whole point of this excersize was to discredit Breitbart, Fox, and whatever conservative responds to the deliberately misleading video CLIP. Breitbart was played, somebody set him up, he should have known better, but I bet he doesn’t make that mistake again. I hope he names names, it will go along way to explaining this whole fiasco.
Do you think that this happening at exactly the same time as the the JournoList revelations is a coincidence?
These F*CKERS are absolutely evil and with the “mainstream media” on their side, they don’t even have to be any good at it, cause you know, the media will just “pick a conservative and call them racist!”
“The story about the white farmer was an illustration of a government employee thinking about and using a person’s race as a negative factor against them while employed by funds forcefully taken from them.”
How the hell could you possibly get that from what you saw on the tape? Her point was just the opposite. And when she said the part about God opening her eyes to her own bigotry, thats where I heard the loudest “Amens”. This lady’s firing is the big scandal.
Got news for you Benny Boy . . .you’ve been “snookered” by white liberals for decades
You’re still on the plantation . . you’re just too stupid to realize it.
>> [a farce] I will need to see an explaination
Is that it, a farce? No specific reasons, it’s just a farce - and you want an explanation.
“The NAACP has a zero tolerance policy against racial discrimination, whether practiced by blacks, whites, or any other group. “
Really? Explain that to the whites and Asians who get screwed out of jobs and educational opportunities due to reverse discrimination programs and policies you wholeheartedly support and encourage
Liars.
You nailed it, my friend. The woman is a nasty, vile — and, yes, unrepentant — racist. And those who applauded her vicious story are representative of streak running through far too many negroes who seem to conveniently forget the past 40 years of welfare, affirmative action, quotas, massive entitlement spending, and PC in extremis.
Just because she finished off her little tale of “get whitey” by condescendingly saying the God had told her to be nice to the honkies — as long as they are poor or female — doesn’t let her off the hook for being a demented racist of the worst sort. One who would use the power to government to discriminate against those whose race she hates. Just as her former boss Obama did with his Hate Crimes Bill, in fact.
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