I am speechless. Outraged beyond words. And I hope one of my levelheaded colleagues will give this story the justice it deserves in a followup post. Since the election of our first Black President, the right wing slime machine has targeted the administration with false accusations of reverse racism. First Van Jones, followed by Acorn, and now Shirley Sherrod … all hatchet jobs accomplished with ugly innuendo, malicious video editing, and errors of omission so egregious ... these atrocities of journalism are in themselves projected acts of racism.
Omission Accomplished is the title of Rachel Maddow’s report on how baghead assassin Andrew Breitbart in partnership with Crock News smeared and railroaded a good person out of her job at the US Department of Agriculture. Rachel Maddow’s video report is not available on the Internet, but her pre-program notes are available here. Late this afternoon, the NAACP released this statement:
(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.Most worrisome of all, the Administration has allowed itself to be intimidated, browbeaten, suckered, and led by capitulating to the stinking rabble of Fox News - Beck, Breitbart, Carlson, Hannity, and O'Reilly. Van Jones got a raw deal. Acorn got a raw deal. And now Shirley Sherrod - dismissed from her job before all facts were fully known. Even more damnable, the slime machine is now accusing the Administration of allowing Shirley Sherrod to be railroaded. How ironic!
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 move 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 and give everyday Americans a chance to surprise him.
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.
BTW, just in case you feel motivated, here are some White House telephone numbers (hint):
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Update (July 21, 2010 @ 1:16 PM): Shaw has a new angle on this story, link here. It appears Breitbart is now trying to defame the elderly farming couple who defended Shirley Sherrod. Have a look.
The first mistake is to listen to anything Fox says. I will call and also send an email to the WH. I share your outrage.
ReplyDeleteIt was rather a quick reaction from the Administration. I guess if Hannity says so they must react.
ReplyDeleteWhat bullshit! Perhaps now Obama who is rather famous for waiting, will wait till the truth emerges before doing tricks for the Talk show Empire.
I've been seething about this all evening. Your post sums up the issues well.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I have loathed the Bush administration, at least they can be credited with knowing how to advance their message by managing the media ... a lesson this administration must learn ... real soon.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to put it bluntly: Liberals, Progressives, and or Democrats are wimps!
ReplyDeleteAt the first sign of conflict they are busy bending over and giving in!
Here is a comment from a post by a major conservative blogger: "By Fox, she clearly emphasized Glenn Beck per her superior. And by the reference to Tea parties - I stand proud and accept the honor. We are doing the Lord's work, saving the nation from a neo-Bolshevik regime and per today's Journolist revelation - doing the work that the press simply won't.
The sunlight of truth is 'scary,' no?"
Its time liberals found their "religion" and believed in it....
In the news this morning - the USDA chief is re-examining this situation and is considering reinstating Ms Sherrod.
ReplyDeleteWould have been nice if they had acted like rational adults in assessing this situation in the first place instead of like Henny Penny and her pack of hens all screaming,"The sky is falling!"
The silver lining here is as the obvious manipulation of the truth is exposed to the light of day along with the many other examples of deceit and racist rhetoric, the right wing nuts will continue to lose credibility and hopefully some of the more rational right leaning folks will realize they are being used and pull their support from all these groups. The Tea Baggers are losing their base and now they are getting desparate to hang on but it's not working.
Perhaps next time the White House will be a little more cautious and not in such a rush to kiss ass.
If the ability to distinguish patterns in masses of data is a component of intelligence, then America is a nation of morons. The Valerie Plame thing, the ACORN thing, the Global Warning e-mail thing and on and on.
ReplyDeleteWith enough editing and a little photo shop, you can turn a church picnic into a Nazi rally and with a cooperative media, as we have, it's no use debunking it.
'Fair and Balanced' is so....2008.
ReplyDeleteHere's the new marketing hook:
'Fox, We Create the News'
A word of caution - The right wing media have been cooking the books on the Obama presidency from the beginning. Although the administration made a huge mistake in dismissing Sherrod before all facts were known, let us keep the focus on where this shit started - with Fox News, Andrew Breitbart, Tucker Carlson, Hannity, O'Reilly, and Glenn Beck.
ReplyDeleteHeaping blame on the administration is a distraction that diverts attention from the real basturds. It is in our best interests to keep the focus on the slime machine, not further weaken an administration that has also been victimized by this crap.
It was reported this AM, that she would not want the job, if they asked her back. That would be my answer, if I were her.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't been following this story closely, but are we to understand that after all the distortions peddled by right-wing pseudo-journalists, the NAACP and a Democratic administration instantly accept another of them whole cloth and call down consequences on someone who hadn't done anything wrong?
