Monday, July 19, 2010

Sorry, Breitbart... Not this time... Unedited Shirley Sherrod NAACP video, please.

In reply to Shirley Sherrod Confesses Her Racism to NAACP - Dakota Voice, which is one of many wingnut sites (including American Power, with a post entitled "NAACP Racism", of course) to feature video (edited Breitbart-style) of a black woman who worked for the government confessing that she wasn't as helpful to a white farmer as she might've been back in 1986 or so, and starting to say that she was wro... (and then, predictably, the video cuts off.)
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My reply:

Aren't you at all interested in hearing the whole story, in context?

Her experience with the white farmer likely occurred in 1986 (the year chapter 12 bankrupcy protection was enacted for family farmers), and it sure sounds to me like her point in telling the story (the part that's cut off the end) is to explain that she was wrong to think as she did back then...

No, that doesn't erase the bad act(s) she committed back in 1986, but if her point was to say she was wrong, she was sorry, and she doesn't want anyone else--particularly those in the NAACP--to carry the same attitudes as she once did, I think that ought to be a part of the story, and people ought not judge her until they know one way or the other.

I can't tell anyone else what to do, but I'm reserving judgement until I see an unedited video of her whole speech. I learned my lesson after seeing some of the up-till-then-unaired and unedited sections of the Breitbart ACORN videos. Fool me once... A fool and his vote is soon... Won't get fooled again. (Yeah, that's it.)
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Submitted for Dakota Voice moderator approval 7/19/10, 8:04 PM (WIS blog time)

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And another, in reply to: Shirley Sherrod, Dept. of Agriculture Official, Fired After Admitting to Racist Act at NAACP Event | The Hinterland Gazette
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I sure would like to see the full video before I make up my mind on this... According to the cues in her timeline, this incident occurred in 1986--the year chapter 12 bankruptcy was extended to family farms--and it sure seems to me like she's about to say how wrong she was to have that attitude, back then. ("It's not about black and white... Well it is, a little, but..." CHOP// End of tape.)

What she did to that farmer was undoutedly wrong, but I believe people can and do change, and I'd like to know the whole story before making up my mind as to what I think about the incident. (Besides, I wouldn't trust Breitbart--and especially a Breitbart video--if he was the last man on Earth. I'd count my teeth, fingers and toes after being in the same room with him.)
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Posted 7/19/10, 9:10 PM

And one more, to FOXNews.com, this time:
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I don't trust Breitbart as far as I could throw him. I want to see the full unedited tape--particularly the portion cut off the end, where it sure sounds to me as though she's about to say how wrong her attitude was back then. (You folks do realize that, based on her cues, this incident with the white farmer occurred in 1986 or 87--just after chapter 12 bankruptcy was enacted for family farmers. Alot can change in that amount of time, and I'd sure like to know if she's about to say alot did change, especially her bigoted attitudes toward white farmers who needed help--just like black farmers did.)

It's incumbent on "the News"--including you guys at Fox--to tell the whole story. Please do.

It doesn't change the fact that she at least once acted like a bigot, and it doesn't get her job back if her whole point in telling the story was to decry the kind of bigoted attitude she once held against white farmers, in a room where others may feel the same, either... But just the same, I sure would like to know the whole story...

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