USDA Offical Resigns Over Rascist Remarks

[Ben]

That is, after saying she had sent a white man to "one of his own kind" (a white lawyer). FoxNews story below. Link to the video at Big Hollywood below that.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/19/clip-shows-usda-official-admitting-withheld-help-white-farmer/

Video Shows USDA Official Saying She Didn't Give 'Full Force' of Help to White Farmer

A video has surfaced showing an Agriculture Department official regaling an NAACP audience with a story about how she withheld help to a white farmer facing bankruptcy -- video that now has forced the official to resign
fox news

Days after the NAACP clashed with Tea Party members over allegations of racism, a video has surfaced showing an Agriculture Department official regaling an NAACP audience with a story about how she withheld help to a white farmer facing bankruptcy -- video that now has forced the official to resign.

Shirley Sherrod, the department's Georgia director of Rural Development, is shown in the clip describing "the first time I was faced with having to help a white farmer save his farm." Sherrod, who is black, claimed the farmer took a long time trying to show he was "superior" to her. The audience laughed as she described how she determined his fate.

"He had to come to me for help. What he didn't know while he was taking all that time trying to show me he was superior to me was I was trying to decide just how much help I was going to give him," she said. "I was struggling with the fact that so many black people have lost their farmland and here I was faced with having to help a white person save their land -- so I didn't give him the full force of what I could do. I did enough."

The Agriculture Department announced Monday, shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video, that Sherrod had resigned.

"There is zero tolerance for discrimination at USDA, and I strongly condemn any act of discrimination against any person," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a written statement. "We have been working hard through the past 18 months to reverse the checkered civil rights history at the department and take the issue of fairness and equality very seriously.

Sherrod explained in the video that, at the time, she assumed the state or national Department of Agriculture had referred the white farmer to her. In order to ensure that the farmer could report back that she was indeed helpful, she said she took him to see "one of his own" -- a white lawyer.

"I figured that if I take him to one of them, that his own kind would take care of him," she said.

The point of the story wasn't entirely clear; only an excerpt of the speech is included in the video clip.

"It was revealed to me that it's about poor versus those who have," she said, suggesting she had learned that race is less important.

The video clip was first posted by BigGovernment.com. The clip is dated March 27 from an NAACP Freedom Fund banquet.

The clip adds to the firestorm of debate over the NAACP's decision to approve a resolution at its convention last week accusing some Tea Party activists of racism -- a charge Tea Party leaders deny. FoxNews.com was unable to get a response to this story from the NAACP.

In a second clip from the same event posted online, Sherrod appeared to urge black job seekers to find work at the Department of Agriculture because the federal government won't lay people off.

"There are jobs at USDA and many times there are no people of color to fill those jobs because we shy away from agriculture. We hear the word agriculture and think, why are we working in the fields?" she said. "You've heard of a lot of layoffs. Have you heard of anybody in the federal government losing their job? That's all I need to say."

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http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010/

[RoadKingLarry]

What kind of charges would be pending if that had been a white government official admitting to turning away a minority?

[Monkeyleg]

Andrew Breitbart was promising to release some video soon that would really come down hard on the NAACP after their attacks on the Tea Party movement. I don't think this is the end of his videos, but it's sure a good start.

[Monkeyleg]

Wait a minute.

"We have been working hard through the past 18 months to reverse the checkered civil rights history at the department ...

Is it just me, or is this clown trying to deflect criticism by going after Bush?

[Monkeyleg]

If anyone is interested in seeing the video, it's here, along with the video about government jobs, and the Twitter comment about more to come from Breitbart.

[HankB]

I expect Shirley Sherrod will land a higher-paying job in short order . . . if not in government, then in academia.

(Or possibly at the NAACP - it appears she's got what it takes to become an official there, namely, the proper attitude.)

[Ben]

One thing I do wish is that Breitbart didn't cut the video off like he did. At the very end of his edit, it sounds like she could be admitting that she was wrong. Better to have the unedited video available as well. Even if it's not as damaging, it would keep people from calling "set up!" which they're already doing. The reaction by the audience during the first part of her talk is already more than damning to the NAACP.

[Scout26]

Wait a minute.

Is it just me, or is this clown trying to deflect criticism by going after Bush?

Well of course it's Bush's fault !!!

[MechAg94]

You mean the Agriculture Department actually helps farmers as opposed to big farm corporations?

[Hawkmoon]

So the NAACP thinks that the National Association for the Advancement of COLORED People isn't a racist, biased organization? What would their response be if some groups were to start up the National Association for the Advancement of Yellow, the People National Association for the Advancement of Red People, and the National Association for the Advancement of White People?

What if someone started the Miss White America beauty contest? What if someone started a magazine entitled "Ivory"? Where is the United White College Fund?

Why is it that those who complain the loudest about being targets of racism are those who practice it the most obviously? So much for a color-blind society. It seems only white people are expected/required to be color-blind.

[BMacklem]

NAACP has released the full video of Sherrods speech, and claim that the one we've seen has been taken out of context.
i.e. she said "I didn't give him the full level of help I could have......24 years ago" (according to MSN, as I haven't been able to watch the 43 minute long vid yet)

I'm going to take a peek at it when I get home tonight, and I'll reserve judgement until then, but I'm finding it very difficult to believe that she manages to dig her way out of what she *did* say in the first video.



here's the link to the NAACP's entire video of her speech.
http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/

[Ben]

There's a lot more info coming out now, and it's beginning to look like Breitbart blew it by releasing the edited tape without vetting the unedited video. It looks like even the wife of the farmer in question is siding with Sherrod.

