Actual unedited video.
The NAACP has retracted its original statement condemning comments made by a former Agriculture Department official who resigned after a video clip surfaced of her discussing a white farmer…
“Having reviewed the full tape by Shirley Sherrod, who is the woman who was fired by the Department of Agriculture, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe that the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans,” the statement from NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said.
Jealous later posted on his Twitter account that he “Spoke to Ms. Sherrod earlier today and personally apologized. Plan to meet with her face-to-face the next time I’m in Georgia.”
The organization also urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reconsider Sherrod’s resignation from her post as the department’s director of rural development for Georgia.
Breitbart originally posted the video, which was quickly picked up by Fox News…
Sherrod defended herself in a number of interviews Tuesday, saying her controversial comments were taken out of context. She had, she said, used a personal experience from nearly a quarter century ago in which she confronted her own racism and learned to move beyond it…
White House cowardice in the face of loudmouthed blather from right-wing nutballs is not justification for terminating someone fighting on behalf of poor people.
UPDATE: Tom Vilsack has apologized and offered Mrs. Sherrod a job back with the USDA.
jman….Fox was all over this story Monday, before she resigned. It was a hot exclusive for them all day.
What’s a neo-fascist?
#91 wildcatbn said “Has anyone pointed out BB just found this video edited on youtube and reposted it?”
In Breitbart original post, it sounded like he had the full video….
“We are in possession of a video from in which Shirley Sherrod, USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development, speaks at the NAACP Freedom Fund dinner in Georgia. In her meandering speech to what appears to be an all-black audience, this federally appointed executive bureaucrat lays out in stark detail, that her federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions.”
http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010/
Only later he acknowledged a source only sent him those clips. More to the point, how can you trust anything he says? And where are the conservative saying this is wrong?
But facts? Phsst! What do they have to do with anything?
Fox is not “news”. It’s a radical right attack tool masquerading as news.
Hmm I don’t trust what anyone says but if there is video you got to take it at face value until someone can prove or disprove it.
Bottom line she probably isn’t a nice person and still has racist views but she shouldn’t have been fired for what she did 20 years ago.
wildcat===you read any part of this thread, even if limited to only the header and update, and you conclude exactly the wrong thing huh?
I see I’ll have to amend my nickname again: “bobbo, the theater of the absurd hooman tragedy continues unphased by facts or experience.” Watch for it in your local blogosphere.
And sadly, since I do think you will miss the point: No, you should not accept videos at face value.
What a dolt.
What exactly was Fox’ involvement before the woman was fired? And how does the NAACP get snookered by a video of an appearance at their own group?
Let’s compare to the impact of an edited video released by the media of Rodney King getting beat up.
I hate the way politics are these days, with constant name throwing, the politics are really hurting us as a nation and we have to grow up and think before we speak (or write). I sort of blame it on the internet because everyone is masked under anonymity and they say whatever they want and spew lies and hate without consequence. I mean, it’s not the fault of the internet, it’s merely the people that use it and just don’t have respect for anything anymore.
Pedro, pedro, pedro…Fox made a decision to run an unsubstantiated story from a blogger known to be a serial lying liar. This story is nowhere without Fox running with it. They got burned. The burden is on Fox to justify why they can’t perform basic fact checking.
In the meantime, every single “exclusive” story they air is suspect, even by your own standards. But being a propaganda outfit, Roger Ailes really doesn’t care if his “Fair and Balanced” network pushes complete bullshit. He’s got his followers out there spinning the story onto those who wrongly considered Fox as a “news” source. You appear to be one of them.
Re: Obama admin… When you have no rudder it’s tough to stay on course.
Pedro, you’re right, Fox was sued and won the right to lie. You’d think they would add that to their tag line eh? Fair and Balanced should be Fake and Bullshit. That way they’re not lying.
pedro, my abusive massa,
you really need to read the story and not what FOX is claiming. the woman was fired because of a video FOX helped promote. I have not seen anyone claiming she was fired because of FOX.
so how is your PF coming along? has the scientists found a treatment yet. That sure is some ugly green, ooze dude.
I ponder, why all the HATE from the left all the time. Sherrod is a Bigot, plain and simple. Have you heard all her comments? At other Naacp meetings their calling people Uncle Tom. Then all the hateful comments here. Racism is firmly owned by the left now.I think that is why the left is so full of hate. Bigotry causes you to be hateful. So all you leftist racists need to take a chill pill and then turn to some inner reflection.
Bart, next time I do a multimedia presentation I want you to do the projection for me. You’re very good at it.
Told y’all that this thread was worthless until the whole thing was mentioned 🙂 That was like…what, several days ago since I posted? And how many sheeps went along with the story? Apple is smiling from this for sure.
Pedro,
The problem is that Breitbart knowingly (if he truly did not know the whole video, he’s a terrible journalist) posted a snippet of video out of context to pillory a woman to make political points at tyhe expense of race relations in this country.
If, as he says, the reason he posted was to show the audience’s reaction, he’s a liar there as well, because the audience reaction is taken out of context as well since we did not hear their very positive response at the end to the redemptive message given.
Of course there will be negative crowd response at a meeting of people who have been discriminated against, the woman herself had her father shot by a white man who a jury refused to convict. But the video in its entirety shows Sherrod bringing the audience forward into a better realization of the racial situation in America.
And she’s right, it isn’t race, it’s class. Poor sucks regardless of the color, and poor whites and blacks are fertile ground for racist hate speech from both sides blaming others for the problems that exist.
Misrepresenting the truth is wrong, professionally and ethically. Breitbart should at the absolute minimum apologize for the damage he has done.
Maybe, just maybe if this causes people to discuss race in intelligent ways it might have been worth it. But even a broken clock is correct a couple of times a day. Fermongering pandering muckraking right-wing blowhards have done nothing for this country but hurt it to score cheap political points.
Pedro,
That’s the problem, everyone is oversensitive about race, and this crap does nothjing to help. We both know that if the woman did not leave her post immediately and the charges were substantiated the press (led by Faux News) would have had a field day with it. Look at Rev. Wright and what was made of his (admittedly dumb, but not untrue – the tuskegee experiment did happen, one of the things Wright condemned America from the pulpit for) connection to the President.
So we have an environment where the idiots on both sides are grasping at everything they can find to discredit the other side.
At best, Breitbart is a hypocrite, doing the equivalent of posting one racist protester’s poster out of an entire teabagger (screw them, where were they during the Bush the lesser years) rally to tar the group. At worst he is a pandering race-baiting idiot who is fomenting race war because he wants to be important.
If you know anything about farm loans and recent history, you know Black farmers got predjudiced against, and that settlement has been held up by the GOP for ages. Systemic RACISM currently exists in banks to this day as demonstrated in their lending policies.
This country needs to have an honest discussion about race. Hopefully this idiot may create the environment where thinking people say “enough is enough” and sit down and discuss this problem as passengers on the same ship of destiny.
#113, pedro,
What I’m amused is at the countless people here that say that a TV station can be held accountable for the unjust firing of this woman from the USDA.
And legally they are wrong, though I don’t recall any one saying that. The party that may be sued, and as I understand Sherrod is contemplating the idea, is the web site that originally promoted the edited video, biggovernment.com. FOX only replayed the video, which is fair use.
Andrew Brietbart has been sued in the past for similar tricks. I would expect Sherrod to be successful if she tried. She was smeared and had great upheaval in her life. The problem would be in collecting any damages.