Sherrod Shakes Her Fist at Breitbart -- and Hugs the NAACP
by Jamilah King
ColorLines
August 17 2010, 4:07 PM EST
http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/08/shirley_sherrods_back_with_fighting_words.html
Shirley Sherrod stepped back into the spotlight today. The
former USDA state director from Georgia, whose ousting
sparked a massive media controversy last month, has some
fighting words for the right -- and a big make-up kiss for
the NAACP.
In an NAACP email, sent under Sherrod's name this afternoon,
she calls out conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart
directly, saying that she's "surely not going to yield
because some Tea Party agitator sat at his computer and
turned everything I said upside down and inside out." Which,
it's clear, is exactly what Brietbart did.
Last month, the Obama administration abruptly axed Sherrod
after Breitbart published a heavily edited video of an NAACP
speech in which she appeared to say she discriminated
against white farmers. The full video revealed the opposite:
That Sherrod had been telling a story about overcoming
personal prejudice in order to confront economic injustice.
Both Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Visack have since
apologized to Sherrod.
In her email today, Sherrod doesn't discuss the Obama
administration, but she does make nice with the NAACP. The
organization helped fuel the uproar by initially denouncing
her, before reviewing and releasing the full video of her
faux-controversial speech. The email urges folks to put all
that "behind us" and support the NAACP's work:
Not long ago, I sat here in my living room in Albany,
Georgia for an afternoon of deep conversation with NAACP
President Benjamin Jealous. As he has done in public,
Ben movingly apologized for the fact that the NAACP was
initially hoodwinked by Breitbart and Fox into
supporting my removal. I told him what I want to tell
you.
That's behind us, and the last thing I want to see
happen is for my situation to weaken support for the
NAACP. Too many people confronted by racism and poverty
count on the NAACP to be there for them, especially
those in rural areas who often have nowhere else to
turn.
People ask me, "Shirley, how are you getting through all
of this?" I tell them that, if they knew what I have
lived through, they'd understand that these current
challenges aren't about to throw me off course.
When I was 17 years old, my father was murdered by a
white man in Baker County, Georgia. There were three
witnesses, but the grand jury refused to indict the
person responsible. I knew I had to do something in
answer to my father's death.
While it's still unclear if Sherrod will press charges
against Brietbart, she's already making a pretty good case
in the court of public opinion. Today's words are the
strongest public statement Sherrod's made so far. But most
importantly, it's a laudable effort to recast the whole mess
for what it really is: a sloppy attempt by the right to put
poor black folks on the defensive.
Here's the full text of Sherrod's letter:
Back in March, I delivered a speech to an NAACP Freedom
Fund banquet in my home state of Georgia. I drew on my
personal life story to urge poor people, white and
black, to pull together and overcome racial divisions.
We have to understand that our struggle is against
poverty and against those who are blocking our path out
of poverty.
Unless we figure this out, I warned, our communities
won't thrive and our children won't prosper.
As you know, a Tea Party blogger named Andrew Breitbart
released an intentionally deceptive, heavily edited clip
from that speech to make it look as if I was delivering
exactly the opposite message. Then Fox News blasted that
false message across America's airwaves, creating a
firestorm that led to my ouster as the USDA State
Director here in Georgia.
Not long ago, I sat here in my living room in Albany,
Georgia for an afternoon of deep conversation with NAACP
President Benjamin Jealous. As he has done in public,
Ben movingly apologized for the fact that the NAACP was
initially hoodwinked by Breitbart and Fox into
supporting my removal. I told him what I want to tell
you.
That's behind us, and the last thing I want to see
happen is for my situation to weaken support for the
NAACP. Too many people confronted by racism and poverty
count on the NAACP to be there for them, especially
those in rural areas who often have nowhere else to
turn.
People ask me, "Shirley, how are you getting through all
of this?" I tell them that, if they knew what I have
lived through, they'd understand that these current
challenges aren't about to throw me off course.
When I was 17 years old, my father was murdered by a
white man in Baker County, Georgia. There were three
witnesses, but the grand jury refused to indict the
person responsible. I knew I had to do something in
answer to my father's death.
That very night, I made a commitment that I would stay
in the South and fight for change.
I have lived true to that commitment for 45 years. I
didn't yield when, just months after my father was
killed, they came in the middle of the night to burn a
cross in front of our house with my mother, four
sisters, and the baby brother my father never got to see
still inside.
And I'm surely not going to yield because some Tea Party
agitator sat at his computer and turned everything I
said upside down and inside out.
I learned a lot of lessons from my parents growing up,
but one of the most important ones is what my mother
taught her children after our father was killed. She
told us we mustn't try to live with hate in our hearts.
My mother led by example. Just 11 years after that
cross-burning incident, she became the first black
elected official in Baker County, and she's still
serving, still working to bring people together.
You and I have to keep working as well. Change has to
start with us. I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring
of support I have received over these last few weeks. It
means so much to me and my family.
But you and I have to make sure that people all across
the country who wage a daily struggle against poverty
and racism have support networks as well. And that's why
your personal involvement in sustaining the NAACP is so
critical.
The NAACP confronts the virulent racism that my family
and so many other families have had to endure. But it is
also leading the way in breaking down the structural
barriers that block so many people's paths out of
poverty.
In our struggle between the "haves" and the "have-nots,"
they want to keep the poor divided - and we have to
insist, by our words and our actions, that there is no
difference between us.
As we move forward together, I urge you to remember
this: Life is a grindstone. But whether it grinds us
down or polishes us up depends on us.
Thank you for all you are doing to challenge poverty and
racism. I look forward to working and struggling right
by your side.
Sincerely,
Shirley Sherrod
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