ReplyDeleteAs Dubya used to say, "Fool me once, fool me ... -- you can't get fooled again!"
One can only suspect that underlying the rush to judgment is the image of a large, vocal segment of the population so childish that its stupid racial resentments and presumptions must be mollified at all costs and without delay. We have taken yet another step along the sorry path to Idiocracy.
Please excuse the Nazified reference here, but I'm reminded of William Shirer's account in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich of just how strongly a non-stop stream of propaganda affected his own judgment -- if I remember correctly, he said that he found it hard to discount completely even the sort of offal that his journalistic instincts told him must be false, mainly because it was coming through vital information channels and being repeated by everyone. Amplification and bad argument from authority, in other words, worked together to create a toxic discursive bubble inside of which an entire nation was forced to live and breathe.
I think the right-wing "news" machine generates something like that effect: it blares out the baldest fabrications and distortions, and then all the necessary people start putting on their best outrage faces for the cameras until the thing becomes a juggernaut and something just short of human sacrifice is the only way to shut everyone up for a while -- at least until the next big hokum-storm kicks up.
That sounds like a reasonable answer to me, Tom. If possible, she should also sue them, though I can't imagine how lopsided this battle would be.
ReplyDeleteWhat a dreadful story. Shame, again, on the Obama administration. I know, Octo, that they've been manipulated, but they let it -- and they should have known better.
Now I'm just waiting for Elizabeth Warren to be rejected as a chief of the consumer protection agency. That'll be the last straw in the hopey-changey thing. For me, at least.
Captain:
ReplyDeleteIf the ability to distinguish patterns in masses of data is a component of intelligence, then America is a nation of morons. The Valerie Plame thing, the ACORN thing, the Global Warning e-mail thing and on and on.
Yeah, and let's not forget the Iraq and WMD thing.
Tom, my guess is that Ms. Sherrod has a valid claim for wrongful termination. There would be no lawsuit, and no damage claim, if she returned to her job. In addition, I hope she goes after Breitbart and Fox News for defamation. A huge punitive damage award would send a very loud message.
ReplyDeletebloggingdino - "a toxic discursive bubble inside of which an entire nation was forced to live and breathe ...."
ReplyDeleteMay I quote you? Today, I made a promise to myself to work on the 'yellow journalism' post that I had set aside. This news event and your quote would make a worthy addition.
You know it's really bad when Glenn Beck shows more restraint and reason than the Obama administration.
ReplyDeleteSheesh... I don't believe for one second that the decision to fire Sherrod was Vilsack's and his alone.
But, sadly, it proves that people like Breitfart and Beck really rule this country.
"But, sadly, it proves that people like Breitfart and Beck really rule this country."
ReplyDeleteI hate to believe that. What I think is true is the the MSM play up these controversies to get people to watch.
Beck and Breitfart are the lowest common denominators of rational thought in this country. People who watch Beck or heed anything Breitbart reports are the bottom feeders.
Proof of this sad fact is to be found on rightwing blogs where they dutifully defend the trash book that was just published by Beck. That anyone would waste his/her time reading tripe like that is a mystery to me, but symptomatic of the insane place this country is in.
Stupidity and ignorance is championed--q.v. Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.
I've cross-linked 8PUS's post from my post on this subject at PE.
Octo,
ReplyDeleteYes, you may quote me in allosaurus or English -- whichever works for you.
People who watch Beck or heed anything Breitbart reports are the bottom feeders.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Shaw.
Unfortunately, in this instance (and others, like the ACORN manufactured "story"), those "bottom feeders" would appear to include the Obama administration.
Really shameful.
Anyone who harbors an illusion that today's America is a post-racial society (I hear similar remarks quite often), should read the comments under this Yahoo article on the Sherrod's case.
ReplyDeleteAs shameful as the firing of Sherrod based on false allegations was, it is also shameful how quick folks are to blame the Obama administration. Black folks who play in the white arena have always had to bend over backwards to combat accusations of reverse racism. The NAACP and the Obama administration acted quickly to refute any support of what appeared to be blatantly discriminatory statements by a federal employee; if it had turned out to be an accurate assessment and the NAACP and the administration had not swiftly condemned what much of white America is quick to call "reverse racism," then the condemnation of Obama and the NAACP would have been loudly proclaimed. Like it or not, it boils down to race. Being black in this society is a constant balancing act.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the phone numbers. I called the White House and said that the prez needs to loudly chastise people who violate the first amendment. Freedom of the press comes with responsibilities, and those who abuse their freedoms put all Americans at risk. Obama needs to come down hard on people who put America at risk.
ReplyDelete