Here's the full 43 minutes of what Shirey Sherrod actually said to the NAACP:
The fact is that Andrew Breitbart got it wrong. He pushed a bogusly edited video into the public sphere without doing ANY due diligence, without doing any research on the issue that he admits he knew about since March, and deliberately instigated this knee-jerk outrage to smeared an innocent women who certainly is NOT a Racist or bigot, just to GET BACK AT THE NAACP for daring to criticize the Tea Party.
And still he proclaims there are NO RACISTS in the Tea Party at all - none. That there's no evidence - like all of us are blind and dumb or something when we see "Obama: Monkey See - Monkey Spend!" signs.
Even after the great Mark Williams' meltdown - continues to deny the obvious.
Breitbart got it wrong (on purpose). The NAACP got it wrong when they initially condemned her comments before they had a chance to review the full tape. Secretary Vilsack and the White House hot it wrong when they decided to force her resignation.
However, some people - unlike Breitbart, or Sarah (Refudiate IT) Palin - are capable of correcting a mistake. This is what NAACP head Ben Jealous said once he had the full story, saw the full tape and spoke with Shirley.
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.
Even Glenn Beck realized that the initial the tape doesn't absolutely show her to be a racist. (Although he does go on into his usual odd communist/marxist conspiracy theories about why she was "Really" fired!)
The only person who still doesn't know he got it wrong - is Breitbart as he appeared on CNN's John King USA and claimed "There are MORE Racist things she says on the tape.."
"This was not about Shirley Sherrod," Breitbart said Tuesday in an interview set to air on CNN's John King, USA.
"This was about the NAACP attacking the Tea Party and this [the video of Sherrod] is showing racism at an NAACP event. I did not ask for Shirley Sherrod to be fired. I did not ask for any repercussions for Shirley Sherrod. They were the ones that took the initiative to get rid of her. I – I do not – I think she should have the right to defend herself."
Breitbart also described his decision to publish the Sherrod video as an effort to expose what he sees as the NAACP's hypocrisy when it comes to allegations of racism.
"[R]acism is used by the left and the Democratic Party to shut up opposition," Breitbart told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, "And [by releasing the Sherrod video] I am showing you that people who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones."
Breitbart's entire argument here is that the NAACP wrongly accused the ENTIRE Tea Party of being Racist, therefore he decided to show them a Racist in their own midst.
On both points he FAILS.
The NAACP and Ben Jealous never said the entire Tea Party was Racists, they simply asked them to discipline and control some of their more Racist Elements like Mark Williams - which they ultimately DID.
Ben Jealous clearly admits he and the NAACP made a mistake with Sherrod, and explains that sometimes a "Zero Tolerance" policy can also mean "Zero Thought".
Shirley Sherrod is about as far away from a Racists as you could possibly find, because she was able - unlike many - to recognizing the wrongness of her own biases and OVERCOME them. She did this despite the fact that her own father was killed in a racial incident by a white assailant, and the perpetrator never indicted by a Grand Jury (She said this to Rick Sanchez on CNN).
But just like the other set of bogus ACORN videos foisted on us by Breitbart and his convict cohort O'Keefe, the over reaction here has again done unwarranted damage to an innocent persons career. Just as Van Jones comments were taken out of context and distorted. Just as Sonia Sotomayor's comments about a "Wise Latina" were turned upside-down. Just as ABC falsely edited the Reverend Wright Tapes to distort and blow his statements out of proportion.
Of all these I think the Reverend Wright situation is most illustrative, because was at least initially handled the way we all would have liked to see this situation handled. With caution and care - soon it became clear that worse of what they claimed about him wasn't true - but after weeks of arguing that things couldn't have been as they appeared on tape, All Hell Broke Loose when Wright himself took his Full-On Crazy Black Man Act to the National Press Club.
I think that experienced burned this administration far more badly and deeply than any of us may truly know, and that's why Van Jones got the boot so quickly, and why Sherrod had to pull over and text in her resignation Immediately. (And yet, for some reason Ken Salizar is still there, and Tim Geithner's inability to file his taxes correctly doesn't seem to matter... I'm sadly going to agree with Beck here - they've stayed (possibly) because They AREN'T Black.
I'm not saying their "Racist" at all, I suggesting that the Administration doesn't want to get bogged down in re-litigating every racial issue in the country, and they themselves might be more than a little over-reactive when trying to block and defuse allegations of pro-Black racial bias on their part, which leads somewhat to the opposite.
Please remember Obama did Sign that silly "Defund ACORN" legislation even though is an obvious unconstitutional bill of attainder.
Just as I was when Obama broke all ties to Wright, I'm Disappointed in Vilsack's decision to sack Sherrod without all the facts (A decision he may soon, like the NAACP be reviewing and correcting) but I do understand it.
In the end, just like the others, Shirley Sherrod is a Scapegoat, yet another scalp collected by the Wingnuts in their never-ending Jihad against the Obama Administration. Just like ACORN, just like Van Jones.
How many more people like this are we going to lose? How many more are going to be hounded out of the public sphere by vicious little partisan turds like Breitbart?
The truth is that Shirley Sherrod is a Hero. She's the kind of person we should all aspire to be. We all have biased, we all have preferences, we all have people we're more comfortable with and those we're less comfortable with. That's just being human, but those who are able to rise above them is exactly who we all could be, and should be.
Not being forced to pull over and send in our Resignation Via Text Message on the Interstate.
We can blame the Administration, Vilsack and NAACP for initially over-reacting - because they did - but the real blame belongs where all of this began, on the back of the guy who with his own words admits he doesn't care about Shirley Sherrod, but instead wanted to torpedo the NAACP and Administration with a bogus smear... the blame belongs with Andrew Breitbart.
Update: Just saw a brief clip of Breitbart on MSNBC this morning - his NEW claim is that poor Sherrod was railroaded unfairly by the NAACP and Administration - but that "the real problem is The NAACP'S RACISM."
Uh, what? If Sherrod was treated unfairly (and she was), it's because she isn't the racist your site proclaimed she is - and that incorrect presentation wasn't the fault of the NAACP or Secretary Vilsack, it's YOURS!
This douche is spinning so fast, he doesn't even know which direction he's pointing anymore.
Vyan
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