Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Shirley Sherrod Video Edited?

I'm trying to find more information on this story but it's either not there or it's slow coming......

There's enough available, however, to mention here, especially since it doesn't seen to be being mentioned anyplace else.

We've all seen the FoxNews, Andrew Breitbart video of Shirley making her speech to the NAACP dated March 27th. We've all heard that she's resigned her position and her resignation has been accepted. We've all read that The NAACP has condemned her actions.

What we're not hearing much about is the fact that in the video Shirley states that this white farmer incident took place shortly after Chapter 12 was established for farmers. Chapter 12 for farmers was established in 1986. In 1986, Ms. Sherrod worked for The New Communities Black Farm Coop in Georgia - she was not employeed by the government in any way at that time. It also means that the white farmer in question came to a black organization for help - 24 years ago - in a different racial climate and a different time. It's not unreasonable to believe that the farmer in question was not associated with the black coop and thus not eligible for help from the coop which Shirley worked with.

What's more, in a telephone interview with Ms. Sherrod this morning, The Atlanta Journal Constitution is reporting that Ms. Sharrod told them the following:

Sherrod said what online viewers weren't told in reports posted throughout the day Monday was that the tale she told at the banquet happened 24 years ago -- before she got the USDA job -- when she worked with the Georgia field office for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund.

Sherrod said the short video clip excluded the breadth of the story about how she eventually worked with the man over a two-year period to help ward off foreclosure of his farm, and how she eventually became friends with the farmer and his wife.

"And I went on to work with many more white farmers," she said. "The story helped me realize that race is not the issue, it's about the people who have and the people who don't. When I speak to groups, I try to speak about getting beyond the issue of race."


The AJC is trying to recover the full video footage of Sherrod's speech to the Douglas NAACP.

Stay tuned.

2 comments:

CapeCodPatriot said...

racism is BULL, regardless of who is involved. This country is too d*** PC. There are many groups that are glaringly racist. Example..Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus . Imagine a Congressional White Caucus and the cries of KKK and crackers? Why isn't there the same antagonism aimed their way?
The comments made by Sharrod are not surprising considering , even if they were uttered 24 yrs ago that that attitude is still quite prevalent today that "only" whites are racist and any racist comments made by any other "racial"groups are simply "taken out of context"

Lo said...

I thank you for your reading and your commenting - unfortuately this was not a post about racism, this was a post about creative editing.

You are, of course, most welcome to comment in any way you see fit, but in the interest of continuity, I'd really like to hear your opinions on the editing done by Baitbart and Fox.

The video begins with these written words:

On July 25, 2009 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed Shirley Sherrod as Georgia Director of Rural Development. On Monday, March 27, 2010, while speaking at the NAACP Freedom Fund banquet Mrs. Sherrod admits in in her federally appointed position, overseeing over a billion dollars tht she discriminates against people due to their race.

Since the incident Ms. Sherrod refers to clearly happened in 1986 while she was representing The Black Farmer's Coop, she was not, as people are being led to believe, acting in a "federally appointed position."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GNArUTCo0Q

It also remains to be seen if the rest of the video surfaces - and what Ms. Sherrod says in it.

If she, indeed, goes on to explain that that's when she recognized that all people are alike and that we must all work together andthat race is not the issue, it does, certainly, change the entire context of what is being claimed.

So, please, tell us how you feel about the editing done here - not necessarily about what the rest of the video might say, since we have no knowledge of that as of yet, but of the outright misrepresentation of actions being taken as a federally appointed employee vs. the truth of her actually being a representative of The Black Farmer's Coop.