White House sorry for Shirley Sherrod 'racism' firing

[Tank]

White House sorry for Shirley Sherrod 'racism' firing

The White House has apologised to a black US official fired after a video appeared to show her making racially charged remarks about a white farmer.

Agriculture department official Shirley Sherrod was exonerated in the full video, which surfaced on Tuesday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the apology reflected "the feelings" of President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has offered Mrs Sherrod a new position.

Mr Vilsack told reporters at a White House press conference that he accepted responsibility for the affair.

"I did not think before I acted and for that reason this poor woman has gone through a very difficult time," Mr Vilsack said...

Just goes to show that a lie can be all over the world before people even ask what really happened. I bet this lady has been through one of the worst days of her life over this, ever.

[Tank]

US officials stumble on the firing of Shirley Sherrod

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington questions what lessons the US government has learned from its hasty firing of Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod over apparently racist remarks - and its subsequent apology to her.

You know that things have gone badly wrong in the world of American politics when politicians start talking about "teachable moments".

The phrase - presumably adopted from the gently re-assuring lexicon of psychotherapy - is meant to imply that out of embarrassment or disaster the United States has somehow learned a lesson.

Well, Shirley Sherrod has just provided America with a moment that sets new standards for teachability. The problem is, it's not entirely clear what lesson is being learned...

Some more commentary on the issue.

[karadan]

Is the lesson learnt, not to take fox news seriously?

[Tank]

Is the lesson learnt, not to take fox news seriously?

I doubt it  

[Businessocks]

Is the lesson learnt, not to take fox news seriously?

I wish, but I doubt it.  Just like their bogus story about ACORN employees agreeing to help smuggle in underaged prostitutes did nothing to shake their faithful viewers' devotion to the channel.  And are they giving equivalent air time to correct their gross error?  I doubt it.  FOX news faithfuls believe the "lame-stream media" is the dishonest one when it shows the errors and lies in their reporting.   :crazy:  Why was it so easy to land the fish hook in their mouths?  

[Martin TK]

White House sorry for Shirley Sherrod 'racism' firing

The White House has apologised to a black US official fired after a video appeared to show her making racially charged remarks about a white farmer.

Agriculture department official Shirley Sherrod was exonerated in the full video, which surfaced on Tuesday.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the apology reflected "the feelings" of President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has offered Mrs Sherrod a new position.

Mr Vilsack told reporters at a White House press conference that he accepted responsibility for the affair.

"I did not think before I acted and for that reason this poor woman has gone through a very difficult time," Mr Vilsack said...

Just goes to show that a lie can be all over the world before people even ask what really happened. I bet this lady has been through one of the worst days of her life over this, ever.

I don't like to be the "devil's advocate" here, but this kind of knee jerk reaction has been going on against White Americans for decades.  African-Americans are very fond of taking things out of context and using it to inflame the masses of both whites and African-Americans.  I do not agree with racism in ANY form, repeat ANY FORM.

When I was working at an historically black college in the South, I was denied a promotion because the board of trustees "felt that the college wasn't ready for a white person in that position" and that was told to me by someone on the Board.  Racists come in all colors and sizes... While this was completely wrong, the Sherrod situation, it does point to a larger problem we have in America.

[I AM the I AM]

The media's reporting on this case has really missed the mark because they have largely ignored two critically important facts: 1) That the NAACP supporters and representatives who attended the dinner where Sherrod made her "derisive" comments actually laughed when she claimed to have not given her full attention or use of resources to a white farmer in the past, and 2) That the NAACP originally _supported_ the Department of Agriculture's decision to terminate her employment. Yes, the leadership of the Department of Agriculture should hang its head in shame at their ill-informed and ignorant decision but so should the NAACP. In fact, I read an interesting article recently that alleged the original intent of the person who leaked the video to the public was to highlight the racism exhibited by the NAACP as demonstrated by their jovial response to a white farmer being denied extensive support by the DoA on racial grounds; not to explicitly spotlight Sherrod's comments, which, when read in full, were actually very anti-racist.

[I AM the I AM]

I don't like to be the "devil's advocate" here, but this kind of knee jerk reaction has been going on against White Americans for decades.  African-Americans are very fond of taking things out of context and using it to inflame the masses of both whites and African-Americans.  I do not agree with racism in ANY form, repeat ANY FORM.

When I was working at an historically black college in the South, I was denied a promotion because the board of trustees "felt that the college wasn't ready for a white person in that position" and that was told to me by someone on the Board.  Racists come in all colors and sizes... While this was completely wrong, the Sherrod situation, it does point to a larger problem we have in America.

I agree completely! There is no "white" racism or "black" racism; racism is racism regardless of color.

[joeactor]

I agree completely! There is no "white" racism or "black" racism; racism is racism regardless of color.

Agreed.  I like the stated goals of the NAACP... but seriously... isn't it about time for a name change for the organization?

IMHO, there is a massive disconnect between the name:
  "The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People"
and the mission:
  "To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."

Back to the topic...

Shirley Sherrod did not deserve to go through that.  Period.
They could have easily checked with her, or checked their facts before taking action based on a viral video.

I hope this is not the way the human race is heading, but I have my doubts.

Off to tweet that I'm blogging about a text message,
JoeActor

[Tank]

I agree completely! There is no "white" racism or "black" racism; racism is racism regardless of color.

Agreed.  I like the stated goals of the NAACP... but seriously... isn't it about time for a name change for the organization?

IMHO, there is a massive disconnect between the name:
  "The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People"
and the mission:
  "To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."

Back to the topic...

Shirley Sherrod did not deserve to go through that.  Period.
They could have easily checked with her, or checked their facts before taking action based on a viral video.

I hope this is not the way the human race is heading, but I have my doubts.

Off to tweet that I'm blogging about a text message,
JoeActor

Trial by internet is already a fact of some people's lives Jessie Slaughter (Google that sh1t) for one. One can no more repair the truth of ones online persona once it is damaged than one could have stopped Mt St Helens by pissing on it! Once that strawman is burning people just love to pile on the fuel. It's the ultimate case of Schadenfreude where people just jump on a bitchy comment and amplify it. Then one gets the 'village chat' but now the village community is anybody and everybody on the internet. Add the anonymity and nasty attitude of some people and one has a recipe for character assassination of a level unknown in human history.