The ongoing battle between the Tea Party Express & the NAACP has claimed its first victim in the firing of Shirley Sherrod. This is the first time in US History & News that I can remember the firing of any African-American man or woman dominating US News for more than 24 hours. This story has remained the top news story in cities across America because of the unbelievable level of injustice defining this situation. Shirley Sherrod was the casualty that resulted from both the NAACP and the White House shifting into panic mode in anticipation of the Tea Party having a “one-up” on them on the Glenn Beck show on Monday Night. It does not appear that representatives of either the White House nor the NAACP thought for 5 minutes they should actually get a full copy of Sherrod’s speech before making their decision to denounce her.
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There were several checks & balances that could have avoided this humiliating situation for both the White House & the NAACP, but it doesn’t seem that either party had time to consider their options while they were rushing into crisis-pr mode to distance themselves as quickly as possible in anticipation of Fox News’ primetime lineup.
They could have at least waited until they a) saw the full length of the speech, b) had one conversation with Shirley Sherrod, c) had one conversation with the white farmer that Sherrod helped keep his farm or d) simply spoken to someone who was actually in the room and heard the speech first hand (this would have been the simplest option in my opinion…it was an NAACP banquet that she spoke at). As per Rick Sanchez, even CNN made the decision not to run with this story on Monday and held back until they had received more information and heard from all people involved in the story.
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Doesn’t it seem like a no-brainer that the NAACP, the very organization that exists to protect & “advance” colored people would make sure that they had all the facts before denouncing an African-American Business Professional who has spent the last 24 years of her life helping farmers of all races to preserve & maintain their homes/livelihoods. It was almost humorous to see the way that this story unfolded over the past 24 hours. Every hour there was a presentation of new facts and more back-pedaling.
Starting with the early stories that staunchly accuse Sherrod of “appaling’ statements of racism…to the first conversation of the day with the Spooners (the Caucasian farmer family that Sherrod helped), to the reveal that Sherrod’s own father died at the hands of a racist white man in the deep south over fourty years ago and that’s what fuels her transformed look at race, to the White House’s statement that they had “Nothing to do” with Sherrod’s firing, to the formal statement by the Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack taking 100% responsibility for firing Sherrod and stating he never spoke to the White House,