Probably need to wait till even more info comes out to see what's really what.

[makattak]

There's a lot more info coming out now, and it's beginning to look like Breitbart blew it by releasing the edited tape without vetting the unedited video. It looks like even the wife of the farmer in question is siding with Sherrod.

Probably need to wait till even more info comes out to see what's really what.

According to one source I read (that I can't find right now), Beitbart released all that he had.

Honestly, my problem has been the approval of the crowd for her racist attitude.

[Ben]

According to one source I read (that I can't find right now), Beitbart released all that he had.

Honestly, my problem has been the approval of the crowd for her racist attitude.

Yeah, I saw the same -- that he only had the edited tape available to him. The NAACP apparently released the unedited tape afterwards.

I also agree with you that the audience reacting as they did, before they knew what she was getting to (if that proves accurate) is bad enough.

[Jamisjockey]

I don't necessairly trust that Breitbart is playing fully above the boards right now.  The edited tape, though, is damning enough.  That chick should have been booed off the stage without the opportunity to finish. Instead, they are clearly welcoming her racist remarks.
What Breitbart is doing is jumping on top of the 800 pound gerurilla and gouging its eyes out.  Not the most savory tactics, but maybe he took a page from the Rules for Radicals.

[freakazoid]

So the NAACP thinks that the National Association for the Advancement of COLORED People isn't a racist, biased organization? What would their response be if some groups were to start up the National Association for the Advancement of Yellow, the People National Association for the Advancement of Red People, and the National Association for the Advancement of White People?

What if someone started the Miss White America beauty contest? What if someone started a magazine entitled "Ivory"? Where is the United White College Fund?

Why is it that those who complain the loudest about being targets of racism are those who practice it the most obviously? So much for a color-blind society. It seems only white people are expected/required to be color-blind.

Apparently there is some sort of black farmers association or something like that. Saw some interview on CNN about some sort of restitution for them for some reason.

[Desertdog]

So the NAACP thinks that the National Association for the Advancement of COLORED People isn't a racist, biased organization? What would their response be if some groups were to start up the National Association for the Advancement of Yellow, the People National Association for the Advancement of Red People, and the National Association for the Advancement of White People?

Red and yellow is OK.  White is a NO, NO.

[longeyes]

She will end, with the help of the Left, as another instance of A Redeemed Soul who learned how to overcome her past sins.  America loves a reformed sinner.  But, that said, what she admitted was still damning.

[Marnoot]

She will end, with the help of the Left, as another instance of A Redeemed Soul who learned how to overcome her past sins.

She's already there and beyond. Consensus on the few liberal sites I occasionally lurk is that she is a completely innocent victim of Breitbart's vicious smear campaign.

[Monkeyleg]

Mumblings out of the administration sound like she could have her job back.

[Jamisjockey]

Maybe I need to cinch my tinfoil down a little tighter.... 

Breitbart was given the video from someone who was at the NAACP meeting.  This is days after the NAACP calls tea parties racist.  Within 24 hours of this going viral, the NAACP convinently has the full video ready showing she's not all that bad.  I smell a rat.   

[Ryan in Maine]

I expect Shirley Sherrod will land a higher-paying job in short order . . . if not in government, then in academia.

(Or possibly at the NAACP - it appears she's got what it takes to become an official there, namely, the proper attitude.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100721/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_usda_racism_resignation

Ag secretary offers Sherrod 'unique' position

  By MARY CLARE JALONICK and BEN EVANS, Associated Press Writers Mary Clare Jalonick And Ben Evans, Associated Press Writers   – 34 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Wednesday he has apologized to ousted employee Shirley Sherrod and offered her a unique new position at the agency.

Sherrod, in an interview with The Associated Press, said she was considering it.

"They did make an offer," she said in a telephone interview. "I just told him I need to think about it."

Vilsack told reporters that Sherrod accepted his apology. He said, "She was extraordinarily gracious."

The new job offer comes after an embarrassed White House apologized to Sherrod Wednesday for ousting her over her remarks about race to an NAACP banquet in Georgia earlier this year. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration did not know all the facts when it acted.

When asked Wednesday if he had spoken with President Barack Obama, Vilsack said simply, "No."

Vilsack insisted that it had been his decision to seek her resignation and said he takes full responsibility.

"This is a good woman," Vilsack said. "She's been put through hell."

Sherrod resigned this week as state director of rural development in Georgia. She said she quit under pressure from the White House.

[Chester32141]

I guess if the president can get away w/ calling his grandmother a 'typical white person' ... then this lady's blatant racism in the way she told this story doesn't rise to the level of racist either ... 

The event described may have happened 24 years ago but the NAACP speech was only a few months ago ... the lady is a racist, but she's not white so I guess she can't really be a racist now can she ... 

[Waitone]

Breitbart has to know the dominant power structure is gunning for him.  It appears he was responding to the NAACP's claim the TEA Party was racist.  Breitbart's evident response was, "Racist!  I'll show you racist (in your own house)" and then went after the piece like a retriever on a ham sandwich.  Now the question is was it a set up to discredit Breitbart and other "right wing" media types.

[Balog]

I think the wise latina on the Supreme Court shows that racism is not just tolerated bu necouraged, unless you're white. Then it's the worstest possible thing evar, and also the basis of all policies the Left doesn't agrgee with.