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.
thanks for your quick answer by freepmail. it was something i have been pondering for sometime.
“How the hell could you possibly get that from what you saw on the tape?”
Was she a federal employee at the time this conversation took place? Are federal employees paid with tax payer dollars? Has this farm owner paid federal taxes? Can he stop paying those taxes if he so chose?
She specifically said that while he was at her desk relating his long story to her, that she was thinking about how he was demonstrating his racial superiority to her, but at the same time she was thinking how she could use her position to deny this member of an alien race what he was asking for.
She wasn’t listenig to his details, she was too busy being a black racist, i.e., she wasn’t doing her job, because she is obsessed with race, thus she is a racist, and she spoke of using her job to enforce her racism. She should be fired. Did she learn from her time as a racist? Maybe, but I really don’t care. Maybe Sheets Byrd learned too, but he also should have been fired.
Using the same kind of less than truthful journalism as the MSM should be beneath us. That is if “I” can still be part of the conservative movement after criticizing the right for using leftist tactics.
And I did get some explanation from some on this thread as to the point of the tape being to point out the “amening” and applause to her racism by members present at the meeting where she spoke.
Funny how some others on this thread are mimicking the same crap the left pulls when someone like me throws a penalty flag up. Ask a black conservative how the rest in his community react to a frankly conservative remark on his part.
There was no creative editing. The audience reaction before she ends her story is what it is all about.
I’ve noticed that there are many trolls posting on these threads defending this woman and trying to make Breitbart look bad. He did nothing wrong and what he posted was true, she said those things and the audience reacted approvingly. The full tape doesn’t change that.
>> I guess I’m attacking what seems like race baiting to me in the edited version of the tape
So you’re okay with racism providing it’s justified?
>> Nothing could be more damaging than the conservative movement hosting and/or condoning such idiocy.
So it’s idiotic to expose the use of racial enmity sponsored by an organization that falsely accuses the Tea Party of engaging in racism?
The Left will be pleased with your compassionate perspective.
The “teachable moment” here is not to jump to conclusions and denigrate people as racists without having all the facts and without knowing the person(s) in question.
Seems like the NAACP (and many others) did the same thing en masse to tea partiers that they did to Mrs Sherrod.
In both cases they went headlong into denigrating people without all the facts ... in the tea partiers case, without ANY facts in evidence.
I wanted to say that it is appreciable to have a firm ethics, under most situations. The situation we find ouselves in is that we are not dealing with an opponent that will graciously recognize our ethics and swear to abide by similar actions, instead this is more or less war. It is a war for the future and freedom of America, either they will prevail or we will prevail. This not a war of our choosing, but of the liberals purpose to destroy all that is good and prosperous in America. Equality is not their true goal, it is unbridled power.
This small incident, nor any other is the time to take their word its raining when we can clearly see they’re peeing on our heads.
Shirley Sherrod’s Disappearing Act: Not So Fast
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/Shirley-Sherrods-Disappearing-Act-Not-So-Fast-98846149.html
I’ve read that she was working for a non-profit group at the time of this incident. Don’t think it was a Federal (or State) job.
>> Using the same kind of less than truthful journalism
What is it about the complete video that causes you to say the editing version is misleading?
>> the same crap the left pulls when someone like me throws a penalty flag up.
Maybe you made a bad call.
>> the editing version
the edited version
And the audience. Their response was also shameful.
>> The “teachable moment” here is not to jump to conclusions and denigrate people as racists without having all the facts and without knowing the person(s) in question.
What facts have surfaced that puts you in opposition to what you describe as unfounded denigration?
It sure doesn’t leave the same impression that Breitbart’s outtake does. I wonder if 0bama will spend 43 minutes watching it?
Perhaps this incident in question occurred before her appointment to the USDA in 2009, but her talking of her racism while she was a US offical is troubling.
I am under the impression that if I went into her office seeking assistance for my farm, I had better be brief, lest she think that I am attempting to prove myself superior to her by providing too much detail.
The problem with that is by the time she got to that part of the story they knew where she was going with it. Breitbart has misrepresented it completely.
I suppose that you and I disagree.
Seems like Mr. and Mrs. Sherrod are race hustlers, in the mode of Jesse Jackson. They are in the process of achieving an enormous payout to black farmers in Georgia (many of whom may never actually have farmed any land) from fedgov. IOW, a successful shakedown.
Sherrod’s inane, unintelligible and inarticulate speech at the NAACP meeting was just the tip of an ugly, nasty iceberg.
More to come in the days ahead!
“Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from leaders in the NAACP who have been virtually silent about the NBPP members threatening to murder “cracker babies” “
Jealous says the NBPP is a creation of Fox news. Seriously.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.