Note: Timestamp embedding doesn't work for the CNN clips because of the advertising code. To view the clip from that time, you will have to manually move the playback control to the referenced timestamp.
CNN summarizes the main issues and timeline of the Shirley Sherrod controversy.
Briefly, Shirley Sherrod, the Georgia director of rural development for the USDA, was forced to resign on Monday because of controversy stemming from a 38-second clip from a 2009 talk at a NAACP chapter in southern Georgia. During that clip, she mentions that she decided to limit her help to a white farmer, Roger Spooner, who came to her for help. The NAACP and USDA condemned her immediately. Subsequent investigation indicates she was instrumental in helping save that family's farm. The NAACP has recanted its original condemnation. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has maintained that USDA has a zero tolerance policy on racism. It is also reported that he is fully supported by the White House.
Sherrod has been interviewed by CNN and maintains that her record on civil rights and race relations has been solid. She has further stated that she was the victim of a broader conflict between the NAACP and White House and the Tea Party movement over recent charges of racism in the latter. (interview, 10:45) She also received support from many quarters, including the wife of farmer Roger Spooner, Eloise Spooner. (interview, 13:30). Worth pointing out: Sherrod's reaction after Eloise completely vindicates her claims(interview, 15:00).
The tensions between the NAACP and Tea Party had recently culminated in the expulsion of Mark Williams and the Tea Party Express from the National Tea Party over a blog entry by Williams that took the form of a letter to Abe Lincoln from “Colored Americans” requesting de-emancipation.
Shirley Sherrod’s full speech has been posted by the NAACP. It’s a pretty interesting 43 minutes, in which she discusses a lot of things above and beyond her personal feelings about racism.
I made some notes of highlights of the speech, because I suspect most people won’t find 43 minutes to watch the whole thing. (I encourage you to at least look at which points pique your interest, and listen to that part of the video.)
2:40 She talks about her father’s murder 45 years ago by a white man, who was never charged (even though there were three witnesses). She discusses the legal system and the case of Bobby Hall, a black man lynched by a white sheriff, Claude Screws. Screws was convicted by a white grand jury but successfully appealed his conviction at the Supreme Court. This apparently set the precedent for proving intent. (Screws v. US Government)
9:00 I really liked her story about her and her sisters being nicknamed with boys’ names (hers was “Bill”) because her father wanted a son so badly.
12:40 She talks about a time that a mob of white men had burned a cross outside their home. Her mother, her four sisters and one brother were in the house. Her mother and sister went out to the porch, with her mother wielding a gun. Another of her sisters got on the phone, called other black men in the county, and gathered another group to surround the white men. The evening ended (barely) without bloodshed. Evidently Sherrod’s mother became the first black elected official 11 years later and is still serving as an elected official.
16:40 She starts talking about her first time working with a white farmer. 19:40 is when she really talks about her “come to Jesus” moment.
22:45 A discussion – I don’t know how accurate this is, historically – about how the separations of race were instigated by wealthy elites. She talks about ho, prior to that, black and white indentured servants in Colonial America were on relatively good terms and intermarried.
25:20 She discusses a bit more about her struggle to learn how to live with hate. She must have said, “God helped me to see that it’s not just about black people; it’s about poor people” about five times so far.
26:15 She makes the point that we (i.e. black people, but also other ethnic groups) need to work to do their part.
27:15 Interesting. She ties race relations to jobs; as in, the hate is scaring away potential employers.
28:50 Places some strong emphasis on responsibility for young kids and parents. “Y’all must love working in the chicken house… I know they closed the one here.”
30:00 “Not one dime” went from a business seed funding program to a black business. She’s attributing this not to discrimination, but to young black people who don’t have either the confidence or the desire to apply.
31:30 She’s talking about specific land-grant opportunities and work-to-job programs for students in Georgia.
32:40 She’s making the case, as she did in the beginning, that there’s a negative stigma in the black community about agriculture. She’s making a good case for a career there.
34:00 a story about a black family force selling some farm land. Interesting, revealing the tensions between families, the connection between a family and land, and a put-down to black lawyers. It makes me think about my grandpa’s farmland – both sides – and the issues with generational inheritance.
35:30 “The better we do -- The more free we are, the more divided we become. It looks like we don’t care about each other anymore.”
36:30 Rural development programs – talking about credit, and how it’s making it hard to find credit-worthy individuals.
38:54 She talks about how her father talked to them about credit and business. She appears to have had more financial education from her parents than most.
41:05 She describes how, without homegrown entrepreneurship, the local community will be perpetually dependent companies that take advantage of tax credits for business and move on after the tax credits are exhausted.
43:00 She closes with the following. “There’s a saying: Life is a grindstone. But whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.”
Shirley Sherrod, Part 2: Telling the Story
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